which vehicle/transmission has tranny drain plug?

[TFB1]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Now which ones have torque convertor drain plugs?

Two cars in my .sig do... but probably nothing less than 45 years old does. That was a great feature, you can actually drain those old Torqueflites *completely*. Convertor and pan, nothing left but fluid trapped in small nooks and crannies. The sad irony is they'll run 300k miles with one fluid fill... its the later transmissions that don't have convertor drain plugs that really need the regular fluid changes :-/



All Ford RWD trans had a converter drain plug till about 10 years ago, dunno about FoMoCo wrong way drive stuff, haven owned or touched one in over 25 years... Sadly no Ford passenger car or light truck has had a pan drain plug since the '80s, and those were the few pan fill models that dipstick tube threaded into pan...

 

[exranger06]

Originally Posted By: TFB1


All Ford RWD trans had a converter drain plug till about 10 years ago, dunno about FoMoCo wrong way drive stuff, haven owned or touched one in over 25 years... Sadly no Ford passenger car or light truck has had a transmission drain plug since the '80 and those were the pan fill models that dipstick tube threaded into pan...

My RWD 19 year old Explorer doesn't have a torque converter plug. And Rangers have NEVER had a torque converter drain, and they've been around since 1983.

 

[exranger06]

Originally Posted By: taurus_sable
also with transmission drain plug, is it easy to drain the entire transmission/torque converter? don't want any old fluid stay in the system.

Even if you have a drain plug on the pan, you still won't be able to drain the torque converter. The only way to change out ALL the fluid is to do a cooler line flush. Or, if your car actually has a torque converter drain plug, you could use that. But as others have already said, torque converter drains are increasingly rare as time goes on.

 

[TFB1]

Originally Posted By: exranger06
Originally Posted By: TFB1


All Ford RWD trans had a converter drain plug till about 10 years ago, dunno about FoMoCo wrong way drive stuff, haven owned or touched one in over 25 years... Sadly no Ford passenger car or light truck has had a transmission drain plug since the '80 and those were the pan fill models that dipstick tube threaded into pan...

My RWD 19 year old Explorer doesn't have a torque converter plug...


Ummm OK, must be the off shoot of the A4LD trans(can't remember the model), My '96 F-150 & '98 Grand Marquis both have converter drains, but there is none on on the '07...

 

[solorexpy]

My 2000 Expedition has both a pan plug and torque converter drain plug. Both make life very easy when changing transmission fluid. 4x4 helps too since I can get under there without a jack! I've got the 4R100 transmission.

 

[Danh]

Originally Posted By: taurus_sable
i hate dropping the pan on my mercury. that's why i asked. I'll only buy one with drain plug in the transmission.

also ease of oil change is big plus too.


Or buy one with a transmission fluid dipstick and get a fluid extractor. Fluid extractors are pretty cheap and make it really easy to remove and replace fluid. And you never have to get under the car.

 

[zzyzzx]

Normally I use a siphon, but one of my cars does has pressure test port that most likely can also be used as a drain plug.

 

[UNC017]

Originally Posted By: taurus_sable
also with transmission drain plug, is it easy to drain the entire transmission/torque converter? don't want any old fluid stay in the system.


No. That's why I posted about convertor drain plugs. With a pan drain plug, you can only drain about 1/3 to 2/3 of the fluid in the transmission (depending on specific design). If you pull the drain plug and let it sit overnight for air to work back into the convertor, you can get more out. But if there's a convertor drain plug, you get it all by removing both plugs. Lots of people never realized there were convertor drain plugs at all- you have to remove the inspection plate and rotate the engine until the drain plug is at its lowest point in order to use it.



Nice to hear Ford kept convertor drain plugs around on some rear-drives longer than I realized.

 

[andrewg]

My Honda Ridgeline has a drain plug. Simple maintenance procedure is to drain and fill....that's all that is required.

 

[Mykl]

Scion xB has one.

 

[fdcg27]

Subarus have drain plugs for the automatics.
It wouldn't be hard for the inattentive to drain the transmission thinking they're draining the engine oil.
It's been done.
Many Subarus even have a spin-on filter for the AT.
Our Forester does.
Honda automatics always have a drain plug, although the later ones (going back more than a decade) lack a removable pan and therefore have a filter that can't be replaced in service.

 

[Klutch9]

Both of our vehicles do. On the Sedona, I can actually reach under the vehicle and remove the plug. Drain and fill with no need for jacks or ramps

 

[solorexpy]

Draining the torque converter and pan does not drain all of the fluid from the system. Those of us with transmission coolers still have fluid in the cooler itself and the lines to the cooler. When I changed my fluid, I pulled out about 15qts. The entire system was around 17qts.

 

[KB2008X]

Originally Posted By: KB2008X
Camrys and Corollas had them for years, I'm not sure if they still do or not. Beyond that not many manufacturers offered automatic transmission drain plugs from the factory, but some did through their aftermarket performance programs.
What are you anglin' towards ?


Well, there are more than I remembered. I'd forgotten about the Hondas and some of the Volvos having them.

As far as torque converter drain plugs my 2000 Grand Marquis and 1999 Town Car has them, but the 2004 Town Car does not.

I remember the first time a Saturn came into our shop and seeing the spin-on trans filter. It was a shock, and I wish more manufacturers would do that. But space for one is getting harder to find these days.

 

[johnachak]

My 2006 Ford Freestyle. With the CVT has a transmission drain plug.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Honda automatics always have a drain plug, although the later ones (going back more than a decade) lack a removable pan and therefore have a filter that can't be replaced in service.


Some have external inline filters. Our CR-V, for example, has a filter mounted just behind the radiator. This seems to be more common on the I-4 transmissions. The V-6 transmissions don't seem to have the inline filters from the factory...or at least not in a very accessible location.

 

[SLCraig]

Originally Posted By: solorexpy
Draining the torque converter and pan does not drain all of the fluid from the system. Those of us with transmission coolers still have fluid in the cooler itself and the lines to the cooler. When I changed my fluid, I pulled out about 15qts. The entire system was around 17qts.


It's true, but if you do it in a regular maintenance routine, its enough to introduce 50% new fluid to the system say annually. I have been doing this semi annually on my parents car and the trans is working great at 14 years of age. Good shifts and no slipping or anything.