Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Draining auto transmission

[DLausche]

It's time to change the auto trans fluid in my 99. I remember reading in one of the past TDR issues an article from a member detailing how to drain the fluid without dropping the pan by unhooking one of the lines going to the cooler up front. I can't seem to locate this article again. Anyone remember the issue & page where I can find this article?



Is this a good way to drain it or not? I'm going to remove the pan anyways to replace the filter. I've never done this before and am thinking that removing the pan while it is full is gonna create a helluva mess. Maybe there is no way around the mess until I install a drain plug?



Thanks,

Deon

 

[curatchko]

Home Depot sells a black plastic concrete mixing pan that is fairly large, and only 5 bucks. I used that under the pan and not one single drop of fluid anywhere... .

 

[Snow man]

You can unhook the cooler line. its the one that goes into the front of the trans,follow it into and out of the engine mounted cooler under the ex manifold,and to the front of the truck,unhook it by the sway bar in front,there is a rubber to steel connector there,route it into a bucket,fire engine,put trans in N,let out about a gallon-5 quarts of fluid,then shut it off. You should be able to drop the pan now without getting a bath. if you want to get 9 quarts out of it,instead of 6-7,you can loosen all the VB bolts 3 or 4 turns,let the vb drop,and you will get a few more quarts out of the TC,dont forget the tighten the vb bolts to 100 inch lbs when your done draining the tc. Put a new filter in it,and your set.

 

[DLausche]

Thanks for the feedback and good ideas. I think I'll tackle the project this weekend.



By the way, how many miles do most go between transmission fluid changes? My truck is mostly a daily commuter and only pulls a travel trailer a dozen times or so in the summer. I'm thinking I've waited too long to do this (57,000 miles).



Thanks again

Deon

 

[rblomquist]

I'm going to do the exact same thing this weekend (oil change). Just got my mag-htec pan today after a fiasco with a B&M pan. Hated to pay the $$$$ for the mag but I really wanted the extra capacity.

 

[Steve M]

Just curious, what was wrong with the B&M pan? I've thought of going that route because of the high $ of the Mag...

 

[rblomquist]

Steve,



The B&M pan is a great pan, super nice and heavy and huge cooling fins however, it hold's only about a quart more fluid than the stock pans that we have on these 24v trucks. I forget off the top of my head but DC increased the pan size somewhere around 97. If you look at the Mag's at Geno's for instance you'll notice 2 pans; one for pre 97 (or 96) which will increase 2 qts I believe over pre-97 stock; the other is the double deep, which is the one for the "newer" 47RE's that already had a 5 qt pan.



Again, the B&M was a real quality piece of work for a sensible price but it was basically no larger. If you want a substantial increase in capacity you have to fork out around 3 bills and get the Mag-hytec. Kinda like RV generators, way overpriced, however, living without one or using a construction grade genset just doesn't cut it (just paid 4k for a Onan genset for our trailer).



p. s. Just got an email from PML, they say their pan increases capacity 2 qts over our stock pan. Their pan is about 100 bucks cheaper than the mag but then you're looking at whether you want a 2 or 4 qt increase, a tapped pan for a sensor etc. Also, I'd be real careful about manufacturors claims about capacities. I physically dumped quarts in each pan off the truck to figure out exactly how much the hold.