Chrysler 62TE transmission - ok to suck fluid out of dipstick tube and refill?

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I have a fairly new Chrysler 62T3 transmission. There is no dipstick as they don't want the average owner to mess with it.

I'm not keen on removing the pan to drain the fluid as it's messy. And I'd like to not introduce any new chance of leakage (say I put the pan back poorly).

I'd like to take advantage of the new fluid in there and also that the factory fill level is correct.

Question: Could I simply suck out what I can out of the dipstick, not particularly caring whether it's fully drained or not, and then put back the exact amount of fluid removed? Any issues with this?

I would be using an extractor pump, the same one I've been using to change the engine oil for years on a variety of cars.

I would do this with the engine cold and the new ATF at the same temperature as the engine (both would have sat in the garage overnight).

By "take advantage of the new fluid in there", I mean the fluid in there now is fairly fresh. If I do this procedure every time I change my engine oil (since I have the pump out), I'm thinking that the transmission fluid will continue to be fairly fresh. Since I'm only removing part of the old fluid (can I estimate 20%?) and then adding only that same amount of new fluid, the fluid will never be "new". But on the other hand, with me doing this every engine oil change, the ATF will never be fully "old" either.

The only downside I see is that I can't inspect the pan and see if there are any metal bits.

I've seen this method talked about only rarely. I'm not sure why most shadetree mechanics don't do it this way.

Frankly, I don't know why ALL mechanics don't do it this way. Seems a lot easier and less messy. Perhaps with pro mechanics, the car could have come in smoking hot and now the outgoing fluid temps aren't exactly the same (but I can't see the volume difference being that much). Or maybe there's no way of knowing what the fluid level of the transmission is when it came into the shop (e.g. it could have been low and if you replace only what was sucked out with the same amount of new, the resultant fill is still "low".) --but that's not my case; the trans is fairly new and presumably the factory fill was done correctly.
 
You may find this helpful.



Some Chrysler transmissions have a bracket that prevents an oil extraction tube from reaching the bottom of the pan. In my Jeep, I can only get a couple of quarts out via the dipstick tube. That said, partial replacements are highly recommended.
 
I did one of these recently on my daughter's Chrysler minivan. Mostly because the side pan (controls cover) had an oil leak. Also one of the cooler lines was leaking a bit. It's not too tough to remove both pans. My screw-up was not getting one of the cooler lines (with quick connects) seated properly. Two miles down the road and EVERYTHING under the hood was covered in ATF, luckily just a lot of smoke no fire. THAT was a lot of work to clean up. Never gonna make that mistake again.
 
Isn't there an aftermarket Dorman dipstick available for some Chrysler transmissions? :unsure:

I thought it was that one, but I could be wrong.

There are aftermarket transmission pans with a drain plug, so you won't have to drop the pan again. Drain it cold, measure how much came out, then refill with the same amount.

On a Chrysler minivan, you want to change the ATF regularly. A year, 15k, whatever :D
 
Isn't there an aftermarket Dorman dipstick available for some Chrysler transmissions? :unsure:

I thought it was that one, but I could be wrong.

There are aftermarket transmission pans with a drain plug, so you won't have to drop the pan again. Drain it cold, measure how much came out, then refill with the same amount.

On a Chrysler minivan, you want to change the ATF regularly. A year, 15k, whatever :D
I'm cheap and so I think I'll try using the engine oil dipstick like in the video earlier in the thread. :)

I did see a Dorman (I think) trans pan with a drain plug. It was plastic though. Not sure if that's altogether bad or not. I don't drive that much and so I think I will just keep draining (sucking) and filling through the dipstick tube on a regular basis for the remaining life of the vehicle.
 
Your reluctance to drop the pan is the same reason a lot of people don’t do their own full transmission service. I pull three quarts out each year with my extractor but I have the dipstick to check it later. Three out, three in. You should have a graduated container to measure it. There are some good four quart measuring jugs on EBay and Amazon. A very small amount will adhere to the plastic tube and measuring container, but I found it’s not enough to worry about. Go for it.

By the way. You’re going through the dipstick tube right? The dipstick is the thing you insert into it, for cars that had one.
 
I would not do it half A$$...IMO Dropping the pan and changing the filter is the way to go...I remember that they used to make a drain plug kit for the pan to make draining a lot easier...
 
I recently did a change on my 62TE and I would recommend you do a proper drain & fill.

There's a metal stopper for the dip stick so if you insert your suction tube it's not going anywhere near the very bottom of the pan. Not only are you not getting as much of the fluid out, you're also not getting at the heavy stuff that settles at the bottom.

It's not that much more work to do a pan drop. Definitely get an aftermarket pan with a drain plug to make this easier for the future. If it's the first change, it is also a good opportunity to clean the magnet and change the filter. Some filter kits come with a gasket, which is definitely easier for future servicing vs RTV.
 
