AT fluid flush

[jhuman]

I want to do an AT fluid flush but I don't know where to put the fluid into the car. I went through the FSM but it just said add fluid to the charging pipe and I'm not exactly sure what that is. Can anyone tell me where to put AT fluid in or what the charging pipe is?

[RED_DET]

You add the fluid back into where the dipstick is with a funnel..

[jhuman]

Awesome, I was reading the FSM and it says the capacity is 9 qts, does that sound about right for how much I should add back into the charging pipe?

[RED_DET]

Yes, transmissions hold quite a bit of fluid.

[Cecilia48]

I was reading the FSM and it says the capacity is 9 qts

[jhuman]

So I've been putting this off for quite some time, but I was trying to double check how many quarts of transmission fluid to add back in after I drain, and after some research, I've seen people say add back 2.3 quarts or some amount less than 4 quarts. Is this only for manual sentras? I have a 2003 nissan sentra se-r automatic. Earlier I read that I should add back 9 quarts, does the auto transmission hold that much more fluid than a manual? Thanks for the help

[jhuman]

After even more research, it appears that I have been confused. So my understanding is that the entire transmission system will hold about 9 quarts. However, if you simply drain the ATF pan, you will only get out about 4 quarts as most of the ATF is in the torque converter and lines. At this point, the posts I've read suggest doing 3 drain/refill cycles using 4 quarts for each cycle, and doing each drain/refill at about 20,000 mile intervals. The point of driving the car after doing a drain/refill is to get the new ATF circulating through the entire system and then performing the subsequent drain/refills to get the old stuff out. This is how I will proceed. I hope this will clarify doing the drain/refill method for others. Let me know if I've missed something.

[jhuman]

Good day folks, I know I've been putting this off for a while but I finally got around to doing the ATF drain an refill. It's been 65k miles (my car currently has 151K miles) since I had the ATF completely flushed at an auto shop back in 2008 right after I bought the car and have not even looked at it since. After unplugging the ATF drain plug, 5 & 3/4 quarts of fluid came out, possessing a murky dark red color. I added back the exact same amount of Valvolines MaxLife Dex/Merc ATF fluid and took her for a spin. The car seemed a little more responsive but didn't really notice any major difference. I will perform another drain/refill at around 10K to flush out any remaining old ATF fluid from the torque converter/lines.

[SoundEfx]

Thanks for the update. The transmission is one of the most neglected parts of the car.