I was planning on doing a basic drain at the plug then refill fluid swap, but I was curious if I'd be better off doing a FULL fluid swap. In the past I've used the method of disconnecting the hoses to the ATF cooler, then attaching long hoses to those outlet and inlet ports on the transmission, and with the car running and in neutral pushing out the old fluid into a bucket while drawing in fresh fluid directly from a 1.5 gallon jug. That was on an old analog Getrag 5-speed though, and I wasn't sure if the more sophisticated unit in the M would respond as well. I recall my old Honda with an auto 5-speed had a crazy 4-step drain/fill/drive method that had to be followed PRECISELY.
Any thoughts? I'd really like to save myself a couple hundred bucks!
DIY transmission flush
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chairmankaga
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- Car: 2007 M35 Base
1982 Alfa Romeo GTV6
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frapjap
- Posts: 13175
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- Car: '99 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am
'07 Subaru Legacy - Location: South Coast Massachusetts
Re: DIY transmission flush
Wow. I have never heard of anyone doing their own fluid swap but no reason you couldn't I suppose.
But yeah, good point on every manufacturer being a little different.
My first spot to check would be the FSMs.
Here at NICO, we have Factory Service Manuals available free to members. Take a peek at the link in my signature and find the FSM for your car. Hopefully it'll have some info.
But yeah, good point on every manufacturer being a little different.
My first spot to check would be the FSMs.
Here at NICO, we have Factory Service Manuals available free to members. Take a peek at the link in my signature and find the FSM for your car. Hopefully it'll have some info.
Re: DIY transmission flush
I did a complete flush on my M35x. I pretty much followed FSM except I did not do a pan fluid change out first.
In hindsight, I may have saved a few qts. during refill had I followed the FSM.
In any event, I bought 16 qts. of Nissan Matic S, and cycled through 14 qts, which at that point the fluid was coming out nice cherry red.
I disconnected the line at the cooler for the procedure.
A few observations:
I used gallon jugs to remove the old fluid & to keep track of what I was putting in /taking out... 4 qts out, 4 qts. in!
The transmission pump cycles the old fluid out faster than you can refill it with fresh fluid. I needed a second person to shut down the car so I could refill the transmission with equal amount of what I took out. As the gallon jug filled, I had to shut the engine off before the jug was at capacity, because the pump continued to spew fluid out for a moment after shutdown.
I recently serviced my transmission for the second time. This time I did 2 pan fluid change outs two days apart from each other instead of a complete flush.
In hindsight, I may have saved a few qts. during refill had I followed the FSM.
In any event, I bought 16 qts. of Nissan Matic S, and cycled through 14 qts, which at that point the fluid was coming out nice cherry red.
I disconnected the line at the cooler for the procedure.
A few observations:
I used gallon jugs to remove the old fluid & to keep track of what I was putting in /taking out... 4 qts out, 4 qts. in!
The transmission pump cycles the old fluid out faster than you can refill it with fresh fluid. I needed a second person to shut down the car so I could refill the transmission with equal amount of what I took out. As the gallon jug filled, I had to shut the engine off before the jug was at capacity, because the pump continued to spew fluid out for a moment after shutdown.
I recently serviced my transmission for the second time. This time I did 2 pan fluid change outs two days apart from each other instead of a complete flush.