Transmission help!

[cutlassman]

i believe I need to flush out my transmission fluid. can anyone tell me the process of doing that and what I will need? If you cant tell me that, it would be great if you could tell me where I can find out how to completely do it. Hopefully I can do it myself and not have to go to pros that rip me off for somethign simple. thanks

[GTP Dad]

Flushing requires special equipment. Change the fluid and filter. If the tranny is high mileage then a flush will damage it. A fluid exchange would be better but once again you may need special equipment. I recommend having a professional do the exchange. It will be worth the time and money.

The other thing you can do is install a drain plug in the pan and change the fluid and filter. Drive for a while and drain the fluid again. Do this several times and you should be able to remove the majority of the old fluid without damage to the transmission.

[HeloPlt35]

Not trying to be smart here, but what do you consider to be a "high-mileage" transmission? If a tranny has been serviced at the recommended intervals, i.e., flushed, new fluid and filter, then a 200,000 mi tranny would be in far better shape than one with much fewer miles and never serviced.

I'm just thinking that flushing that type of tranny would not make a difference, although the lower-mile tranny would suffer ill-effects and not work properly since the fluid would clean the dirty parts and cause it to slip.

[GTP Dad]

High mileage is considered anything over 75K miles when it comes to transmissions. A flush, actually washes the faces of the clutches in the transmission. When this happens some of the material is washed away. Even in well maintained transmissions these clutches are worn. When you flush the transmission you will damage the clutches and they will fail shortly thereafter. Regardless of how often the fluid and filter have been changed wear is inevitable and a flush will most certainly ruin a high mileage transmission.

[Slade901]

I would second on just dropping the pan and replacing the transmission fluid.

Jack up the vehicle and use jackstands to make the vehicle stable and safe.

Loosen the bolts around the transmission pan but loosen the bolts more on one side of the transmission pan so that the transmission pan will be tilted on one side to drain and catch it with the oil pan on the ground.

Once the transmission pan is empty of fluid then take it out and clean it. Usually the magnet there will be coated with magnetic gunk and just clean it

The difficult part is removing the transmission filter as it is pushed in tight and try removing it slowly and sometimes the transmission filter breaks into pieces and part of it with metallic part is left stuck inside the hole. You have to use some pliers to pull that part out because you will have to put a new transmission filter in that same hole. Sometimes it use a rubber dead blow hammer to help push the transmission filter in place.

Put the transmission gasket and put the transmission pan and torque the bolts properly with a torque tool. I use a click type which makes a clicking sound when the proper torque is achieved.

Put the proper amount of transmission fluid and start the vehicle and put it in all gears and back to park and measure the transmission fluid level and top it off if it is less.