Automatic Transmission Service Day!!

[wolfox]

Well boys and girls, today is the day I bite the bullet and take care of my tranny since I brought the truck home about 4 months ago. I shopped around, and no matter where I went, nobody could do a pan service (Gasket(s), Filter, top off with Dex-III) for less than $130 + tax. I am not experiencing any trouble at all, but at 140K miles, the fluid is starting to show a color slightly more orange than cherry red. It's still clean, smells fresh and not gritty. If it survives the pan service, I will take it in to have the system flushed out in another year/12k miles.

I went and got all of the materials, including a fully synthetic ATF Dex-III replacement fluid (Redline! Vroom baby!) Pan filter, gasket, and filter gasket, Permatex High Temp red sealant (Part # 26B for those interested) and some other nick-nacks I have been itching to own for a while now - for $60. Flat. No gimmicks, or tricks. I will be pulling the pan out of the truck and doing the swap and refill after a thorough cleaning of the pan - and I will post back. I figure we all could use some DIY experience to add to the already voluble information on tap here. Wish me luck guys! TTYL...

[blazee]

When you get done, you can come do mine.

[wolfox]

Originally Posted by blazee

When you get done, you can come do mine.

Sure! It will cost you $130 + Tax....yeah. ;> Anyway, I am out of work on on my way home to make a mess of myself.

[BlazerLT]

Originally Posted by wolfox

Sure! It will cost you $130 + Tax....yeah. ;> Anyway, I am out of work on on my way home to make a mess of myself.

Have it flushed and filter changed at the same time.

Do not just change the filter and have it plugging up with old fluid from the torque convertor.

Do it right once, then forget about it.

[wolfox]

Talk about a fool's errand. :P The whole thing was a comedy or errors - and I have not impusively washed myself so many times in a row since the last time I landed in a mess similar to this in my teens...

The bolts were easy to reach. All of them came off, except the 4 back pan bolts in an attempt to tip the front lip of the pan down to allow the system to drain a little, and then the back bolts would come off. Well, somewhere it was sticking, and rather than mar up the sealing surfaces with a screwdriver, I reached for my non-marring hammer to give it a tap. Just as I took my eyes off of it, it came down. Not only did it hit me in the head, but a good solid rush of ATF *drenched me*. My friends, let me tell you right now - tranny fluid stings the nose and eyes like you would not believe. But there is more!

So in addition to the quart that slowly petered out of the bolt holes over time as I was loosening them all up, another quart of the stuff is pretty much absorbed in my hair and clothes. This is NOT good for a person that has very curly, black hair to the hip. *GRRRRRRRR* But I digress...
I go ahead and remove the four remaining bolts in the rear of the pan, and it comes off, easily. It moves freely about too - in the space afforded between the cross-pipe for the driver's side manifold, and the tranny mount crossmember that is present in our lovely 4x4s. Luckily, the "Factory seal" was...nonexistant. Bare aluminum to aluminum contact is all that kept this beast holding liquid. So ever so carefully, I siphon off more fluid with tubing until I cannot drain any more, and then clean the "gasket area" with a lint-free cloth. Bolted everything back up snug and called it quits. I neither have a tranny jack, and no amount of contortionists training would allow me to snake a breaker bar and 1/2 socket head up into the near-engine area to pop the collectors from the manifold to give me some playing room.

After cleaning up the pan area from the massive splash and spray of ATF when it bonked me on the noggin, I checked for leaks, and to be sure, moved a rag with solvent around the bolts and pan to wipe up any excessive fluid that may be hanging around.

I put 3 quarts of "top off" Dex-III in there, rather than my prized stash of Redline. Start her up, pause in each gear range for 10 seconds, forward and back, then leave in park. Needed just one/half more of a quart to top up to the cold marks. I looked again for leaks, saw none...bolted the body armor back on.

I spent most of my evening now, just *TRYING* to get this ATF out of my hair and eyes. Just when I think I'm clean, there is just that much more burning, oily stuff creeping down the back of my neck, scalp ...ugh. So in short, unless you have all of the tools and are related to Plasticman - Book yourself an appointment to your friendly, neighborhood mechanic.

That $130 dead-presidents for them to save me this hassle is looking damn fine at the moment.

[BlazerLT]

You do know that you essentially did nothing.

Did you drain the torque convertor?

It holds 60% of the the total tranny fluid.

[s10blazerman4x4]

it was funny reading your troubles reminds me of my day but lt is correct

[wolfox]

Yes, I do know this, Blazer. ;> I am booking an appointment as I speak - my mechanic's also a pretty decent friend whom does not mind me calling up at hours like this when he is still working. This is the first vehicle I have ever owned that presented such a problem. Subaru, no sweat. Dodge, never a thought beyond where my No.30 Torx went to pop the retaining bolt out of the filter. My Oldsmobile's ghastly, terrible 200R4 saw me in the pan every other oil change. Weak-assed gearboxes... Even completely serviced other MOPAR trannys. My Rodeo? Pull the plug and let it bleed - top off with Mobil-1 synthetic 30 weight. Done. This truck...ugh, have to get a blasting permit to just set the pan loose, and by the time you got it, it will fall off on it's own anyway. But yes, for the benefit of others, I know I did essentially NOTHING to give it the attention it needs. Damn frustrating to not have all of the tools to take a lick at it when one's mind is all set to go and do it. This thing's a dang Chinese puzzle box to get into.

