How To: Flush Transmission Fluid in an R50 at home
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mdmellott
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Re: How To: Flush Transmission Fluid in an R50 at home
That's not a flush. That's a drain, 4 times, with a very limited return on investment benefit after the second drain. You can save money on at least 2 gallons of wasted ATF by dropping the pan, which will dump an extra couple of dirty quarts, and change the ATF filter while your at it. I think the addition of another filter, mounted externally, is unnecessary and provides little or no benefit.
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mdmellott
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Re: How To: Flush Transmission Fluid in an R50 at home
That's odd. Looks like admin combined this transmission post with the power steering post and deleted the video regarding the transmission.mdmellott wrote: ↑Tue Aug 29, 2023 8:46 amThat's not a flush. That's a drain, 4 times, with a very limited return on investment benefit after the second drain. You can save money on at least 2 gallons of wasted ATF by dropping the pan, which will dump an extra couple of dirty quarts, and change the ATF filter while your at it. I think the addition of another filter, mounted externally, is unnecessary and provides little or no benefit.
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VStar650CL
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Re: How To: Flush Transmission Fluid in an R50 at home
Yep, I thought that was weird when I saw it. You're not one to make block copy errors.
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Rogue One
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Re: How To: Flush Transmission Fluid in an R50 at home
Mistakes happen.
EDIT: Fixed.
EDIT: Fixed.
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VStar650CL
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Re: How To: Flush Transmission Fluid in an R50 at home
I've done a pan drop before and in my opinion, it's an unnecessary waste of time unless you got water or something in your system and/or really want to clean the magnet. Furthermore, the ATF filter is just a screen that doesn't capture anything small enough to matter. I changed it when I first got the vehicle years ago and it was basically clean. If you jack up the front end, all of the pan fluid will drain out. Draining it from the plug 4 times got my fluid from super dark, almost black, to cherry red. Dunno what else you're trying to accomplish here but this works fine for me. Also, a Magnefine filter works amazingly and does in fact prolong the life of your fluid by may thousand miles. I speak form experience.mdmellott wrote: ↑Tue Aug 29, 2023 8:46 amThat's not a flush. That's a drain, 4 times, with a very limited return on investment benefit after the second drain. You can save money on at least 2 gallons of wasted ATF by dropping the pan, which will dump an extra couple of dirty quarts, and change the ATF filter while your at it. I think the addition of another filter, mounted externally, is unnecessary and provides little or no benefit.
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mdmellott
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Re: How To: Flush Transmission Fluid in an R50 at home
It's just a math thing for me. The color is a good indicator of dirty oil but just a little goes a long way in making it look worse than it is. It may feel good to see it bright cherry red after 4 drains and fills but it's just a waste. The math is simple. After 4 drains and fills of 4qts from a total volume of 9qts each time, almost 2gal of fresh ATF, at $25-$30/gal, is thrown away. The fourth drain wastes 3.3qts because after 3 fills the ATF is about 83% fresh fluid. The 4th fill brings it up to about 90% clean. Dropping the pan and letting it drip a while will get at least 7qts out of the transmission, about 78%. The savings of $50-$60 will pay for a new filter and gasket, allow access to clean off the magnet trap which makes external magnetic filters pointless, plus there will be enough ATF left over to use in a proper drain and fill of the Pathfinder's power steering.
Re: How To: Flush Transmission Fluid in an R50 at home
I see your point. But the magnefine filter is more than just a magnet. It traps particles much smaller than what the OEM filter can, which is basically just a glorified metal screen.mdmellott wrote: ↑Tue Sep 05, 2023 10:05 amIt's just a math thing for me. The color is a good indicator of dirty oil but just a little goes a long way in making it look worse than it is. It may feel good to see it bright cherry red after 4 drains and fills but it's just a waste. The math is simple. After 4 drains and fills of 4qts from a total volume of 9qts each time, almost 2gal of fresh ATF, at $25-$30/gal, is thrown away. The fourth drain wastes 3.3qts because after 3 fills the ATF is about 83% fresh fluid. The 4th fill brings it up to about 90% clean. Dropping the pan and letting it drip a while will get at least 7qts out of the transmission, about 78%. The savings of $50-$60 will pay for a new filter and gasket, allow access to clean off the magnet trap which makes external magnetic filters pointless, plus there will be enough ATF left over to use in a proper drain and fill of the Pathfinder's power steering.
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VStar650CL
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Re: How To: Flush Transmission Fluid in an R50 at home
The fluid in the pan on A/T's is fairly slow moving and the designers expect (rightly) that metal debris will naturally fall out to be trapped by either the magnets or the clutch goo that forms in the bottom of the pan. Restrictive filters just increase the chances of clogging with clutch material, which is basically harmless to the system and doesn't need to be caught. Ask any old timer who ever owned a ride with an OE fiber filter in the tranny, lots of aftermarket screens got sold because of those filters getting cloggo in their old age.
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