How hard is it to change on '97 SE?

 

Does it have a drain plug, like my 2k1? I'd guess it does...

You can drain the pan easy enough by just removing the drain plug. Drain it cold, after resting overnight, to allow all fluid that can to drain out of the tranny. Even so, that only gets 1/2 the fluid... the rest is in the torque convertor and cooler. A good shop will power flush the convertor by taking the pan off and hooking a pump to the fluid take-up and forcing new fluid into the transmission.

You can do something similar: after draining/replacing the fluid in the pan, disconnect the cooler return line and run that to a drain pan. Have a good friend set brakes, start the car and run tranny through the gears... pour new fluid into the filler as fast as it's pumping out. When bright red new fluid starts pumping out, pour in 1 guart more to be sure all is replaced. Stop the engine and reconnect lines, check level and adjust for cold. Then drive and adjust level for hot. This takes about 11 quarts, maybe more depending how messy you are.

If not changed for 40K or so, I'd just drain and replace the fluid, run it through gears for 5 minutes, then drain and replace again. Gets about 2/3 the fluid. Then drain and change the pan fluid every 15K miles or so to keep it fresh.

FWIW... if you have 50k or more and you've never had fluid changed it is probably a good idea to drop the pan... you can clean out all the fine filings that accumulate around the magnet(s) in the pan and check/replace the pickup screen (they call it a filter... it's really not).

If you don't have a drain plug... it is a very messy job, usually best done on a lift with a BIG pan underneath. And a change of clothes nearby. You have to loosen all the bolts on the pan and drop one corner to allow it to drain. It never works that way... it's always a big mess. Gotta love GM and Ford.

Good Luck
BuddyWh