just did an auto tranny fluid change, now i got a problem.

[V Maxima]

alright, i just changed my auto tranny fluid, and filter. i dropped the pan, let the fluid drain, then took the pan off, cleaned it up, changed the filter and put it all back together.

then i fill it up, through the tranny fluid check dipstick. 4 quarts of dexron III type fluid. i go to start the explorer, then i shift through the gears, and once in a gear, the tranny, starts to clunk.

i check the tranny fluid with the dipstick and it's still at the middle of the hot part. since the tranny is still cold i would have assumed it should have been in the cold section. so i'm thinking that the fluid hasn't gone down to the pan yet????

is this what the cluning is from? if so, how do i get the fluid to drop down??

i've done this a couple of times, starting and shifting through the gears. i get clunks no matter what gear i put it in.

 

[V Maxima]

nevermind. i dropped the pan, dropped the filter, soaked the filter, put it all back together, and poured in 4 new bottles of fluid, and now it's fine.

 

[rpenner54]

Thanks for the good info! Its always nice to hear a solution to a problem like this. To bad no one had an answer for ya...

 

[V Maxima]

i'm not really sure, why it fixed it, but it did, and i'm happy.

but damn that's a pain in the butt to do. draining the tranny is horrible, i don't see why they didn't stick a drain plug on that pan...

 

[RTStork]

Originally posted by V Maxima
draining the tranny is horrible, i don't see why they didn't stick a drain plug on that pan...

I can't recall where, but some place has a kit where you drill and tap the pan and install a drain plug. It would make the draining a lot less messy.

 

[Sport (no trac)]

V Max, you didn't opt for the whole fluid change, hunh? What about the torque converter? What did you replace the fluid with?

 

[V Maxima]

Originally posted by Sport (no trac)
V Max, you didn't opt for the whole fluid change, hunh? What about the torque converter? What did you replace the fluid with?

well, i did the tranny change myself, so i didn't know how to do the full fluid change. now i'm reading about some way to do it with some tubs and buckets. can anyone direct me to a how-to????

and i didn't touch the torque converter, i was just going by the maintanence schedule in the haynes manual, although a few thousand miles late.

 

[V Maxima]

Originally posted by RTStork


I can't recall where, but some place has a kit where you drill and tap the pan and install a drain plug. It would make the draining a lot less messy.

i'm going to go check that out, cause it's ridiculous how messy it is.

 

[TMBackstrom]

Here's a couple I found on the net:

Deep Pans w/ drains & Drain Plug Kit
http://www.tciauto.com/components/transmission_pans.htm

B&M Drain Plug Kit
http://www.race-car-parts.com/oc/html/css/tr_229.htm
Dead Link Removed

 

[espnfreak]

it will be about 50 degrees in my garage tomorrow, how long did it take to drop the pan and do everything? I dont have a jack for my truck either, but i can surely crawl underneath

 

[SWLathrop]

V Maxima... If you replaced the tranny fluid with DEXTRON III, I believe you did a BOO-BOO. FORD changed their tranny lubrication specs in 1998 to require the new MERCON-V fluid. You may end up trashing your tranny as DEXTRON III and MERCON-V have completely different lubricating qualities and additive packages. I would recommend doing a complete tranny flush and refilling with MERCON-V.