99 Rodeo, Changing trans fluid myself

[George G.]

Hi, I recently found this site and it seems pretty helpful. I'm hoping someone can help me. I bought the stuff to change my trans fluid (filter, gasket and Mercon III). My question is before I get started, I cant see how I'm gonna pump the fluid back into the fill plug. I checked the local parts stores and can't find a pump that would work Can anyone tell me what's been used in the past to pump the fluid? It's usually a pretty easy job(when there's a dipstick tube to fill it). Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

[rodeo02]

George- autozone and advance auto parts sells a cheap bottle pump that treads onto the top of an oil/ATF bottle for a few bucks. It's just like a soap or skin lotion pump. I buy gallon jugs of ATF, drill two holes in the cap. Stick a 3/8" clear vinyl tube into the bottle thru one hole, and blow compressed air in thru the other. This forces the ATF out of the bottle, thru the tubing & up/into our lovely 4L30E w/ out a dipstick tube !!!
G/luck
Joel

[Rajivr74]

George, I had the same problem a week ago trying to put fluid into this no-dipstick tranny . I used a hand pump used for pumping coolant into RVs that I bought at a local hardware store. It is a simple hand pump that pumps about half to thre quarters of a quart every time you pump it. It has one inlet hose that you simply dip into a bootle of transmission fluid and one outlet hose that goes into the fill plug opening of the 4L30E transmission. The supplied tubing is too big to fit into the fill plug opening but it is easily do-able with standard tubing adapters also available at most hardware stores.

- Rajiv.

P.S. Don't forget to change your filter and gasket that sits just above the trans fluid pan at the bottom of the transmission too. The whole kit is available at autozone for about 17 bucks .

[JoeandJenn]

Very important that the engine is running and in park when you add fluid or you will under fill the tranny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[stevetatro]

I'm about to change the tranny fluid in my '99 Rodeo myself for the first time. I've done plenty of other cars, but never the Rodeo myself.

In the repair manual it states that for the fill hole level check to be accurate the fluid has to be between 90 and 135 degrees farenheit. How crucial is this? Do I really need to buy a fluid temperature gauge?

My plan is to drain the fluid into a graduated container so I can measure it and to add that same amount through the fill hole. If after doing this the level is close to the fill hole I'll consider the job done.

Thoughts?

[iskiuskiweski]

Walmart has the pumps as well, in the boat supplies section. They are sold to pump lude in to the loewr units.

[amigo-2k]

keep inmind that you will only get about 3.5 qts of the 9 that are in it out by only draining it.

I personally do flushes (costs about 100 bucks) every 25-30k.

A new tranny is like 3k. So my once every 2 years 100 bucks is justifiable.

[rodeo02]

Originally Posted by stevetatro

I'm about to change the tranny fluid in my '99 Rodeo myself for the first time. I've done plenty of other cars, but never the Rodeo myself.

In the repair manual it states that for the fill hole level check to be accurate the fluid has to be between 90 and 135 degrees farenheit. How crucial is this? Do I really need to buy a fluid temperature gauge?

My plan is to drain the fluid into a graduated container so I can measure it and to add that same amount through the fill hole. If after doing this the level is close to the fill hole I'll consider the job done.

Thoughts?

Steve, just make sure the truck has warmed to normal operating temps & you will be perfect. Not screaming hot, not just warmed. Keep in mind that Isuzu states you must be idling in neutral, not park, when checking ATF level. Some AT's dont pump ATF in park, but they do in neutral. Not sure if this is true for the 4L30E, but it's easy enough to do anyway!
G/luck
Joel

[stevetatro]

I'm so confused by my ATF choices. I hear people saying Mercon 3, my repair manual says Dexron 2, the Rodeo owner's manual mentions Dexron 2 and Dexron 3.

Help!

[rodeo02]

Originally Posted by stevetatro

I'm so confused by my ATF choices. I hear people saying Mercon 3, my repair manual says Dexron 2, the Rodeo owner's manual mentions Dexron 2 and Dexron 3.

Help!

Go with what your manual says. It should be dextron III. Auto parts stores typically stock many brands of mercon/dextron III universal ATF. Use that. It works well with the 4L30E.
G/luck
Joel

[txsoulfly]

Originally Posted by iskiuskiweski

Walmart has the pumps as well, in the boat supplies section. They are sold to pump lude in to the loewr units.

I was reading one of the popular mags and read where one reader purchased a manual pressurized garden sprayer probably found in the garden section of any store. He also added a 1/4" barbed nipple and some tubing. He then filled the sprayer with the lube and ran the tube in and kept a steady stream flowing. This would be an awesome thing to have to help with our beloved trans fill up procedure. Wish I would have thought about this before bathing in trans fluid. I'm going to try this cheap trick myself this coming weekend. I'll post up some pics.

[rodeo02]

Originally Posted by txsoulfly

I was reading one of the popular mags and read where one reader purchased a manual pressurized garden sprayer probably found in the garden section of any store. He also added a 1/4" barbed nipple and some tubing. He then filled the sprayer with the lube and ran the tube in and kept a steady stream flowing........

You may have stumbled upon the best method yet! EXCELLENT idea!!! Keep us posted on how it works out.
G/luck
Joel

[usacol]

Just changed my Trans Fluid and filter yesterday on my 99 Rodeo. We have a flush done at the dealer every few years we have had 3 done in the 196,000 we have on the vehicle. I was always sceptical about those but when I opened here up to change the filter she was clean. Shocked me. Others have said to drop cross member which is not neccesary with a good 1/4" drive swivel. Getting the trans fluid back in would be the problem. Here is what I used. I have a pump for filling kerosene heaters from the container. It has one end that goes in the fluid and the other that could be forced in the hole. It took only a few minutes to fill it and best of all you could see the trans fluid come back down the tube when she was full. Hope this helps cause I was dredding this job but was not bad at all.

[rodeo02]

usacol, It's great to hear about high mileage 4L30E's!! A little service goes along way on these. As you've seen, dropping the crossmember is not needed on the 1998+ to get at the AT pan. Great idea about the kero pump!
G/luck
Joel

[amigo-2k]

Did you open up the fileter to see what it looked like inside?