Initial servicing of newly installed 5R55E A/T?

[BadaBingM3]

So in few days after transferring over part from my old tranny to my new transmission I ordered from Drivetrain products. Once installed, how should I go about initial servicing? Looked on youtube but I'm not really finding anything informative. I've read one should fill the torque converter which would require me to remove it. Or do I add a certain amount through the fill dip stick, start it up and service as it warms up? It's a newly rebuilt one so I'm guessing it's pretty dry of any fluids. Thanks!

 

[410Fortune]

so a new rebuilt trans
You DO fill the converter with 1 quart of fluid. Note the depth of the converter, see how far back it sits inside the bellhousing.
Remove the converter, turn it over, fill the hub with 1 quart of mercon V
(You will be using 12-14 quarts of mercon V ONLY do not use anything else!)
Stab converter back onto transmission, 3 clicks, until it is as far back as it was before you removed it

Now install transmission, plenty of threads on this.
Good idea to clean out your trans cooler and lines with compressed air
I also have been known to use a product called Kooler Kleen from lubeguard, this will clean the trans coolers and lines so your fresh new transmission does not get contaminated with old fluid or bits of carbon, metal, etc

Drop pan, replace filter, replace pan
Add 4 quarts of fluid through dipstick
start truck, run it through the gears, with foot on brake run it from P to 1 and back a few times....add 4 more quarts of fluid with truck running, keep putting shifter through the gears
You are now 9 quarts in
The system holds about 11-13 quarts so now you add a quart at a time and take dipstick readings. The truck should start to engage gears, it will grab in R and D..... with the truck running and warmed up you can adjust the fluid level. until it reads correctly on dipstick
Take 1-2 quarts of mercon V and a funnel with you on first test drive.
Continue to check fluid level until happy with results.

Drive for 500 miles, drop pan, replace filter and 4-5 quarts of fluid
Drive for another 1000 miles, drop pan, replace filter and another 4-5 quarts of fluid
Now you are good for 60-90K miles before you should replace the filter and some fluid again

 

[BadaBingM3]

so a new rebuilt trans
You DO fill the converter with 1 quart of fluid. Note the depth of the converter, see how far back it sits inside the bellhousing.
Remove the converter, turn it over, fill the hub with 1 quart of mercon V
(You will be using 12-14 quarts of mercon V ONLY do not use anything else!)
Stab converter back onto transmission, 3 clicks, until it is as far back as it was before you removed it

Now install transmission, plenty of threads on this.
Good idea to clean out your trans cooler and lines with compressed air
I also have been known to use a product called Kooler Kleen from lubeguard, this will clean the trans coolers and lines so your fresh new transmission does not get contaminated with old fluid or bits of carbon, metal, etc

Drop pan, replace filter, replace pan
Add 4 quarts of fluid through dipstick
start truck, run it through the gears, with foot on brake run it from P to 1 and back a few times....add 4 more quarts of fluid with truck running, keep putting shifter through the gears
You are now 9 quarts in
The system holds about 11-13 quarts so now you add a quart at a time and take dipstick readings. The truck should start to engage gears, it will grab in R and D..... with the truck running and warmed up you can adjust the fluid level. until it reads correctly on dipstick
Take 1-2 quarts of mercon V and a funnel with you on first test drive.
Continue to check fluid level until happy with results.

Drive for 500 miles, drop pan, replace filter and 4-5 quarts of fluid
Drive for another 1000 miles, drop pan, replace filter and another 4-5 quarts of fluid
Now you are good for 60-90K miles before you should replace the filter and some fluid again

Ok awesome thank you so much!!

 

[C420sailor]

Check the pan magnet too. The filter isn’t really that fine.

 

[410Fortune]

no problem I remember the first tiem I stabbed an auto trans I wish somebody had explained all this to me
Now I have done probably 50 of these v6 trans

Good tip about the magnet, if you drop the pan and clean it you will also clean your magnets
Fine black material is OKAY, any "glitter" or "shine" as we call it..........or small pieces of metal NOT OKAY

 

[BadaBingM3]

no problem I remember the first tiem I stabbed an auto trans I wish somebody had explained all this to me
Now I have done probably 50 of these v6 trans

Good tip about the magnet, if you drop the pan and clean it you will also clean your magnets
Fine black material is OKAY, any "glitter" or "shine" as we call it..........or small pieces of metal NOT OKAY

I used to be a jet engine tech in the USAF working on P&W F100's on F-15's back in the day. The gear box had "chip" detectors. Same concept, magnetic plug on the scavenge pump. One for each bearing and there were 5 bearings on that engine. Same thing also with either furris material vs. metal splinters (real bad!).

