How to Check and Fill Fluids 2008-19 Ford F-350

Hey, everyone, Sue here from 1A Auto. Today, I have a 2015 Ford F-350 in the shop. It's got a 6.2 liter gas engine. I'm going to show you where all the fluids are located and how to check them.

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I just want to show you where the brake fluid master cylinder is. It's under the engine compartment, of course, and it's right in front of the driver's seat when you open the hood. It's right here attached to that vacuum booster, and you'll see a max line and a minimal line. Always tag a rag if you can, clear off any loose dirt. You don't want that going into the cylinder, and then read your cap. See what kind of brake fluid it takes, DOT3. I want to take that cap open, make sure there's no damage to the seal, looks good. I can see I need to add a little bit, so I'm just going to take my DOT3 brake fluid and I'm going to top it off. Can watch it actually go up. You never want to overfill brake fluid because it actually is a fluid that expands when it gets warm. Make sure that's down and locked tight.

I'm going to show you where the power steering fluid is located. Open the hood, and it is mounted right here, driver's side, straight in the front, right behind the radiator. See if it even says, "Power steering." It shows a picture, which is a domestic picture of power steering fluid. You can just take that cap open, and you'd top it off in there, but you've got your max and min line, and you're going to want to check this with the car off, not running. With it running, the pump will bring this fluid up and circulate. When it shuts off, it settles down to where the true level is, so that's where we're going to leave it at. It says, "Do not overfill," of course, because power steering fluid rises up with the pressure of the pump. Make sure there's no dirt on the cover. Put it back in. Check your manual always with for power steering fluid type. Some are ATF, which is automatic tranny fluid, and others are directly full synthetic power steering fluid.

Coolant is in this overflow, pressured overflow tank, right in front of the driver's seat under the hood in the engine compartment. You'll see the black cover with the clear-through tank. On this side, there's actual a max for cold. It will say, "Hot and cold." When you check your fluid level, you want to make sure that the car is cold. If you check it cold, it should be at the cold level. That will be first thing in the morning. If you've been driving it, don't open the cap. Leave the cap on, and it should be at the high level. It rises. If you're between those two levels, you're perfectly fine where it belongs. If you can't see any coolant, you more than likely have a leak. Pressure test it or bring it to a shop that has a pressure tester. Type of coolant is always in your manual. Don't forget. Never open the cap when it's hot.

I'm going to show you the location of the washer fluid. It's over here on the passenger side in the engine compartment, clearly marked, nice washer fluid window with a squirtee. Lift the cap off. Get it out of your way and just pour away. Always replace the cap, make sure it snaps down, and you're ready to go.

Then, I'm going to show you where the oil dipstick is and the oil fill. It's on the passenger side of the engine, and the oil fill is right here, and it's clearly marked with a oil can, and it tells you the grade of the oil, 5W20. I strongly recommend checking your manual. They're going to say, "Synthetic blend," or, "Full synthetic." I would go with full synthetic. Here is the oil dipstick. This is the transmission oil, and this is the oil. It's right here, yellow connector, plastic end. It does not say, "Engine," anywhere on it, but it's the smaller of the two yellow dipsticks.

Take a rag. We're going to wipe it as we pull it out. How's that 3D? Now we know it's clear, clean, there's no oil on it, and we can check the reading and what it looks like. You've got the two full markings right here and here. This is full and that is low one quart, means that all of those X marks, you want the oil in those X marks. If it's at the bottom of it, add a quart. Only time really to check your oil, the best time, is first thing in the morning when the engine has not ran for several hours, and, that way, it drains all back in the pan, and you're going to get the true reading. Let's see where this one's at. Well, she's right there, a little bit, a quarter, so it's half way. That's fine because I just drove this thing in, so I'm not going to add oil to it.

I'm going to show you where the transmission dipstick is. It's on the passenger side of the engine compartment, and it's clearly marked transmission fluid. I'm going to pull it out there, and you can actually read, it says, "Use Mercon LV fluid only." I'll pull that out of there. The way to check this fluid is with the vehicle running, preferably warm. You can check it cold. Does have a marking for cold setting, and it has a marking for warm. In this X is where you want it to be with the car in park, idling, at a warm temperature, not cold. It could be way down here at cold. Don't add any. You'll overfill it, and a transmission is not happy when it's overfull. Install it. Bring it all the way down. Make sure it goes down to the bottom. Pull it right back out. At this point, it's not idling. It's just sitting here without the engine running, so it's going to be at highest mark it can be. Once the pumps are running, that fluid will go down, and we'll check the pump level.

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