recomended tranny service?

[NBMA4V6]

what is the recomended mileage when the stock tranny fluid and filter should be changed?

i have 15,000 miles and the 2-3 shift isnt the way it used to be..but still acceptable and perfectly fine unless at WOT

so..how "involved " is the fluid change and how could i flush it completley so none of the old fluid is still in the tranny?

on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the hardest (ie installin a LSD) and 1 being the easist( changin air filter)
id like to get new fluid in it before the summer.

thanks.

Jeff W

[ April 15, 2002: Message edited by: NBMA4V6 ]</p>

[slacker69]

TTT i would like to know cause im gonna put in B&M trick shift fluid need to know how to change

[Ted]

I just changed mine the other day, i've been having major transmission problems myself but nothing too serious that I cant drive the car. This is how I did it. You have to buy the filter and gaskets, which are about $17 or so and about 5 quarts of tranny mercon 3 fluid, if you have an auto. I would recommend jacking all sides of the car up and putting jackstands on them. Get under there and theres a transmission pan that you'll see. You need something really big that you can drain all the fluid into with a large area. I took a trashcan lid, cut a hole in the middle and ran it to a little bucket. Take a ratchet, or an air impact wrench would be even easier. Loosen all the bolts but not too much and loosen one side more than the other. And kinda break it loose so you can kinda get some fluid out. Try to get a friend under there to hold that pan when you take it completely off because it has a lot of tranny fluid in it and you might end up spilling it when you have one wrench in your hand. And one holding the pan down. Once you get that off you'll see the filter inside it, pull that off, it just comes right off. And take everything out. Theres a small magnet inside the pan inspect that for metal particles and then inspect the fluid for particles. I had a lot of dirt and grime and a few metal particles, but if you do see some dont' get too worried, it's probably just normal wear and tear, if you have a lot, you might have a serious problem. When your underthere you know just clean up a lot and look for leaks etc... scrape the old gasket off the pan, get some gasket sealant and put the new gasket on bolt it back up, put the filter on, torque it to like 12ftlbs if your torque wrench goes that low if not just tighten them down really good. Double check all your work and make sure they are all loose before you tighten them all back up. Key thing double, even triple check them that they are tight. I dont' want to see you have a leak. Start adding a couple quarts to your car. And turn it on until it's to normal opperating temperature. Shift through all the gears like 1st, N, 2nd, N, D, N, OD, N, R, N and then Park it. Give about 10 seconds for each. Check the level and add another quart and so on. My car took about 4.5 quarts. There is still tranny fluid in there and your not going to get all of it out so keep a check on it really good through out the week and make sure you kicked it in it's *** . You should be good after that, I hope I didn't forget anything. I can't see your sig right now but if you don't have a trans cooler yet. I highly highly recommend you get one. You can get a good for for $30 or so. And will give your tranny a better life. You shouldn't be without one or you'll end up like me, lol. Anyway I hope I could help you out, any questions ask me. Ted
BTW, I'd rate it probably 2/5 for being hard. If you work diligently you shoudl be able to get it done in an hour and a half.

[ April 15, 2002: Message edited by: Ted ]</p>

[jmorgan]

ahh jeff [img]smile.gif[/img]

I have done atleast 5 of these when i worked at joe auto not to hard just messy as hell and time consuming (gotta recheck the tightness of the bolts and everything) if you drop the pan to fast umm yea transmission fluid all over the floor :/


oh yea ummmmm if you drop the pan i would say throw a shift kit in it too cause i know you getting one anyway

not sure how the sift kit installs dont think its would be real hard , just thing it kinda screws to the bottom could be wrong tho

[NBMA4V6]

im just going to do this fluid change to figure out how to do and like i said to get some new fluid in there..it wont be synthetic fluid or anything like that..as i do plan on a 3200 stall and shift kit later this summer..and then i will be going to some good fluid...

Yes i do have a BM tranny cooler

Jeff W

[chas]

the above instructions are fine however, i would only jack the front of the car (about as high as you can get it on the jack stands) remove the bolts toward the rear first then working forward. this will let the pan tilt open at the rear (and hopefully) spill into whatever you are using to catch the fluid.

its usually a good idea to put down some newspaper to catch any spills (which are almost inevitable). while you are down there you might think about adding a drain plug.