Ford Repair: TRANS - 5R55E, 4r100, fluid changes

Question
STEVE,
'01 EXPLORE SPORT 4L.V6, AUTO 5 SPEED, 50K. 3 POINT QUESTION- FIRST, IN MY OWNER'S MAINTENANCE GUIDE THE MENTIONED AX4S, 4F50N,4R70W,4R100 & 4F27E TRANS REQUIRE 30K FLUID CHANGE OUT, BUT NO MENTION ON 4R44E OR 5R55E, BUT AT MOTORCRAFT.COM THE "SUGGESTED" ATF FLUSH & FILL IS EVERY 30K, WHAT'S GOING ON HERE & WHAT'S THE REAL DEAL? SECOND, I CHECKED OUT '02 & '03 MODELS OF EXPLORE & SPORT TRACK, THEY CALL FOR '02 ATF CHANGE AT 30K AND '03 AT 150K(SOME MODELS HAVE SEALED TRANS), THAT'S ALL WITH THE SAME TYPE OF TRANNY.  SOMETHING IS WRONG HERE, EITHER IT'S SOME KIND OF MARKETING GIMMICK OR JUST MISINFORMATION. WHAT'S YOUR TAKE? FINALLY, MY PERSONAL OPINION IS THAT THIS TYPE OF TRANNY IS USED IN SEVERAL OF FORD VEHICLES IN DIFFERENT MODEL YEARS AND, THEORETICALLY SHOULD HAVE SAME MAINTENANCE AND OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS BUT THEY SEEM TO VARY. I WOULD THINK THAT SINCE THE TRANNY IS THE SAME THE LATEST INSTRUCTIONS AND INTERVALS COULD BE FOLLOWED WITH CAUTION AND CLOSE MONITORING. IT WOULD BE GREAT TO GET SOMETHING OFFICIAL IN WRITING AND CONFIRM MY OPINION AS TRUTH OR FALSE.  THANKS.

Answer
Joe-

  I would recommend fluid changes for ANY tranny at about 3 years/30K miles when possible.  I'll never know why they throw in words like "suggested" or "recommended" in official service statements.  Requirements can vary from vehicle to vehicle since different vehicles have different transmission programming and will be used for different purposes, but all in all I would service every transmission the same.  Hope this helps.

Steve