I recently did a change on my 62TE and I would recommend you do a proper drain & fill.

There's a metal stopper for the dip stick so if you insert your suction tube it's not going anywhere near the very bottom of the pan. Not only are you not getting as much of the fluid out, you're also not getting at the heavy stuff that settles at the bottom.

It's not that much more work to do a pan drop. Definitely get an aftermarket pan with a drain plug to make this easier for the future. If it's the first change, it is also a good opportunity to clean the magnet and change the filter. Some filter kits come with a gasket, which is definitely easier for future servicing vs RTV.
Solid info on the 62TE. If the suction hose Could reach the bottom, I’d endorse the periodic replacement to 100k then suggest a real pan-drop and filter. But if you can only such off the top 2 quarts, seems futile.

a lot of the old numbers make great sense today for the bitoger. Example, 60k first pan drop then every 30k after that. That was required 30 years ago. New transmissions don’t require it and in my experience, catching the first one by 100k seems to work well. So, if we then, as bitogers, use the 60, 30, 30… method, we are well ahead of the game. Using good fluids, even at the 60, 30, 30 intervals, very clean fluid is coming out.
 
a lot of the old numbers make great sense today for the bitoger. Example, 60k first pan drop then every 30k after that. That was required 30 years ago. New transmissions don’t require it and in my experience, catching the first one by 100k seems to work well.

Just speaking anecdotally here, but even at my initial drain at 30K, the fluid was starting to get discolored and the magnet was covered in goop. The power steering fluid also had a darkened tinge to it at this point with minor debris caught in the screen. This was for a lightly driven vehicle.

So IMO there's probably some validity to getting out all that initial break in stuff earlier than later. But after the first one, I would have no problem going for a longer interval, maybe 50K and even skipping a filter change in between. Having a aftermarket pan with a drain plug makes servicing so much easier.
 
I have a fairly new Chrysler 62T3 transmission. There is no dipstick as they don't want the average owner to mess with it.

I'm not keen on removing the pan to drain the fluid as it's messy. And I'd like to not introduce any new chance of leakage (say I put the pan back poorly).

I'd like to take advantage of the new fluid in there and also that the factory fill level is correct.

Question: Could I simply suck out what I can out of the dipstick, not particularly caring whether it's fully drained or not, and then put back the exact amount of fluid removed? Any issues with this?

I would be using an extractor pump, the same one I've been using to change the engine oil for years on a variety of cars.

I would do this with the engine cold and the new ATF at the same temperature as the engine (both would have sat in the garage overnight).

By "take advantage of the new fluid in there", I mean the fluid in there now is fairly fresh. If I do this procedure every time I change my engine oil (since I have the pump out), I'm thinking that the transmission fluid will continue to be fairly fresh. Since I'm only removing part of the old fluid (can I estimate 20%?) and then adding only that same amount of new fluid, the fluid will never be "new". But on the other hand, with me doing this every engine oil change, the ATF will never be fully "old" either.

The only downside I see is that I can't inspect the pan and see if there are any metal bits.

I've seen this method talked about only rarely. I'm not sure why most shadetree mechanics don't do it this way.

Frankly, I don't know why ALL mechanics don't do it this way. Seems a lot easier and less messy. Perhaps with pro mechanics, the car could have come in smoking hot and now the outgoing fluid temps aren't exactly the same (but I can't see the volume difference being that much). Or maybe there's no way of knowing what the fluid level of the transmission is when it came into the shop (e.g. it could have been low and if you replace only what was sucked out with the same amount of new, the resultant fill is still "low".) --but that's not my case; the trans is fairly new and presumably the factory fill was done correctly.
I would put ramps/jacks on the rear tires and suck out through the ATF fill/measure hole.
3/4 quarts would come out.
The longer you let the vehicle sit the more will come out -
enjoy!
 
I recently did a change on my 62TE and I would recommend you do a proper drain & fill.

There's a metal stopper for the dip stick so if you insert your suction tube it's not going anywhere near the very bottom of the pan. Not only are you not getting as much of the fluid out, you're also not getting at the heavy stuff that settles at the bottom.

It's not that much more work to do a pan drop. Definitely get an aftermarket pan with a drain plug to make this easier for the future. If it's the first change, it is also a good opportunity to clean the magnet and change the filter. Some filter kits come with a gasket, which is definitely easier for future servicing vs RTV.
Its fairly new - - why drop the pan?
Do it closer to 60-80k miles.
 
I have a fairly new Chrysler 62T3 transmission. There is no dipstick as they don't want the average owner to mess with it.

I'm not keen on removing the pan to drain the fluid as it's messy. And I'd like to not introduce any new chance of leakage (say I put the pan back poorly).

I'd like to take advantage of the new fluid in there and also that the factory fill level is correct.

Question: Could I simply suck out what I can out of the dipstick, not particularly caring whether it's fully drained or not, and then put back the exact amount of fluid removed? Any issues with this?

