I think the normal fluid changes are done by pumping the old fluid out the top of the tranny while putting in flushing fluid or tranny fluid. I there any easy way to change over to synthetic fluid without have to use so much fluid?

It seems like quite of waste of fluid and lacks inspection of the fluid, screen, magnet and other parts for excess metal, etc. and to get rid of excess metal stuck to the magnet.

 

when I changed my tranny fluid, I put in Valvoline Synthetic on top of whatever was already in there (probably Nissan stuff, since they did the 60k service for me when I bought it from a local dealer)

I've had no problems..

what I did was just change the fluid once a week for 3 weeks.. this still ends up using 10-12 qts of fluid, but you can at least look at the stuff when it's flowing and see what it looks like.

Besides, most of the machines that do the tranny flush have clear hoses, so you can look at what condition the fluid is in.. one thing you could do if you really wanna check it out is to drain the fluid, take a look at the magnet and the fluid, etc, then dump it back into the engine and drive it to the shop and have the thing flushed..
but I still personally don't see much need in flushing it.. yeah, it'll get more gunk out, but when most people never change the fluid to begin with and their cars still last 100k+ miles, I don't see how a little bit of extra cleaning on top of a drain/fill will help anyway..

 

I myself am about to change my tranny fluid. The fliud that I'm about to use (Amsoil) is $7.55/qt The way that I intend to do it is to drain the old fluid, remove the pan (as described in the Haynes manual), clean the magnets and screen, and then add new Dexron III. After a couple of weeks, I and my Amsoil dealer (he's planning to do his car also)will go to the shop together when the flushing machine is empty (we have it good) and do the flushes.

 

Been told that on the 93GXE their is no removal pan, sceen, etc. The access is on top and the tranny has to be removed. Am I getting bad info?

 

Yeah..the pan is on top of the 3rd gen autos. Pulling the plug only drains a coupla quarts of fluid...
The machine where i used to work..(jiffy lube) flushed all of it out thru the lines while its running...seems like that would be simplest way to switch over fluids to me. Then again that costs like 70-90 bucks to non employees.

 

reason why i plumbed in a aux/external ATF filter. Amsoil and Redline are mucho $. the cooler also extends the life of the tranny by keeping it cool.
Dan

 

Maybe I'm just stupid or something, but what is Amsoil? I'm clueless...I've never heard of it (or maybe I have, not sure)

 

Amsoil is the manufacturer of the best Synthetic oils and fluids around. I use Amsoil's Series 2000 20W50 racing engine oil and the Dexron III compatible Automatic Transmission Fluid. IT RULES!

And as for the flushing, it's not just about cleaning the box, it's about getting out as much of the oil fluid as possible so when you are refilling it, at least 99% of it is fresh new ATF.

You may argue that many ppl who haven't changed their fluid for over 100k are still going, but when you put the box under more severe use than they do (like me!), then that's where Pat's advice (from Level 10) about getting out as much of the old fluid as possible when changing the fluid every 12000 miles holds more credibility. Besides, why not pay a little more for the extra paranoia? I think it would pay off for us hard drivers.