Alternative to a cooler line flush

[Falcon_LS]

I’m looking to replace all the fluid in my transmission, but the cooler line method is proving inconvenient as I cannot control the flow. If I had someone helping me, it would be much easier, but unfortunately I don’t. That and I’ve had some complaints about ‘small puddles of oil’ in front of the house.

I was thinking about an alternative method I could use, which I wanted to share and hear some opinions on.

Basically, I have a hand pump and I was thinking about removing the A/T dipstick and pumping out the fluid into a measured container. When there’s no longer any ATF being pumped out, start the car and let it idle to allow for ATF circulation in the transmission. Then pump out some more old fluid until I have the advertised ATF capacity in the measured container.

Once that is done, drop the pan and empty whatever is left in the pan, then replace the filter. Clean the pan and the magnets, put everything back together and refill the equalivant of what is in the measured container. Take a short drive around the block, check the ATF level and add/remove as necessary.

Any opinions as to whether or not this would work well? Thanks!

 

[The_Jeff]

I tried doing this a long time ago with some flexible plastic tubing ("aquarium tubing" and was not able to snake it past a small flange where the dipstick hits the transmission pan. I was only able to get a quart out.

Classy guy that I am, I started a siphon by mouth on the brand new hose. It worked for a while, slowly, then stalled, and I wasn't about to try again. Though if I had a vacuum pump I could have.

This was on a cutlass ciera 3T40, your grand marq may have an easier or harder time.

 

[Letter_K]

Originally Posted By: Falcon_LS
I’m looking to replace all the fluid in my transmission, but the cooler line method is proving inconvenient as I cannot control the flow. If I had someone helping me, it would be much easier, but unfortunately I don’t. That and I’ve had some complaints about ‘small puddles of oil’ in front of the house.

I was thinking about an alternative method I could use, which I wanted to share and hear some opinions on.

Basically, I have a hand pump and I was thinking about removing the A/T dipstick and pumping out the fluid into a measured container. When there’s no longer any ATF being pumped out, start the car and let it idle to allow for ATF circulation in the transmission. Then pump out some more old fluid until I have the advertised ATF capacity in the measured container.

Once that is done, drop the pan and empty whatever is left in the pan, then replace the filter. Clean the pan and the magnets, put everything back together and refill the equalivant of what is in the measured container. Take a short drive around the block, check the ATF level and add/remove as necessary.

Any opinions as to whether or not this would work well? Thanks!

Cooler line method isn't too hard. Get a extra long length of clear tubing (10feet/3meters) and a couple of clamps and you can drain into a jug. If you have a rubber hose off the cooler, just replace it with the clear tube. Otherwise if yo have a metal hose I'm sure you can find some connector that would work. You can put the jug right next to the drivers door so you can see it and turn the car off. You can control the flow by turning off the car.

I'm sure someone will chime in, but isn't it the fluid in the pan the is pumped and that fluid pushes the fluid form your torque convertor. Once you start to sputter you need to fill the pan up again and repeat how many times to get clear fluid to run out. You could hand pump, but then you need to add the same amount of fluid to the pan to flush until the fluid sputters. I think in most transmission you would get the sputtering right away in you drained the pan completely.

If you are worried about small puddles, get some cardboard or a tarp to put under the car.

 

[hate2work]

Falcon, you will run your TC low on fluid, I personally wouldn't do that.

Doing a cooler line flush by yourself is not difficult at all. If you're careful, as you should be, nothing will spill. Just get the proper hoses, etc, then take your time and go slow.

As far as "controlling the flow", just get set up, run the engine for 5 seconds, shut it off and see how much has come out, that will tell you how much to expect for longer time frames. Piece of cake

 

[brianl703]

I just find a fuse or relay under the hood that, when pulled, stops the engine. The PCM relay is a good one to use. Suggestion: Pull it first and then install it loosely so that you can more easily get it out when it's time to stop the flow.

 

[Falcon_LS]

Thanks for all the input. I think I will definitely refrain from using this method for the sake of the torque converter.

The relay sounds like a great idea, thanks for the suggestion Brian! My only concern there would be breaking something though. The heat and sand does weird and wonderful things to plastic housings and fuse boxes, so unless I absolutely must replace a fuse/relay I just tend to leave it untouched.

What I'll do is I will use the thin plastic tubing that connects to the hand pump as an extension to the slightly thicker ATF cooler supply hose. I have a 5 gallon container with marked increments, which I will lead the tubing into. The tubing measures 4.3 meters, so that should be more than enough to route it from the passenger side fender to the driver's door where I can see it. Once it starts to sputter, I'll just kill the ignition and add ATF.

Thanks very much for all the input once again!

 

[NYSteve]

I've done the 1 person cooler flush. I do 2-3 quarts at a time and it's never like 'OMG THERE'S FLUID GOING EVERYWHERE!

2 quarts on my Volvo takes about 15 secs or so. I believe ATF is 10 PSI or so. Power Steering is the one that will spray everywhere.

 

[The_Eric]

First, pumping out the fluid from the cooler lines wont hurt the converter. Second, there is no drama associated with doing it by your self. Like another poster said, add some extra line and stick it in a sufficiently sized container. No mess. In fact, I've never had the aid of a helper while doing one. The last car was an 02 Lincoln Town car..

Lastly, look closely, your car may have a converter drain. There is a rubber plug in the bottom of the bell housing - stick a ratchet on the crank damper bolt and turn it over and see it you can spot it. I did this on the Town Car, only to realize there was none. Once you pull the converter plug, grab a beer... In fact grab a couple, because it takes quite a bit of time to drain. Between the converter and transmission pan/filter, you'll need around 13qts of ATF.