Tranny fluid change

[Pontaic194]

Hey yall, how hard is a tranny fluid change, how do you go about doing this, and how often should it be done on my automatic. i own a GA SE 2.3 ohc. All help would be appreciated

[doobiess]

not too hard... just gotta jack up the car onto jack stands.. get under the car.. locate the trans... loosen all bolts but dont remove... and then gently pry at the pan.. to break seal of the gasket.... but make sure your bolts arent out too far.. so it dont leak all over you... and also loosen the bolts to one side.. so it will drain from that side... ok and then just remove all bolts... lower the pan but make sure you lower it level.. it will still be full of fluid... once you have that out.. remove the filter.... just pull down on it... and comes out... also this will contain fluid... once its done dripping... make sure the gasket area where the pan connects is clean.. and no gasket remains on the tranny or the pan... clean the pan out.. and check to make sure no large pieces are in the pan.... clean the pan... now replace new filter... then place the gasket on the pan.. and install... all bolts and torque until the bolts are good and snug.. but dont over tight... and also torque the bolts in a criss cross pattern... as listed in the haynes manual... torque the bolts to 97-120 in lbs if you have 3T40 tranny and if you havea 4T60E torque to 156 in lb's once all done... refill at the dipstick with new dexron 3 tranny fluid.. assuming this is an auto... refill to the full mark... start the car... let it idle only ... and with the car running.. let it start to warm up.. and check the fluid as its warming up... as the fluid level will go down... keep doing so until normal operating temp... and DO NOT OVERFILL once you get to norm temp.. run the tranny through all the gears... then check fluid level... make sure there are no leaks under... take for a test drive.... and double check fluid level and leaks.. and thats it

[Pontaic194]

thanks alot, so what parts am i going to need to get, a filter and gasket, or just gasket, and then how much fluid will i need? Is this going to help my tranny shift much, cause its not as fast shifting as it used to be

[Pontaic194]

just changed it today. Looked real discolored, like a light maroon. I did the filter but the old seal wouldnt come out, so i just used it instead of the new one i got with the filter. I used a gasket maker to seal the gasket to the pan, and then put in 6 quarts of Dex III. Looks tight and no leaks, she shifts so much better than she used to, just like the day we got her. Thanks for the help, but should i be really worried about the fluid color?

[doobiess]

nope thats normal.. just the wear over time... the only thing wouldve been if you found any pieces laying in the bottom of the pan... ... and in the next month or something check the fluid make sure it still looks new and dont have that burnt smell.. but good to hear you got...

[1fatcat]

You realy should take the pan back off and put a gasket in there instead of sealer. Sealer usually doesn't last long on these trannys and you stand a chance of sucking into the filter any loose chunks of sealer that oozed to the inside of the pan. You also changed the clearance of the pan-to-filter by not using a gasket.

If your old gasket was a rubber coated metal gasket you should have used it over, they are reusable. If not, you should buy a new gasket and install it after cleaning ALL of the sealer off.

Also, DO NOT use any sealer on new gaskets! They should be installed dry....no sealing produces required or recommended.

[Pontaic194]

my last one was metal, and i bought a kit with the new gasket, cork, and the guy at autozone told me to use a sealer on it, so it shouldnt hurt, using common sense it would only make it better. So thats what i did. Shifts beautfly, and no leaks yet, so if it leaks ill take it off

[Pickelicious]

This really isn't related to the topic, but I was wondering if any of you had some insight into this...

I checked the tranny dipstick on my girlfriends sunfire, and the fluid smells like mothballs. I have never smelled mothballs when I check tranny fluid. Should I change the fluid or is this normal for Dex III?

Thanks!

[1fatcat]

Originally posted by Pontaic194
my last one was metal, and i bought a kit with the new gasket, cork, and the guy at autozone told me to use a sealer on it, so it shouldnt hurt, using common sense it would only make it better. So thats what i did. Shifts beautfly, and no leaks yet, so if it leaks ill take it off


Well as long as you put a gasket in there. I thought you were saying that you used silicone sealer only and no gasket.

Still, you should not use sealer even on cork gaskets. Think of it this way....In the following examples think of the ,,, as a sealing surface.

Trans case,,, gasket,,, trans pan. = Two sealing surfaces, two potential leak areas.

Trans case,,, sealer,,, gasket,,, sealer,,, trans pan. = Four sealing surfaces, four potential leak areas.


Sealer has it's place in auto repair, but too many people believe that that place is everywhere when it should actually be used in very few applications.

Also, "if a little is good then a lot must be better".......that is the biggest mistake made when using sealer products.

[doobiess]

yes pickel you should change the fluid and after that is done... wait maybe 100 miles and see if the smell pursists... good chance the car had overheated and cooked the tranny

[1fatcat]

When changing the filter and replacing the fluid that draind out, you are still only changining between 1/3 to 1/2 of the trannys total fluid capacity. What doesn't drain out is held in the torque converter, valve body, apply servos and many other small nooks and crannies in the trans.

This is why trans flushing is a good idea. It will get about 95% of the old fluid out and replace it with new fluid.

So after a simple filter change and refill without flushing, your trans fluid is still only half clean.

Edit: If you change the filter often enough and don't do a flush you should be OK. I would say every 30,000 miles is enough to keep the fluid clean without flushes. But this almost needs to be practiced from brand new, otherwise you will not see the results of maintained clean fluid.

If you have high miles now and never changed the fluid, get the filter changed and have it flushed. Then change the filter every 30,000 from there on. That will maintain clean fluid between filter changes.