AOD, AODE, 4R70W Trans Pans

[packman]

So I am looking up trans pans for the 4R70W in my '05 Grand Marquis and a few of the places I have been getting parts from have this pan listed with the AOD and AODE transmission pans. Are they the same?

[sly]

Get the Dorman 265-813 pan for the 4R7xx trans. It has the drop bump required for them and a drain plug on it. Actually a nice pan. Don't use the AOD/AODE pans as they don't have the bump for the filter snout since they use the flat filters that tend to suck air when cornering and half a quart low or hard cornering even half a quart over full.

[packman]

That's a nice feature (drain plug)! I was looking into the aftermarket pans for that very reason. The prices for them was turning me off (pun intended). With the extra-capacity pans; would the filter snout sucking air during cornering still be an issue?

[sly]

If they are deeper, possibly, but only if you run things low. The 4r7xx filter with the added snout tends to not have that issue. It's mainly just the AOD/AODE with the flat bottom and no filter snout that has the sucking air issue (mainly in right turns because of the hole being more to the right side of the filter instead of being centered like the one with the snout).

[kishy]

If they are deeper, possibly, but only if you run things low. The 4r7xx filter with the added snout tends to not have that issue. It's mainly just the AOD/AODE with the flat bottom and no filter snout that has the sucking air issue (mainly in right turns because of the hole being more to the right side of the filter instead of being centered like the one with the snout).

Minor derail:

...
The only real problem the car presented during the trip was about 2/3 through Pennsylvania on the return trip, giving me a very concerning transmission slip on a 1-2 shift going WOT around a corner onto an onramp. I actually thought I lost the trans when it happened. But I let off, the gear engaged, and we were back in business. The 1-2 shift on this car has occasionally felt a little soft when the trans is hot, so this is something to keep an eye on. However, it has not repeated the big slip since that one time, and the 1-2 shift is typically firm, so it should be good for a while. It is possible, as the shift and slip happened coming out of a corner, that the fluid went away from the filter pickup opening and the trans lost fluid pressure for a second. I'd sort of prefer to assume that.
...

This was a right hand turn, already in motion so there was some meaningful inertia. Thank you for validating what I suspected happened.

also, I thought there was a minor but meaningful difference in the bolt pattern for the AOD+AODE vs 4R70W pan. Something about one bolt location changing enough that you have to leave it out if you swap pans to the trans they don't belong to? Or maybe I'm imagining this or misremembering.

[gadget73]

I was also thinking the pans are not identical but not grossly different. One odd bolt sounds familiar.

If you change to the 4x4 filter and use the related pan, it fixes that air sucking issue. Not identical to the 4r70w part but functionally the same. Without the filter though a bigger pan really doesn't do anything of value. Its still pulling fluid from high up in the pan.

[sly]

My AODE has a 4R70 Dorman pan on it. I think the change was from the AOD to AODE.

[gadget73]

I was meaning AOD 4x4 pan and filter. It would solve the sloshing problem that the AOD has in a similar manner to the 4R70w part.

[tbear853]

Usually add it in the sunken portion, rear but this was long ago, done on my '01 Merc. 1/2-20 nut welded to 1" wide steel strip, two 1/4-20 bolts secure it insides the pan over the 1/2" hole, a standard 1/2-20 drain bolt seals it.