I plan on draining & refilling my transmission 3 times to get ~90% fresh fluid in there. Question is: Each time I drain & refill, do I have to drive my car around the block to get the fluid to mix well? Or can I just idle the car stationary for 5mins and let the transmission pump mix the oil? Then do the next drain & fill. Car is a '00 Toyota Camry 2.2L.
Question on drain & refill ATF
- Thread starter Ken4
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Using a lot of ATF this way. Personally, if the mileage is 30,000 miles or so I would just do one drain and fill with synthetic and go another 20,000 or so and change it again and then every 30000 or so. This is what I have done with my Camry (92) and still original transmission at 172000. I dropped the pan twice in this time and screen basically clean, synthetic ATF IMO is great but if you have a plug and do not have to drop the pan I guess any ATF vry often would be fine
Between fills I usually drive long enough to get the ATF to full operating temperature. That's about8 miles with my vehicle. eddie
Depending on your total transmission capacity and the amount of the fluid that comes out with each drain, you do not necessarily get 90% of the new stuff in just three cycles. My transmission holds 7 quarts and 3 quarts come out during the drain. It takes four or five cycles to get over 90% of the fresh fluid there.
I use Spector's approach.
Change the filter and take it to Jiffy lube where they will hook a mainchine up to the transmission cooler lines and completely swap in new fluid in one smooth motion.
I watched it being done, it was slick as **** and you can see the dark old fluid coming out and the new stuff going in.
That, and you dno't have to constantly get filthy and they handle the mess and the job is done better.
I watched it being done, it was slick as **** and you can see the dark old fluid coming out and the new stuff going in.
That, and you dno't have to constantly get filthy and they handle the mess and the job is done better.
Thanks for your replies. I did the drain & refill 3 times. I just let the car idle stationary for 5mins each time cos I was too lazy to get the car off the jackstands. It seemed a waste cos the subsequent drains looked like fresh fluid was coming out the drain plug.
Maybe I should have driven round the block. Yes, I did change the diff too, but only once. Im a little bit chicken to remove the cooling line for a better flush and let the transmission pump run dry.
Why not unhook your pressure line to your transmission cooler at the radiator? Then you can drain your entire trans. contents. If you get 2 or 3 feet of whatever size your cooler lines are say (5/16", 3/8") fuel hose (the flexible black rubber) run it into an open top drain pan you will remove all your old fluid. Start your car run for 10-15 seconds and shut off & you should not run your trans pump dry this quick. Then fill with new ATF 3-4 Qts. This may take 12 to 20 Qts for a larger trans with extended cooling. Find out your trans capacity and get 4 Qts too many and that should be good. And the first time you might use 2 people. Watch your ATF color & when it turns the same color as the stuff going down your trans fill tube all fluid is new and you did it once. And this is as close to a complete fluid change as any service facility will perform. And this is not considered a back flush. Which I consider not the best thing in the world to do, but again this is an opinion. This procedure has worked for me for many years & I have yet to see a trans related issue.
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