Xamarii

Hi.. i attempted to do a automatic transmition fluid change cause i refuse to pay 200$ just to refill and drain "ripoff" i picked up 5 Q of mobil 1 synthic ATF.. the mistake i did i unscrewed the engine oil release plug so all the oil that i did few days ago came out lol.... i cant seem to locate ATF pan so i can drain and refill it please help my max is fresh out of oil now..

it,s auto 2k2 max by the way thnks..

Update..... i did the drain refill and the car is shifting smoother now thanks for all ya who helped.. 4.5Q came out and the same went in ...

Gizm0

iTrader: (1)

Wow... if you are confusing your engine oil drain with the transmission fluid drain, i'd say your auto mechanic skills are sub-abyssal. My advice to you is: buy 5qt of new engine oil, put it in the engine (refer to your owner's manual to make sure you put that oil in the right place...), save a couple hundred bucks from your next paycheck(s) and let a pro do that transmission fluid change for you...

andrewmac

iTrader: (2)

Standing in front of the engine and looking straight at it.. the oil pan is on the left (passenger side) and the transmission pan is on the right(driver side).

The tranny drain plug is a size 19mm (maybe 17mm?) if I remember correctly. It's a lot larger of a bolt than the oil drain plug. Hard to mix them up really.

Honestly if you mixed the two of them up maybe you shouldn't touch the tranny fluid. It's not regular maintenance to flush the tranny fluid and there's a bit more involved, you just don't just drain it and fill it.

vc-17

Replace engine oil with 4 1/2 quarts of Clean oil, the automatic transmission pan is on the drivers side, can't miss it. If it's a manual trans, I have no clue how that set up is. The drain and refill for an auto trans is 4 qts. good luck.

Xamarii

i am honestley not that terrible but i dont know how i missed it, any way i got the engine oil filled so i am good now thanks i found where the tranny pan is... i like to DIY stuff + i cant justify 200$ for some thing that so simple ^_^

cjandura

iTrader: (3)

There is no drain plug on the A/T

Xamarii

thanks man i found some diagram and that,s where it was.. i am not flushing will never go with flush too much headache+ i hear how tranny fails after a flush.. i was told by two machinic that i need to change the ATF do not recommend simple drain and refill i did some research and it,s affective

Xamarii

found it thanks will do soon

Xamarii

there is man i was just touching it

cjandura

iTrader: (3)

My 03 and 97 dont

Shift_A32B

iTrader: (14)

Xamarii

i thought 02/03 were exactly the same except some minor changes?

Xamarii

i got it drained and refilled 4.5Q max is shifting better now anyone who is gonna attemp this dont be a stupid like me drain the right pan...lol

cabernet

I have a friend who did the opposite the first time he was changing oil on his new car. He undid the transmission drain plug and had to have his car towed for service. Somewhat confused, did you realize the mistake after seeing the color of fluid coming out that it was the wrong one and didn't add more fluid at that point? That would have been double stupid to add another 5 qts of transmission fluid.

VQP0WER

By the way, you still left about 5 quarts of old fluid still in there. Drain and refill is only half of it. The rest is in the torque converter.

spock

iTrader: (5)

That's why you have to drain & refill a couple/few times consecutively. It gets most of the old out & the new in safely.

Child_uv_KoRn

iTrader: (7)

Pfft. I get it out all in one go. Drop the pan, disconnect the cooler line and then slowly shift through the gears to squirt out the rest.

spock

iTrader: (5)

Faster and cheaper. But you run the risk of fluid starvation.

Xamarii

i was setting home drinking ice tea waiting for the oil to drain and baaaam OMG i just remembered there is 2 pans and i might have done the wrong one i checked the oil looked very fresh "did oil change 2 day ago" turned the car on low oil pressure warning then i relize thank god i didnt pour 5Q on the trany i would have caused issue... i am just greatfull

VQP0WER

Um, no.

To replace it all, you have to disconnect the coolant line going into the radiator and pump out a quart, then refill a quart while cycling the gears. You do this until the ATF fluid is nice in red. Expect to go through about 10-11 quarts of ATF to get it all.

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

Let's put this in perspective, shall we?

This method you recommend which, while more complete and thorough, also runs the risk of destroying the tranny if mistakes are made. You want to recommend this process to someone who accidentally drained his motor oil when he was going for his tranny fluid.

Really?

DW

VQP0WER

No, there is probably close to zero risk the way I stated. There's even a "how-to" about this stickied in the forums. Thousands of us have done it without a problem. We can't prevent negligence if the guy doing the work screws something up. So....really! According to you, the owners manual shouldn't tell a person how to change a tire either, because that person may forget to torque down the lug nuts, or not have the jack on stable ground. Who's fault is it if something goes wrong?

http://forums.maxima.org/1066054-post2.html

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

No, according to me, I would recommnend Spock's method. Live long and prosper.

Fact is, both methods use twice as much new fluid to get out the old fluid. But with Spock's method there's less risk.

DW

RR5

iTrader: (6)

Got to love all that tough love. First time I tried I took off the engine oil drain plug. Whoops. Years later I'm under there dropping valve bodies left and right.

Read the FSM.

canas702

Spock says live long and prosper not "proper". i find it amusing thats all i have to contribute to this.
http://youtu.be/Iu1qa8N2ID0

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

Dang that silly spellcheck!!

DW

2damax

Times like these make me happy to drive a 6sp.

spock

iTrader: (5)

I did state that the method that I described replaced most of the fluid. Do it again next year and almost all of the fluid will be replaced. As an anual-semi/anual maintenence item, it seems quite logical.