[blazes9395]

LOL, I don't mean to be arrogant or anything, but I bust a gut imagining it!! Thats exactly what happened to me the first time I *tried* to do a tranny service. It took me about three hours in a bathtub to get it all the fluid off of me. I eventually got the pan off and figured it out - it took me two days of cursing to complete it. Since then, I have perfected the procedure of getting the pan off these trucks. I feel sorry for ya, but I had to laugh when I read this...

[wolfox]

Originally Posted by blazes9395

I feel sorry for ya, but I had to laugh when I read this...

In hindsight, and 6 showers later - this is hillarious. So no apologies at all required. Man, I am going to have one hell of a story to tell at work later on this morning. BTW, speaking of hindsight; what ended up being your solution to getting the pan off? I can almost taste the sentance, "Well, get yourself a block of wood and a hydraulic floor jack..." coming back my way. I am curious to know, because I am betting on not living in an apartment complex for much longer after the *mess* I made in the parking lot. I will be forced to look into that house nearby. *snicker*

I was once Sir Clean Wrenches of the Turning when I worked on earlier GM. That made a change when something similar happened with a buddy of mine. We were working on his classic Nova when the tranny pan was stuck fast. I told him to get his rubber mallet out and just give it a good tap. He swings like he was gunning for the back wall at Giants Stadium - flying pan full of tepid Dextron comes my way to strike me dead in my chest, turn uright - splash my face - take a seemingly slow, agonizing ride down my torso to bounce off of bare toes. I was wearing sandals in summertime. I do not think my buddy Steve ever heard half of the obsceneties coming out of my mouth in the manner I was stringing them together. ATF in clothes - toss the clothes. The rest of the summer I went bald. Seemed like no amount of scrubbing could get the stuff off. This Dex-III stuff seems much worse... *sigh* But there are funnier bone-headed stories I could tell, all in the venue of one trying to understand what they have been given to work and live with - but that is best given out in small doses over a period of time. Tonight's folly will more than suffice for everyone at the moment.

[Allbert]

Not trying to Monday morning quarterback here, but I just replaced the PCS in my '98 2wd yesterday, and although I wish these things had drain plugs, I would still say the process was relatively neat. I've done an Avalanche (which did have a drain plug, BTW) and a Silverado too, and I like to pull the front end up on ramps so everything drains toward the rear of the pan. Then remove all but the corner bolts, loosen them with a nice big oil drain pan ready to catch the flow from the rear, then tap the pan with bolts still in to break it loose in the sticky spots. Once all the fluid that will spill over the rear of the pan is out, it's pretty easy to hold it up with one hand while removing the remaining bolts and then lower it down and spill the rest into the drain pan. With the vehicle tilted, I got out about 5 quarts (give or take), so the ratio of clean oil to dirty is a little better... good enough that I feel like I didn't waste a new filter (the old one should have trapped anything large enough that a filter would normally catch anyway). To get the vehicle off the ramps, I added a gallon of DexIII, started up, made sure the trans engaged "safely", and then backed up off the ramps to a level spot where I could top off accurately. This job was work related (we make the PCSs here), and I stayed clean enough that all I had to do was wash my hands and dust off my rear. I probably could have avoided the latter if I'd swept up the work area first. Final comment, THIS IS DEFINITELY A SERVICE WORTH DOING. You may get 100,000+ miles out of your transmission even if you don't do this service, but you'll almost definitely get a LOT more if you change your trans oil every 50k or so.

[Allbert]

One more thing... make SURE to clean off the pan magnet. All the solenoids in your transmission generate reasonably strong magnetic fields in use, and if the pan magnet doesn't catch the metallic crap that get generated by normal component wear, the PCS will attract this stuff and it's calibration will shift down a little. This means lower pressure for light throttle shifts and potentially more slippage (and faster wear) than is desirable.

[lou S.]

Wolfox I can "smell" your pain. I analyze tranny oil and there is nothing that smells worse. One of those jobs you'll only do once and never again!!!

[jsgold]

If you have already changed your filter and cleaned the pan you can flush the system yourself if you want to give it a try. i do this to ALL my vehicles and it works well. Of course you don't need to do it often, say every 75-90K or so. When I change the filter and clean the pan I put back and fill with 3-4qts fresh fluid. I then unhook the return line from radiator(or transmission cooler) and run a 3-4' hose to a 1 gallon container, with a 5 gallon one sitting by. I have someone start the vehicle and switch gears while watching the fluid fill up the container. It will fill FAST so watch it. When almost full stop engine, pour the one gallon of crap into the larger bucket, and fill again. Do this 3-4 times and you have run all new fluid in and flushd system out. Top off and forget it. The total run time will only be 2 minutes more or less. Don't want to run longer as in some vehicles you are running a small part of your tranny with minimal lube as the return line lubes some parts. I always run the engine for 30 sec or so before dropping the pan. that way the parts are lubed and runnig the engine for 1-2 minutes won't hurt anything. Read this on a web site dedicated to Ford Explorers. I have used this on 6 different GMs, including my 93 S-10 Blazer and fords, works fine. Total cost half of shop, and you can return old crap to Advance to be recycled.

[Allbert]

I think I've heard of a similar process where you also disconnect the return line and let it suck clean fluid from another bucket.