Transmission Flush

[charley240sx]

ok, i am about to take over a family members 1997 es300 and am wanting to do a major tune up myself.

i plan on trying to do everything that i think can be accomplished by myself. and the rest of the hard stuff to the mechanic. as of right now i am wanting to flush the tranny, but have yet to work on an auto tranny. have read some posts, but it seems as if it is a little more difficult than a manual trans. car.

will someone please help me with where to start.

[bob95603]

If I were you I wouldn't do a complete flush immediately. You want to see if anything is wrong with the transmission before you totally flush it. Get a gasket for the transmission pan and a new filter for the transmission. You can get a kit at Napa for less than $15. Unscrew the hex drain bolt for the pan and drain it. You may want to put a sheet of plastic on the ground to protect against spills/drips. After it's empty, drop the pan (a little more fluid will come out). Pull the old gasket off and scrape any remaining gasket off the pan with a putty knife (don't use a screwdriver). Also clean around the transmission where the pan sits. Pull the magnets out of the pan and inspect them for any metal. No metal is good. Metal filings caught by the magnet indicate that something is wearing in the tranny. Clean all the sludge off magnets and from within the pan. Don't use any water based cleaner. I usually just use new transmission fluid on a rag or shop towel. Lightly wipe off anything you can see in the transmisson. Attach the gasket to the pan and screw it back in. You'll notice that the bolts holding the pan to the transmission were not very tight. Put them back the same way. Do not overtighten or you could create a real problem. Replace the drain bolt and fill with transmission fluid to the cold line. Run the engine to warm up the transmission fluid, go through all your gears and check the fluid again. As the fluid should now be at operating temperature, fill to the not line. It's real easy to do. Probably 1 on a scale of 1-10. Periodically (monthly) doing a drain and fill will get 99% of the fluid out of the transmission over a 5-6 month period.

[charley240sx]

ok, thank you very much bob95603. that was a fairly detailed explanation.

[ArmyofOne]

ok, thank you very much bob95603. that was a fairly detailed explanation.

there is a harmless way you can do it, but only if the tranny fluid looks red, if its black or even slightlky discolored use the method detailed above. otherwise,

buy about 20 quarts (4 cases) of ATF. drop the pan and clean it the magnets and replace the fliter (this model has no screen, its an actual filter that can be replaced). put a new gasket with RTV on and bolt her back up. take off the drain plug, pour fluid through the trans until the fluid that comes out to bottom is cherry red. once it is, put the plug back in and refill to proper level. you just did a non pressurized flush which is 10x better that a pressurized one is for your trans.

DO NOT powerflush your trnany, ever.

[dcfish]

ok, thank you very much bob95603. that was a fairly detailed explanation.

there is a harmless way you can do it, but only if the tranny fluid looks red, if its black or even slightlky discolored use the method detailed above. otherwise,

buy about 20 quarts (4 cases) of ATF. drop the pan and clean it the magnets and replace the fliter (this model has no screen, its an actual filter that can be replaced). put a new gasket with RTV on and bolt her back up. take off the drain plug, pour fluid through the trans until the fluid that comes out to bottom is cherry red. once it is, put the plug back in and refill to proper level. you just did a non pressurized flush which is 10x better that a pressurized one is for your trans.

DO NOT powerflush your trnany, ever.

Army, Are you saying that pouring new fluid through the dipstik will push out ALL the old fluid out via gravity?

[ArmyofOne]

ok, thank you very much bob95603. that was a fairly detailed explanation.

there is a harmless way you can do it, but only if the tranny fluid looks red, if its black or even slightlky discolored use the method detailed above. otherwise,

buy about 20 quarts (4 cases) of ATF. drop the pan and clean it the magnets and replace the fliter (this model has no screen, its an actual filter that can be replaced). put a new gasket with RTV on and bolt her back up. take off the drain plug, pour fluid through the trans until the fluid that comes out to bottom is cherry red. once it is, put the plug back in and refill to proper level. you just did a non pressurized flush which is 10x better that a pressurized one is for your trans.

DO NOT powerflush your trnany, ever.

Army, Are you saying that pouring new fluid through the dipstik will push out ALL the old fluid out via gravity?

not all, but some. you will have to do it again. if you really want all the old out, you have to put some air in there, blow through the dipstick, (laugh, but it will work) or something of that nature. just make sure its completely empty when you refill. just dont use highly pressurized fluid. what works evenb better is to put trans fluid in a pump and squeeze it through. It worked on my ES250, may not work ont he 300. never tried it. the 300 has a much larger tranny.

simply using gravity probablyw ont work on the es3. it does ont he 250 though, i had to blow on the dipstick a little. but once the tranny was completely empty, all i did was refill. same concept. sorry for the confusion.

[charley240sx]

what do you mean by pressurized wash and powerflush?

btw, does anyone know where i can get another tension bar brace that connects from i believe next to the pass strut tower to the engine? the bushing is just demolished.

Edited December 20, 2005 by charley240sx

[tckcumming]

btw, does anyone know where i can get another tension bar brace that connects from i believe next to the pass strut tower to the engine? the bushing is just demolished.

That part is known as a "dogbone". Do a search, you'll find lots of info on this.

tck...

[Toysrme]

Ya. You can find generic aftermarket ones on ebay for like 25-30 shipped, or rebuild them with 3m Polyurathane & have a stiffer mount for like 10-15.

Like tck said, it's been covered alot. Search.

[ArmyofOne]

what do you mean by pressurized wash and powerflush?

btw, does anyone know where i can get another tension bar brace that connects from i believe next to the pass strut tower to the engine? the bushing is just demolished.

what i mean is, if you go to a service center and say you want a trans flush, they flush the trans with new fluid at well over 100 PSI. that will quickly demolish most trannies much over 3 years old. 10-15 psi is about the most you want to use.

[Toysrme]

The basic theory is that they pump fluid at too high of a pressure, into parts that were not designed to handle it. While most transmission pumps on there own can exceed 200psi under certian conditions.

Most of us believe in just letting the trans mission flush itself.

Take the cooler lines off. The sending line goes into a container to hold old fluid, the return line goes into fresh fluid. (Either put all your new fluid in one big container, or buy some hose & T's so you can drop your line in all of them at the same time.) Crank the engine & let it turn over, but turn it off before you run out of fluid!

That'll change the vast majority of it back out. Especially if you drop the pan before hand.

Afterwards I say do that every other year, or drain & fill the transmission when you do the oil.