Transmission Fluid Exchange

As we all know, keeping your vital fluids at the proper levels and clean is very important to the life of your vehicle. Most shops charge any where from $100 to sometimes over $150 to perform a transmission fluid flush. The torque converter assembly in most transmissions will hold up to half of all the fluid that is in the transmission. The exceptions are the small high performance ones and some Super Duty trucks that have large capacity pans. Since all power flush machine use the transmission cooler line pressure to operate the only real advantage to using one is they are pretty good at calculating how much fluid to put in based on what it measures coming out. You can do a power flush at home without a fancy machine though. What you need is about 14 quarts of the proper fluid for your transmission, a pail large enough to hold the contents of the transmission. A 5 gallon plastic pail will do. Mark the inside of the pail where 12 quarts will fill it to. Warm up the fluid by idling the engine for 5 or so minutes. If your fluid is really bad this would be the time to add the flush to it if you want to do that. You want it warm but no so hot it will burn you. Jack up the front of your vehicle and locate the out line from the cooler. In a top to bottom flow radiator the out will be at the top of the rad in a cross flow it will be on the side the top hose is on. The other way to determine is the out line from the transmission is nearest the torque converter. Once we have determined which line is what we want attach an extension to it and run it into the pail. Add a couple quarts to the transmission then start the engine up. The fluid will run out the cooler line into the pail. As the fluid fills the pail all you need to do is add the fresh to the pan through the dipstick tube. When you have 5 quarts left to add let the engine run till the fluid almost stops coming out the hose. You should be close to the mark on the pail based on the capacity of your transmission. Return all the lines back to their proper places and make sure all the clamps are tight and lower the front back to the ground. Most transmission pans will hold 5 quarts when empty but to be sure you don't over fill it add 3 then start the engine. As always run it from park to reverse to drive and back to park then check the level. Add as needed but don't fill it right to the full, hot mark. Keep it down a little. After the road test to get the fluid completely hot you should check it again. If you plan on adding an additive leave room for that as well. There you have it. Not hard to do, it will take you less than an hour once you are organized. Just make sure you cover your floor if it is one that a little fluid will harm and don't knock over the pail. :eek6: