Hi,

I have a couple of questions regarding the AT Fulid Change.

1. When you do the mzmtg process listed in this thread, do you have to remove the ATF from the pan first or does this method get all of the ATF?

2. If you drop the tranny pan, as mentioned in this thread, how do you get to the rest of the ATF?

3. If you want to do both drop the pan and get all the ATF out, what is the best way to do it? Do the process in Point #1 above and then drop the pan and reuse that ATF or drop the pan, bolt it back up and then follow instructions in Point #1 above?

If it helps, I have a 1999 Autotragic with 67K miles. I had done a complete Flush at the Stealer when the car was at about 38K - 40K. Stealer had recommended complete flush rather than the drain and re-fill they do with the 30K service. I was planning on going the AMSOIL ATF route.

Thanks

 

The mxmtg process will get all of it if you do 4 qts at a time rather than 2. The pressure line on the trans is the one with the banjo bolt. There is no need to pull the pan. Amzoil is a waste of money IMHO. I flush mine every 60K with brand name DextronIII and it's still going strong at 161K.

 

The easiest way is to drain 4Qt from the drain plug, then follow the flushing instruction. If you disconnect the return hose, you get the old fluid in the radiator cooler, too.

If you also want to drop the pan, open the drain plug first, then drop the pan. Then do the flush. Personally, I don't think the pan drop is necessary.

 

OEM Nissan ATF for the win

 

Hmmm. Not what I expected to hear. I thought folks here said shifts were smoother, quieter and quicker with the Synthetic ATF.

So, how much does the OEM ATF run for 10 quarts?

 

I've never done anything more than a drain and fill and my original tranny
is still running fine at 243,000 miles. First time I used Nissan atf at $5.00
a quart, but everytime since I've just used Wolfshead atf at .89 cents
and its been fine. I usually let it drain about an hour -into a marked
container- and I get out about 5 quarts.

 

Using synthetic ATF (AMSOIL) made my tranny shift smoother when it was cold and also maintained a crisper shift when it was very hot. I think the synthetic fluid maintains it's viscosity better over a wider temp range.

 

Thanks. I thought I had seen your and other folks' posts saying the same hence I decided to get Amsoil. So, do you agree that the pan does not need to be dropped and I can just open the ATF return line and flush out the ATF 4 quarts at a time?

 

Bump for more feedback and an answer to my question.

 

I get 12 Quarts of Esso [ExxonMobil Corp] Dextron III/Mercon at BJ's wholesale for something like $10.99. Not expensive. There is no reason to re-use ATF.

If you drain and drop the transmission pan you will get about 5 or 6 quarts out. You will not get the remaining fluid out of the torque converter or transmission cooler.

I drain and drop the pan about every 15,000 miles. This means that I am changing about half the fluid and I'm also changing the filter screen. It takes me about 1.5 hours and about $30 to do this. Since the OEM owner's manual suggests changing transmission fluid every 30k, I figure changing half of it every 15k is ok (especially since it comes out just as cherry red as when it went in). Knock on wood, I have 218,000 on the original transmission now and she still shifts beautifully.

If I were you, I would drop the pan and change the screen. It can't hurt you, it can only help you and will cost you comparatively little in terms of time and money.

Also, as per the one thread - you do not need to change the 21 transmission pan bolts (unless of course you stripped one off or something). I've changed it myself plenty of times and there is no need for them.

Good luck!

 

Ho! Ho! Ho!

2.5 hours till Santa gets here. So, till then, bumping the thread. I had hoped to get more folks to reply but it seems they've been ignoring this thread.

Happy Holidays too.

:-)

 

ive got 77k on my 99 se and i just chaged the screen and atf with the nissan stuff. feels the same to me but thats good i guess.

 

Dang.

Where are the folks who swore by Amsoil. The guys who gave responses regarding OEM or non-Synthetic ATF, thanks for your posts and feedback. I guess the AMSOIL lovers are not that many out there.

 

bnever tried the stuff but id be willing to give it a shot

 

I changed mine at 80,000 miles and used Castrol ATF with out changeing the screen, just cleaned it with carb cleaner. I think you should drop the pan to clean out the gunk and the metal shaveings off the magnets. I didn't replace the bolts, I just put a little gasket compound on the threads to make sure they were sealed.

 

OK. The general consensu seems to be that I ought to drop the pan. I will do that. But I want a complete flush. So, would the steps be like:

1. Drain the Pan of all the ATF?
2. Drop the pan and clean or replace the screen
3. Bolt the pan back up
4. Fill the ATF up
5. Open the ATF retun line and drain the rest of the ATF??

I am so confused with this whole ATF thing now.

 

Me to. Can someone PLEASE outline a PROCESS in a CLEAR manner as to HOW to do the tranny FLUSH? It would be greatly appreciated for those of us who don't exactly "get it".

 

Yeah. Someone please help (now us). It seems the two different processes for ATF are somewhat grey if one wants to do BOTH. Can someone who has done both shed some light on how they went about dropping the pan AND doing a complete flush?

 

I would like to know the 'exact' process as well, if someone would be so kind as to outline it.

 

Here is how I did the flush:

1/ Open drain plug.
2/ Drop pan and clean pan. (Did not change the screen. It looked clean).
3/ Reinstall pan with new gasket.
4/ Reinstall drain plug.
5/ Put in 4 Qt of ATF fluid. Check level, add fluid as need to full.
6/ Disconnect return line. Point return line to a bucket.
7/ Start engine and drain 2 Qt. This takes about 10 seconds.
8/ Put in 2 Qt. Repeat step 7-8 until fluid is clean. (I did it 3 times)
9/ Reconnect return line.
10/ Check fluid level per manual.

Note: If you are not sure, 12 QT total should be enough.

 

Oops. Step 7 should be:

7/ Start engine and drain 2 Qt. This takes about 10 seconds. Stop engine.

 

I just drained and flushed w/ mobil 1 syn atf. i ponder if synthetic is better or bad cuz of its slippery feel. i heard it should have frictino additives but till this day i still d k what is real and what works for the AT, though amsoil syn atf has been loved by peeps.

 

You can flush the tranny by doing it that way, but dropping the pan gives you access to the screen and the magnest in the bottom of the pan.

When i did my flush and switch over to Amsoil I did drop the pan. The car had approx. 50K on it. The magnest had some metalic sludge stuck to them so I cleaned them. The screen looked pertect, I left it alone. A new gasket, 4 quarts of fluid and I proceded to flush via the cooler line 4 qts at a time.

My process was as follows:

Drain and drop the pan, clean the magnets in the bottom of the pan and reinstall with a new gasket. Add 4 qts and disconnect the cooler line. Start the car and pump out the fluid I just put in. Add 4 more qts, start the car and pump it out again. Put the tranny cooler line back on and refill 4 qts. Took the car for a ride and upon getting the tranny hot, I checked the level again. It was about 1/2 qt below the HOT mark so I put another 1/2 in. Since then I do drain and refills about every 30K miles. Fluid always comes out red and clean since the switch.

 

Thanks a lot njmaxseltd. That clarifies it. That is exactly what I was thinking (though I was thinking of doing two 4qt batches ATER the pan was put back on and refilled). So, you dropped the pan and refilled it with AMSOIL and then did 1 more batch of 4 qts. So you got about 9 - 10 qts (I figure droppting the pan takes care of about 5 - 6 qts) in total. Right?