DIY Changing the Transmission Fluid and Filter

Pulled from various sources and experiences on this board by Wilson009 Experience with your car: Medium Eliminated: You have already ruled Battery, Alternator, and possibly IVM. When its time: Your Car has over 100K on it. Your leaking transmission fluid onto the driveway Myths Busted: 1. 2. 3. 4. No Its not Lifetime Oil Yes you can use an alternative to Shell M-1375.4,and not hose up your transmission Yes the Mechatronics unit can be serviced separate from the transmission Yes you can replace your transmission pan and use non oem

Symptoms: Transmission going into Failsafe, Leaking Fluid, various error codes you can find on this board by searching.

Tools: Torx Bit set Torque wrench Hand Pump to pump oil into the pan Hex Key Set

Equipment New Transmission Pan o $115 on ebay or USAautoparts.net a lot more if you go OEM I found the specs and quality to be identical to the OEM 8-12 qts of Castro Import Multi-Vehicle ATF or OEM if you really want to Castro has been used multiple times by many people in this form without issue

Recommended Order New Pan Bolts from the dealer the for some years. Out bolts torx size is too small and they strip easy as a result. The new bolts take a larger torx bit. Absorbent material (cat litter at the autostore) This is a very messy job and you will spill oil everywhere including your hands and maybe your head at some point.

1. Open the drain plug at the bottom of the pan and drain your oil and dispose or reuse if you just replaced it recently if you want

a. Make sure you can open your Fill plug before draining

2. Unbolt your transmission Pan. If you strip the torx bolt use channel locks.

a. Recommend replacing your bolts T-27 heads unless you already have T-40's

3. Dispose of you old transmission pan but before you do tear it apart to inspect the filter to see how much metal is in it. Also inspect your magnets. Mine and Keifers were fairly coated which I think is normal after 120K.

4. Button up the Transmission Pan

Figure 1 Follow the order started at 1. Tighten to 10nm

5. Pump fluid into the Transmission Pan until it spills out (about 3-4 Qts). Leave Fill plug open

Figure 2 No that's not me or my Shirt

6. Turn on Car Pump another 4 qts in. After you get the first 2-3 qts in quickly get in drivers seat and put it in Drive, Neutral and Reverse a few times. Then get back out and keep pumping.

7. When full warm fluid will begin to slowly drip out. *pump it fast otherwise it will come out Hot! When drip becomes a small stream put fill Plug back in. You should be good to go now. *Hints If you turn off the car while the fill plug is open, after youve added the additional oil, It will all come running back out! Do not overfill- If you overfill by pumping in extra. If you do it will cause it to Foam inside the Transmission. If you want to check the level after you have test driven it. Let it cool down overnight! Otherwise you will scald your hands.

8. At this point you need to decide if you want to do a true Flush. This is because there is 3 Quarts stuck in your Torque Convertor that did not come out and is going to dirty up your fluid. I change my fluid a few times to get the fluid to red. At $5 a quart it was cheap to do.

Figure 3 This is the Dirty Stinky ass Fluid sitting in your Transmission

Figure 4 Poop Water

Figure 5 The gradual Change to Red after Refreshing the Oil 5x at 3 qts at a time

Figure 6 Sweet as Nectar

9. Clear all your error codes and Take her for a test drive. Youre done!

Additional Notes on the Mechatronics/Transmission Dynamics

Figure 7 Mechtronic Adapter Pin locations

Figure 8 Mechtronic Pin Functions