For the most part, I believe Lincoln's idea was to herd most owners to a shop for transmission service and truly because they most likely wanted a filter replaced anytime there was any fluids being drained and refilled. It really is a great idea to do a fluid and filter change all at the same time to be certain a mechanic sees what's in the pan and filter such as fine metal etc. It only stands to help diagnose a future or existing problem all while replacing the filter with a fresh batch of Mercon 5. I change the trans fluid and filters in all my cars every 25,000 to 30,000 miles just to be good to them. Ford/Lincoln says every 100,000 miles which I cannot fathom. So, no dip stick means the shade tree mechanics will opt likely to getting recommended service done rather than getting a job done only half as it should (half ass).