Getting time to service Ram 1500 trans

[BrianF]

After this show season ends soon I plan to do a fluid exchange on the 545rfe. Will use the Mopar filters etc. but looking to do something different on the transmission fluid. The dealer has the Mopar brand synthetic ATF+4 for 7$ a liter, I am waiting to see what the price point for PetroCan ATF+4 comes out to and the Coop has their ATF SL for less than 9$ a liter.

Now the obvious is that the Mopar and PetroCan have licenced products whereas the Coop says it meets the requirements of it. While I am not hung up on the licence nor the "meets" requirement. [censored] the Amsoil in my Trailblazer is not a licenced Dex6 product and it runs fine. Wondering what guys are running in their 545's??

Has anyone tried the Coop ATF before?

 

[zrxkawboy]

Stray from a licensed ATF+4 at your own risk.

 

[VNTS]

If your in waranty, run the Mopar ATF+4 and look for an online dealer or ask your local dealer for a discount?

In my 02 WJ 545RFe and 00 Durango with 46RE I run the Amsoil.

Stick to the mopar filters. You might also conside putting a B&M bulkhead daring plug in the pan, next time you change it will make it easier or you cn do drain and fills.

I run Redline C+ in my 06 Cruiser in the 40TE.

I think the Amsoil and Redline are better fluids

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: zrxkawboy
Stray from a licensed ATF+4 at your own risk.


+1. Not worth it.

 

[stchman]

Just perform suck and fill on the transmission and replace what was sucked out. Pretty much all you ever need to do.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Does it have a drain plug? If not, you should get an aftermarket pan that does have one. It will make future ATF changes much easier.

 

[BrianF]

I am leaning towards the ATF+4, as no one has run the other fluid so in all reality there may be no difference or noticeable difference in performance, so run whats known. We will see what price I can get in the end.

All indications I have read say to use the Mopar filters and I will.

I do not believe there is a factory drain plug but I intend to disconnect the cooling output line and use the engine to pump it out. I did this on the Trailblazer with great results. When I dropped the pan I did not lose a drop. I pumped it out until the onset of cavitation, shut it down and topped up with fresh fluid and repeated until fresh fluid was being pumped out, then topped up as necessary.

Depending on how long I keep the truck I may never drop the pan again, just do the odd pump out and fill.

 

[Skittles]

That 545rfe is a stout transmission. I would just run the cheapest atf+4 fluid you can find. It will be fine.

 

[BrianF]

So I finally got around to servicing the trans on my Ram. I used the same cooler line pump out as I did with my Trailblazer. It worked so so..... Sure the e-clip to disconnect the cooler line was easy and I used the command start to run the engine until the pump began to cavitate. So I popped the pan off and there must have been 2 liters of fluid still left in it. Of course there was some choice words but one must move on. When I did this method on the Tb it drained the pan almost completely. I pumped it out 3 times and used only 13 liters of fluid until it came out nice and pink.

The pan drop showed what I suspected, nothing more than the usual fuzz on the magnet and some little fine specs of metal. The oem filters were Filtran microfelts. I put in Mopar filters as well.

Now as for the fluid... I had planned for ATF+4 but changed my mind. Time to blaze some trails. I used the Co-op ATF-SL full PAO fluid. Yes it is a multi vehicle and not licenced but [censored] if it melts my transmission I will die by my sword.

The thing runs and shifts great. Shifts are still crisp and positive manual downshifts. No issues what so ever.