I would be using an extractor pump, the same one I've been using to change the engine oil for years on a variety of cars.

I would do this with the engine cold and the new ATF at the same temperature as the engine (both would have sat in the garage overnight).

By "take advantage of the new fluid in there", I mean the fluid in there now is fairly fresh. If I do this procedure every time I change my engine oil (since I have the pump out), I'm thinking that the transmission fluid will continue to be fairly fresh. Since I'm only removing part of the old fluid (can I estimate 20%?) and then adding only that same amount of new fluid, the fluid will never be "new". But on the other hand, with me doing this every engine oil change, the ATF will never be fully "old" either.

The only downside I see is that I can't inspect the pan and see if there are any metal bits.

I've seen this method talked about only rarely. I'm not sure why most shadetree mechanics don't do it this way.

Frankly, I don't know why ALL mechanics don't do it this way. Seems a lot easier and less messy. Perhaps with pro mechanics, the car could have come in smoking hot and now the outgoing fluid temps aren't exactly the same (but I can't see the volume difference being that much). Or maybe there's no way of knowing what the fluid level of the transmission is when it came into the shop (e.g. it could have been low and if you replace only what was sucked out with the same amount of new, the resultant fill is still "low".) --but that's not my case; the trans is fairly new and presumably the factory fill was done correctly.

I did a suck out and replace on my wife’s 2014 Chrysler T&C a few months ago. I did the process twice with a couple short drives in between. I ended up swapping out a total of about 7 quarts. It was about 3.5 quarts each time. It was easier than dropping the pan.

Just my $0.02
 
I was able to get 4 qts out through the would be dipstick tube. I did this vehicle parked facing forward on an incline. Pumped out 3 1/2 qts and let it sit for about an hour. Came back and got another half qt out.
You can suck 3 to 4 qts through the dipstick tube and be about as good an exchange.
I spliced in a magnifine in-line atf filter in the cooler return line to catch any possible large particles that I didn’t wipe out of the pan and it has a magnet that you catches some metal too.
 
I have a fairly new Chrysler 62T3 transmission. There is no dipstick as they don't want the average owner to mess with it.

I'm not keen on removing the pan to drain the fluid as it's messy. And I'd like to not introduce any new chance of leakage (say I put the pan back poorly).

I'd like to take advantage of the new fluid in there and also that the factory fill level is correct.

Question: Could I simply suck out what I can out of the dipstick, not particularly caring whether it's fully drained or not, and then put back the exact amount of fluid removed? Any issues with this?

I would be using an extractor pump, the same one I've been using to change the engine oil for years on a variety of cars.

I would do this with the engine cold and the new ATF at the same temperature as the engine (both would have sat in the garage overnight).

By "take advantage of the new fluid in there", I mean the fluid in there now is fairly fresh. If I do this procedure every time I change my engine oil (since I have the pump out), I'm thinking that the transmission fluid will continue to be fairly fresh. Since I'm only removing part of the old fluid (can I estimate 20%?) and then adding only that same amount of new fluid, the fluid will never be "new". But on the other hand, with me doing this every engine oil change, the ATF will never be fully "old" either.

The only downside I see is that I can't inspect the pan and see if there are any metal bits.

I've seen this method talked about only rarely. I'm not sure why most shadetree mechanics don't do it this way.

Frankly, I don't know why ALL mechanics don't do it this way. Seems a lot easier and less messy. Perhaps with pro mechanics, the car could have come in smoking hot and now the outgoing fluid temps aren't exactly the same (but I can't see the volume difference being that much). Or maybe there's no way of knowing what the fluid level of the transmission is when it came into the shop (e.g. it could have been low and if you replace only what was sucked out with the same amount of new, the resultant fill is still "low".) --but that's not my case; the trans is fairly new and presumably the factory fill was done correctly.
I did just this with our caravan.
Park it nose down and fish your hose past the trans pipe bump stop amd you can suck out almost 4 quarts each time
 
IMO, partial drain and fills are better than no drain/fills. Either way you are refreshing the fluid. It's been some time since I owned a 62TE, but like said above, there is a stopper in line with the dipstick/refill tube that prevents full access. Doorman does a good job on transmission pans. I'd get one with the drain plug if you plan on keeping the vehicle.
 
I've got a Dorman pan installed on my Caravan. I also bought the Dorman dipstick. It's only used to measure and not meant to be left in the tube full time. That dipstick is very long. I've seen some videos with guys using long white zip ties. They measure the original amount and cut little slits on ye side of the dipstick for the refill process.

After I dropped the pan and changed the fluid and put the after market Dorman pan on, the torque converter crapped out a year or so later. I used mopar ATF+4.

The van was just out of warranty. @OVERKILL hooked me up with a great guy that did the job for much less than anyone else.

I don't know if what you want to do will prolong the tranny. Some people never change the fluid and drive it hard and they manage to avoid the tranny replacement.
 
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