DIY: Full Flush for Automatic Transmission

I noticed no difference in mine. When I added new cooler and flushed. I needed to do it though. The oil was really really dark.

 

I was going to do this myself, but when I took it in for the leaf spring recall I asked what they charged for the 12 qt flush: $180. Figured it was gonna cost me $150 for fluid I might as well have them do it. I did ask how they managed to do the flush for $180 when the fluid was $150; he told me they buy in bulk and their cost for fluid is considerably lower. I did notice a difference afterwords. Worth the $30 to me.

 

Are you sure they did a flush and not just a pan drain?

 

Personally, I think Valvoline MaxLife Dex/Merc is better than WS. At about $18 a jug, you'd have 12qts for less than $60. I assume the filter went untouched.

 

12 qt flush is what I asked for, I've had good luck with this dealer and the transmission is noticibly smoother (I don't know that just a pan drain would've been as noticeable). Fluids are cheap in the long run... With the $$transmission$$ I'll stay with the factory fluid; I'll mix it up with the diff's and transfer though.

 

Good for you. You paid to have your tranny flushed. I bet you didn't even look through his thread - it happens to be a DIY Full Flush! Most of us spent under $60 to do what you paid $180 for that's all. Oh and dont try to say V Max Life fluid is not as good since everyone here has used it and most including me noticed an improvement in shifts also. I will say $180 isn't too bad IF they did a full flush???

 

Time my man, time. Some value it different then others. One will pay to have someone else do maintenance on their trucks and save their time for other endeavors. While others are more hands on and are willing to sacrifice their time for maintenance items. I'm kinda in the middle with these things.

 

That's fine but - once again this is a DIY thread? That said if I had a $ for every time I heard about a shop F***ing up someones car I could retire!

 

I do realize it is a DIY thread and never mentioned an opinion on VMAX. I was here reading the DIY thread with the intention of DIYing it; as I do with most of my vehicle projects (3kids with old cars). I don't have the time or money for HB's Bilstein 6112's through lighted 4WD switch but I do have money to drop my truck off while I work and have one less thing to worry about this week. I thought everyone in California was supposed to be happy?

 

Hey your the one who said you would've spent 150 for fluid. I just commented on what I saw. Enjoy taking your truck to the stealership. I bet they just did a couple of drain/fills? No worries bro. Don't get your panties in a bunch. I've got kids too btw

 

12 qrts of Maxlife ATF and a bottle of Lubegard platinum. Definitely feels better.

 

Question for the guys that did the sprayer method, is it possible to just remove one line at the trans cooler? Or does the fluid pass too slowly through the cooler? All the fluid is passing through the same loop, only the cooler is bypassed. Just curious as I thought of it while I was doing mine today. I used the method from here and it worked great! Just as described. I also dropped the pan, replaced filter and gasket, cleaned magnets and pan. Filter looked clean, but hard to tell through the filter housing. Shifts like new. Valvoline Maxlife, like many, I was about a quart low from factory. Thanks for everyone's information on this thread!

 

Used the OPs method this past week. Went well, the op wording on which trans line to pull off by the radiator is somewhat confusing, but it went alright. Buy more fluid than ya need and return it if you don't end up using it. I bought 13 qts and had literally just enough, although I did clumsily spill some lol

 

Awesome write up, just did this. Used the Valvoline stuff from Walmart. Drained the pan, refilled with a gallon of fluid. Pumped the tranny line til it started sputtering, around 3.5 quarts, refilled a gallon. Pumped the tranny line til it sputtered again, by that time the fluid was red and new looking. Refilled one gallon. Did the OBDII jump fluid level check, about a quart overflowed out. Truck downshifts way smoother now.

 

Thanks to OP for putting this together. Just did this on my 2011 w/ 100k on it. Not difficult at all. I took my time with everything and it took about two hours start to finish. I used Valvoline Max Life that I purchased from Wal-Mart for just under $18/gallon. Old fluid was dirty (not terrible) and didn't have any bad smells to it. I drove a 6x12 trailer packed to the roof across the country on it and was thinking it would be worse off. I think I was about 1/2 - 3/4 qt low initially.

 

i'm getting ready to attempt this DIY this weekend. because i don't believe any servicing has been done on my truck ever, i'm going to drop the pan, remove the screen and clean it, install my new gasket and all new pan bolts and drain plugs, then proceed the rest of the way as shown in this thread. i'm so glad i found this. quick question...is there a huge difference in the amount of tranny fluid needed for this for a truck with vs. without a towing package? i have the towing package and i bought 14 quarts of WS Fluid, i hope that is enough lol

 

it's roughly 1/2 a quart, 14 quarts is enough, but it depends on how much you want to flush.

here was my drain and fill process (14qts).
Drained the pan
Added 4 quarts
emptied 4 quarts through the trans cooler
Added 4 more quarts
emptied 4 (At this point it started to run clear)
added 2 more quarts
emptied 2 quarts
Added 4
Entered trans temp check mode and emptied 1/2 quart through the overflow plug.

 

I was going to use oem ws fluid but after reading the good results other members are having with maxlife, im gonna have to hit my local walmart to see if they stock it.

 

Good write up. Great illustrations as well, very thoughtful.