So you’ve decided that it’s time to flush/change the transmission oil in your BA Falcon, but there’s no drain plug, so now you’re wondering what to do?
To make things more difficult in this model Falcon, there’s no dip stick or obvious filling point for getting the new transmission oil in either.
The whole transmission in a lot of the Ford’s in this era are completely sealed.
Firstly, to get the old oil out, you should warm the car up a little by starting it and do a short but slow drive, ie, idle with no acceleration whilst in gear (but not too hot or it’ll be very awkward and dangerous).
The transmission sump should be warm to touch but not too hot. When it’s warm but not scalding hot, then it’s at the right temperature and more safe to work with.
Then you basically have to drain the transmission oil from the car by loosening the nine bolts (no need to remove them, just loosen them) and drop one corner of the pan so that the oil starts to drain out.
Obviously you have to be careful as the oil will be warm to hot – but whilst it’s hot, it’ll come out easier and faster. If you leave it to be nice and cold than you’ll end up leaving oil behind and won’t get a good change.
Then you’ll need to replace the filter and apply new gasket and bolt it all back up – there’s automatic transmission filter kits that include the gasket and filter typically for less than twenty bucks at placed like Supercheap Auto, Repco, Autobarn, etc.
When it comes to refilling, there’s a plug on the drivers side of the gearbox and you can undo this and awkwardly fill up to the correct level.
As long as the car is level (not jacked up at the front only), the correct filling level is once the oil has reached the bottom of the filler hole.
Usually you’ll want to go to the trouble of changing the transmission oil (or at least topping it up) if the car will not engage drive when it’s cold or occasionally loses drive when you’re going around a corner or up a hill.
If you just want to top it up without going to the trouble of hoisting the car up then there’s a way to do it through the transmission oil cooler pipework which has been demonstrated here:
If you were looking for a dip stick and drain plug, you’ll be bitterly disappointed.
Since around 1996 the transmission is sealed from factory so you should only need to check or change the oil if there’s been leaks or there’s evidence of transmission performance issues.