 

[C420sailor]

I used to be a jet engine tech in the USAF working on P&W F100's on F-15's back in the day. The gear box had "chip" detectors. Same concept, magnetic plug on the scavenge pump. One for each bearing and there were 5 bearings on that engine. Same thing also with either furris material vs. metal splinters (real bad!).

Thank you for keeping the dinosaurs burning! I flew F/A-18Es for a while, and the F414 didn’t give us a chip indication in the ****pit. Not sure why. Fan/core vibration, the standard oil temp/pressure, etc. The T-34 had a chip detector for the gearbox though—that was a great little airplane. Think I only had a CHIP light in that thing once...I think it was just accumulated ‘fuzz’ that bridged the gap.

 

[BadaBingM3]

Thank you for keeping the dinosaurs burning! I flew F/A-18Es for a while, and the F414 didn’t give us a chip indication in the ****pit. Not sure why. Fan/core vibration, the standard oil temp/pressure, etc. The T-34 had a chip detector for the gearbox though—that was a great little airplane. Think I only had a CHIP light in that thing once...I think it was just accumulated ‘fuzz’ that bridged the gap.

I worked on those dinosaurs for 9.5 years then retrained and became a FE on HH-60G Pave Hawks flying Combat Search and Rescue for the remainder of my career. 14 years in CSAR. The HH-60G definitely had chip detectors in each gear box and a caution light to alert us. A tail rotor failure isn't something I ever wanted to experience. lol! Seeing how you were a pilot (awesome must have been flying F/A-18E's!) I got on with SkyWest but my damn training class was canceled till further notice. I'm a MEI-I now and finally hit my R-ATP hours but just a few months too late. Unreal man. Now I don't know what the hell to do. I guess figure something else out for a while. Thank God I'm retired!

 

[C420sailor]

I’m in the same boat. Shoot me a PM if you’d like. Got out early due to a spine injury, so I only have about 1000hrs TT. Had an interview with PSA back in March but it was canceled when C19 hit. The industry was hit so badly that I’m now pursuing a career change to medicine. I miss flying like absolute crazy, but I can’t afford to sit around and wait for better days.

 

[BadaBingM3]

I’m in the same boat. Shoot me a PM if you’d like. Got out early due to a spine injury, so I only have about 1000hrs TT. Had an interview with PSA back in March but it was canceled when C19 hit. The industry was hit so badly that I’m now pursuing a career change to medicine. I miss flying like absolute crazy, but I can’t afford to sit around and wait for better days.

Yeah this really sucks. Good luck with the new endeavor. I might have to go back to turning wrenches. Grrrr! I'll keep you in my prayers and contacts. I'm sure I'll be hitting up a few more questions on my rebuild too! TTYL.

 

[drdoom]

Magnetic in line filter...think one comes with the flush kit.

 

[BadaBingM3]

Hey buddy, got a question on that 5R55E tranny. I had posted a few pictures in another thread but I'll ask again as it sounds like you know what our doing. The old transmission had a 90 degree vent tube ontop near the back and there is a rubber line and metal line that wrapped around and drains to the left of the transmission. Quite long actually. The new transmission has a different vent tube with a square dangling cap. I called Powertrain products about it and they said it was a revision some time back. So my question is if the old 90 elbow vent had such a long drain line, will this one with no drain tube connection leak fluid all over the rear end of the transmission at times? I popped off the square cap and looks like there is a thin plastic plunger of sort inside the tube. I'm guessing I can discard the old drain tube and leave as is. Please see the pictures. Thanks!

 

[CDW6212R]

The longer vent system is better because it prevents more from getting in, like being submerged that far. I don't know when the changes happened or why some have the simple vent, I guessed that it was for 4WD models, the long vent.

 

[410Fortune]

both vents will work
I prefer the rubber line, it vents up higher