have a 04 SS with non supercharged 3.8 engine;;has 134000 miles on it and trans never serviced as i know of;;got car with 110000 on it and no maintance records..have had it now and then[not often]shift gears very hard[like a old hotrod with comp. shift kit in it]and maybe 4 or 5 times when take off from stop sign it will fill like it's in N and all sudden slame itself into gear;;;;going try droping pan and replaceing filter and fuild in pan;;can i fill up with valvoline dexron-vl [full synthetic] without flushing trans?have no way fluishing and don't trust any local shops to do it......if i can use fluid i have then how many qts. i need?i have 7 qts on sleeve left over from a fed ex truck i replaced trans in..save me lots cash if can use it..

 

I believe you need 8 or 8.5 qts of Dex 6 when you do the pan drop.

 

Also check you're codes. Sounds like a p1811 hard shift. Could be the trans is going or your pressure control solenoid needs replaced.

 

so i can use the full synthetic dex 6 without doing a complete flush then?

 

IMO pan drops are next to usless. Yeah you can chnage your filter but you leave a lot of crappy fluid in the trans that helps contribute to wear and tear. If your doing it yourself its not that expensive I guess. But I would go with a full flush. Helps to thuroughly clean out the trans. But if your gonna do a pan drop and filter change then crack your filter open and look for metal shavings. If you have a lot your torque converter could be going. I just went through the "car is hard shifint should I change my fluid?" Dilema and ended it at nearly paying for a trans rebuild I didn't need (still expensive to replace the pcs but less so than a rebuild) sorry if I'm going beyond the question your asking with my advice but I'm trying to save a fellow monte owner some trouble in the future. In short. I recomend a code scan, trans flush and thurough old filter inspection. Start with the code scan and you could save yourself a head ache in the future.

 

Yes, Dexron 6 is fully compatible with 3.

Doing a full FLUSH on an old trans could just speed up failure. Sometimes that gunk is holding things together.

 

thanks;;this is what i needed to know;;if i can use fluid i have with what fluid left in verter and trans that doesn't drain with pan drop and you answered that;;i agree with you on the flush deal;;when worked at dealership years back more times then not when we did a trans flush on a high milage and not serviced trans then they ended up going out in weeks after doing it;;had hard time explaining to customer why his trans worked perfect before we flushed it and now it is bad and needs a rebuild;;very pissed off customers to a point if trans hadn't been serviced at miles it should have been done then we wouldn't flush trans..we only do pan drop/filter replacement..

 

Sorry if I answred what you didn't ask. Just trying to save yoy down the road.

 

no big deal;;you had a very good point;;yes;;agree with you on the pan drop only to some agree..it is same thing as doing a new trans replacement but using old converter and old contamidated fluild in verter with new trans..it is only going cause new trans to go out faster;;with 130000+ miles on my trans and never been serviced it is already on borderline of being bad or going bad soon;;i'm just thinking won't hurt it anymore to at least change filter and pan fluid to help give a little more life before needed replace;;i've seen trans in past that wouldn't even upshift and done pan and filter drop only and was able to get few more years out of them before replacing;; i wanted to see if fluid i already have would work in my trans without haveing to flush it all out;;by using fluid i already have then all it is costing me is $15.00 for filter and gasket at this time and gives me a chance to see how much material may or may not be in pan to give me a ideal as to how much life may have still in this trans..car is baby drove..i never run above 80mph on highway and has never spun a tire..this is my everyday driver so i'm easy on her;;if want to spin tires and smell burning rubber i'll pull my 1800hp AA/FUEL ALTERED dragster out of car trailer..what i'm saying is i'm not hard on trans so feel if service it from now on see will last me long time[i hope][;;

 

Well then.... way to make the rest of us feel insignificant... ill just go sit on the 4 40,440 pounds of thrust engines attatched to my c-17's. Haha. And back to the trans I replaced my pressure control solenoid and she runs fine. But I think it already had a rebuild. They just didn't chnage the pcs when they did it. Just gonna say I would love to strap mysylf to that rocket you call a car.... 1800 hp...