Im in the middle of a tranny flush and I'm stuck. Dropped the pan, cleaned the magnets, took out the screen. Now I wanna get the fluid out of the cooler. I disconnected the return line from the radiator and aimed it in a bottle. Turned the car on. Left it on for 15 seconds. I got drips from the return line, the radiator, and the open transmission pan, but nothing more. Definitely not 2 quarts. Also got some smoke, so I wanna make sure what I do next won't kill my tranny. Should I put the pan back on first? Should I run it through the gears when I start it? Should I pour the new fluid in first? At what point do I put the pan back on? Any help ASAP would be appreciated. Thanks

 

dang....15 seconds. did you leave it to Parking or you shift it to D?

I didnt even turn on the car for that long for my flush.


put the pan back on with original gasket, if it still in good shape. fill it up and let it run on jack stands and slowly increase the speed and see if she shifts.

 

That's a good way to ruin your front pump in the tranny. You should never run your engine without fluid in the transmission.

 

Reinstall the pan and put in ATF to fill it to the normal level, then do the flush a couple of qt. at at time, e.g. take out 2qt. then put in 2 qt. Repeat until clear fluid goes out. Check the fluid forum, there is a sticky with very good instruction.

 

Please tell you didn't run the engine with the pan off.... oh well nothing to do about it now. If you want to flush the trans putit all back together and use the return line to flush, check the "how to" section for specific instructions.

 

yes you can run the engine with the pan off, just dont shift to any gear. I did this to my 90 and 99 camry and my maxima. You need two people to do this, one goes down and watch the return hose and one starts up the car. once you see there's no more ATF coming out of the return hose, ask the other person to stop the engine immediately.

 

Alright, I put the pan back on and did the flush, everything worked like a charm from that point on. I was just confused at what point the pan goes on, it didn't say that in the how-to. Thanks for all the help.

Oh, and what would you recommend to get spilled tranny fluid off of a concrete floor and out of the engine bay?

 

Not much you can do it about it on the floor, concrete loves to absorb that stuff, mine has all kinds of oil on it from my many activities. Mabye an engine degreaser for the engine bay then a good coat of silicone spray to keep all the rubber parts from dry rotting. For all that work that you did you should have put on a tranny cooler... mabye next time. Good job!

 

the pan has to go on before you add ATF. that's a no brainer.

did you torque the bolts that hold the screen and tranny pan?

I use acetone. it doesnt remove it completetly....but it makes it lighter.

 

Yea, I realized the pan has to go on first after I poured in some ATF and heard a trickle on the floor. But that's after I started the car with the pan off thinking that would clear all the fluid out of the cooler. I don't know if I did more damage than good this time around... but the car rides on

I dont have a torque wrench, just a basic ratchet, so I put all the bolts in on the tight side, with some sealant. I don't know if they'll come out in 30,000 miles, but thats all i could do.

Is the engine degreaser and acetone safe for the rubber and plastic in the engine bay? I thought it ate away at that stuff

 

ic~ so now you know the pan has to go on first

if you left a little bit of ATF in the cooler, it will be fine. No need to suck out every bit of ATF. Just make sure the magnets are clean and use a lot of brake cleaner to get rid off dust/metal shavings.

if you didnt shift when the pan is off and ATF is low, I think it should be fine. Make sure to readjust ATF level in a week, it will change.

sealant is not required since you already have a new gasket. I wouldnt recommend over tightening it. if you dont have a torque wrench, you can "feel" the tighteness of the bolts when you loose them and use that when you put everything back. It's not very accurate, but better than nothing. A baisc torque wrench is around 15 dollars. if you plan to do more work on your car, it will be nice to have one.

 

ok, your scaring me. I did shift with the pan off. For like 10 seconds. It was my friend's idea, so I'll make sure to tell him how wrong he was. Exactly how much damage should I blame on him?

 

anybody?

bump bump

 

OT... sorry.... but how much is a ATF flush at the dealership and when do we do the ATF flush??

 

If your car is still shifting properly, you can't blame any damage on him. If something does happen, you can only blame him 50% because the other half belongs to you for listening to him. If you are not sure of how to perform a service like fluid change/flush, I would advise you to take it to a shop that knows how to do it.

 

You can only do one of the two at a time:

1)Drain fluid, remove pan, clean pan, reinstall pan, refill fluid

OR

2)Pull cooler return, start car, drain 2qts from the hose into container, stop car, pour 2qts back in.

The fluid in the pan creates the pressure to push fluid out of the return. Never, ever, run the car with the tranny dry and the pan off.