I thought about changing my own tranny fluid this time. Because I got rape the last time(last car I had) I had the dealship did it. They told me it only be about 80 to 100. It came to the amount of $200.

I got some skill, but how much of a pain is it?

Is there a plug , or do you have to take the bottom pan out?and there's filter right.

 

$200 bucks is a rip... Geez...


If you are on schedule of every 30K I would not waste your time on a pan drop.. I think I paid $65-$75 for a flush that does not require a pan drop.


No drain plug, you will have to drop the pan..

 

What color is the tranny fluid?

 

Pinkish red.

 

Ok if you have to ask what color tranny fluid is i would not suggest u change it. Even if you did change it wich would be a major pain. You would have to torque all the bolts on the pan proly get a new gasket theres a filter there too and u wont get all the fluid out anyway. The only way to get all the fluid out is a flush and you cant do that without a machine. But yeah if you dont know what color tranny fluid is i wouldnt even open the hood if i were you. Go take it to a shop and have it flushed prolly around 100 bucks.

 

Good point... [sm=badidea.gif]


But then again, it's pretty straight forward and we all have to learn at some point.

 

Tightening the pan bolts isn't very tricky, and the gasket is likely reusable (I think all 6th gens are).

And you can flush a transmission without a machine.

But like you said, if you don't know what color the trans fluid is, you may want to take it to a shop.

 

How would one go about this? I would really like to do this myself to save some $$$

 

You need something to catch the old fluid in and some hose that will fit over your trans cooler line. Make sure the hose is long enough to reach what you are catching the old fluid in.

I would start by draining the pan and changing the filter, but you don't have to.

Then, disconnect the transmission fluid line from the transmission to the cooler. Take the hose and put it over the line coming from the transmission and put the other end in your catch pan/bucket. If you drained the pan, start by putting a few quarts back in. Start the engine and watch the fluid coming out of the transmission. When it starts to spit out some air, shut off the engine. Put in about two more quarts. Repeat until fluid coming out of the transmission is clean. Reattach the transmission line, top up fluid, start the engine and go through all the gears for a few seconds. Check fluid level and adjust as necessary. Test drive to get the fluid hot, recheck fluid level.

It may be a good idea to have two people, one to hold the hose and tell the other when to shut off the car. At work I have a hose long enough to reach the driver's side of the car so I can do the job myself.

 

how much tranny fluid for a 3.4 l