How to Drain/Refill Automatic Transmission

thanks for the quick response. Actually I put the plug back in hand tight when I was refilling the pan so I'm pretty sure I didn't cross thread it... I've been watching it for a day now and it doesn't seem to be leaking but I'm just a little worried about it. maybe i'll just grab another washer and do another drain and fill.

 

This thread is still relevant.

 

You're sure your torque wrench is calibrated correctly? Also, did you set it to 20in-lb or 20ft-lb? I know it's a silly question, but it can make a difference. Other than that, I don't ever both with a torque wrench if it's under 35 ft-lbs. Anything below, unless it's very sensitive mechanics, I just hand tighten + a fraction of a turn depending on application. ie, Spark plugs get hand tighten + 1/4 turn.

Usually, when a bolt keeps turning without tightening, it's either stripped the threads or the head of the bolt is snapped. Good luck.

 

Haha thanks for trying to help. Yes i'm very sure it was 20ft-lb. Guess I'll just do another drain and fill to inspect the bolt. Hopefully nothing is wrong with the pan.

 

Do you have another ride? If not, go grab a rubber plug before you check it out.

 

rubber plug? Yeah I do have another ride. I've been monitoring it and good news is that the drain plug does not seem to be loose and on visual inspection the gasket does look crushed. So far does not look like it's leaking anything. Even after a few drives and letting it sit, no fluid drip. I haven't had to time get more fluid yet but will try to do so tomorrow.

 

maybe I stripped the threads... I tried removing the drain bolt and it wouldn't unscrew. Just kept spinning just like it does when trying to tighten.

At least no ATF is leaking... guess I may need to get a new pan? What are my options?

 

I just had mine drilled and retreaded from a local mechanic. Only because I didn't have the size drill bit.

Sounds like you and I have the same story.

 

I stripped my drain plug out 10k miles ago while doing a drain/refill. JB welded around the plug and then used hi temp rtv over that. Had no issues, but with the OCD in me I replaced the pan just two days ago. Went ahead and put in a new strainer/filter as well. The only hard part was that since the drain plug wouldn't come off, I had no way of draining the fluid. I could've drilled a hole and let it drain, but I didn't know exactly how much clearance I had before hitting something critical on the transmission. So I ended up supporting the pan with a floor jack and slowly lowering it from the transmission. Would've been a lot easier with a second hand to lower it while I kept the pan from tipping over on the jack pad. 5 quarts pumped back in and I feel better about it now.

 

^ I bet that made a mess! At least you didn't break off three of the trans pan bolts off. ( nightmare)

 

I'm surprised you guys are stripping the transmission pan threads. Are you using a new crush washer, or using the same crush washer all the time, and over torquing it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnP1HQkq70s

 

i had done maybe 3 drain and fills with no problem and then I became obsessed with torquing bolts down to the factory specs. My dumb ass didn't know that the bolts were lbf-in and not lbf-ft. Which is a huge difference.

 

Did this today. Awesome. Chickened out on the full flush.

 

I did a drain and fill a couple of months ago but I'm going to drop the pan and replace the oil strainer/filter. 168k I think it's time.

 

Do you know about the various types torque measurement? I don't mean units but things like torque angle. Or that some bolts are one time use (torqued, the bolt stretches)?

I'm not sure anything most of us will work on has anything special except maybe the caliper bolts but still, worth knowing about the different types of torque and application of various fasteners.

Whom ever mentioned calibration is right on. You should also store your torque wrench unloaded (clicker type).

 

Can you clarify this a bit? I'm confused. I don't think my torque wrench even is able to do "lbs-in" ...its just a 20 lbs-ft to 100 lbs-ft Kobalt from Lowes. I just did my t case and differentials and torqued them to the lbs-ft specs, but I'm confused with the talk of lbs-in.

Sorry for the dumb question, I'm trying to learn more and more about my truck.

 

Torque wrenches usually have a scale that reads in Nm (Newton Meters), lb-ft (foot pounds), or lb-in (inch pounds). There are three types commonly used in auto mechanics. Beam, electronic, clicker. The clicker uses a clutch mechanism to preset the torque value. When you reach that, the wrench "clicks". Electronic wrenches use a strain gauge on a torsion rod-the electronics let you preset the torque value and when you reach torque, they beep or flash. A beam uses a cantilever arm and a scale to measure the torque applied to the lever arm (socket is attached to the lever portion). The cheapest is the beam then the clicker and finally, the electronic.

The size of the fastener is usually what defines the range you'll use. For example, a T30 Torx bit has a minimum torque spec of 29.2 lb-ft. While a T1 is only .01 lb-ft. In your example, your wrench has a minimum of 10 lb-ft which works for the T30 but not the T1. So for the T1, you'd want a wrench that reads in inch pounds for greater accuracy (which also implies the wrench's range is different than yours as well).

Hope that makes sense. Also, there are other tools for measuring or setting torque-most of which we won't need for the types of jobs most of us do.

 

I will probably use the flush method in the spring, but was looking at the procedure to check the level.

I have an UltraGauge and it shows me transmission temperature. It sounds like I could use it to figure out the temperature (needs to be 115-130). I could just wait for it to hit say 120, then crawl under and check it.

Maybe it's because I've only had the gauge in the winter, but it seems like it would take a lot of idling to hit that temperature. Mine usually stays below that even while driving.

 

will temp check mode safely work on a 2015?

 

yes