Easy Peasy transmission fluid exchange V6
 

If you don't want to get under the truck to do this, read on!
If you do want to get under the truck with a cheap pump killing yourself, stop reading! JK

sold my 2004 v8, did this exact thing through the trans cooler and drove 100k miles on valoline maxlife full synthetic. when the truck sold, there was no leaks and the transmission shifted smooth with no issues.

Just got a 2008 garage kept v6 sport and the truck had a bad shudder at 40mph and anything up hill at low rpms. downshifts were rough, hard hitting. overall it drove like shit. over 150k miles with the stock fluid!

There are plenty of posts out there but so many argued the type of fluid and method. I am not here to do that, just sharing what I did.

1.5 hours total time. I did an oil change, plugs, and air filter while it siphoned, also watched a movie... it was a good time.

Every issue disappeared INSTANTLY. shifts like a brand new truck.

original oil was nasty as hell. I think the truck was used for some towing.

you need some clear hose
you need a metal fitment to go in the radiator cooler hose, i used a male and female air tool nipple. worked great

the science: the return line goes back to the transmission towards the pan, the fluid out of the tranny comes from the TC side, which makes sense because it needs to be cooled first.
Laying under the truck to pump fluid in with a small pump didn't make sense because the return line goes right to there anyway.

there are methods of heating the tranny to see the level is correct but its a sealed tranny, if it didnt leak, and your measurement is exact, i doubt it would be an issue. It was proven for 100k miles with my own truck.

1. locate the top cooler line going into the radiator. that is all you have to disconnect in the truck. you do not need to go under the truck.
   
2. you need (2) gallon jugs, both need lines that show exactly 3 quarts.
   
3. connect a clear hose to the tranny hose that you disconnected, that goes to one jug.
   
4. connect another clear hose to the nipple you disconnected the tranny hose from that is on the radiator. its the TOP NIPPLE, NOT THE BOTTOM
   
5. add the clear hose and attach it to a funnel, get it high and hang the funnel.
   
6. start the truck out the driver window, start the truck, watch the jug fill,
   
7. TURN OFF TRUCK right at the third line.
   
8. take jug number 2 and fill clean trans fluid up to the third line
   
9. start pouring into the funnel.
   
10. second time, only do 2 quarts at a time. second line. I did 12 quarts total, fluid was looking good by then. Black to Red with a little black in it.
    
11. the siphon takes awhile, but be patient its going to go in no matter what.
    
12. Thats it! be patient, be EXACT, and forget about the other stuff. Really no need. its sealed. just exchange and be AMAZED.

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How simple is that? one connection, 1.5 hours, and you just did a full out exchange! Good luck.




:party:

This is brilliant. Thank you for sharing this.

So you used the trucks transmission cooler pump, to essentially pump the fluid out of the transmission into the jug, catching the old oil. And then used gravity to refill the transmission fluid into the top of the radiator transmission cooler input. Repeating this procedure every ~2 quarts until you flushed about 12 quarts through the system.

I managed to find some kind of bottle that would fit the "nipple" from a gear oil jug. This was my reservoir. Otherwise...my setup was virtually identical, borrowed from another thread. I wasn't sure how fast things would pump and I was doing this alone so it was a little sketchy running back and forth as not to overfill the catch bottle or run the reservoir dry.

The idea of dropping the pan and making a HUGE mess in the floor plus likely creating a leak where now there are non just didn't sound like a good idea. It would be nice to take a look and clean off the magnets but not at the expense of causing future unnecessary problems.

yes you got its, clean, easy but it just takes time. if you have an hour or 2 to kill try it.

awesome, yes, I didnt break the seal on my v8 and never had an issue for another 100k miles.

this is basically the same way a BG trans flush machine works. Take a line off the cooler, Hook one line to the inlet of the machine, one to the truck. start the truck and the trucks trans pump, pumps the bad fluid to a bladder that fills and the pushes the new fluid into the trans. Simple

Forgive my newb questions but what is the reason for having marks at 1,2,3 quart line? Why not have a gallon jug full of clean fluid then keep swapping fluid one gallon jug at a time until three jugs of fresh new ATF went through the system? Three jugs x 4 quart per jug = 12 quarts.

I'm just assuming, but I would think because doing 3 quarts at a time doesn't lower the fluid level as much and lowers the risk of damaging the transmission from being too low on the fluid level, but I could be wrong, BUT I would rather do smaller amounts rather than too much at a time.

Another reason would be not having to deal with the old fluid jug being completely full and possible spilling some of it.

This is awesome! I tried to do the something similar by gravity feeding to the fill plug under the truck but the curves in the route and the length just didn't work. I never thought of this.... Mine's due for a fluid exchange so I'm doing this. Thanks for the post OP!

i did 3, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1

it gurgled at 3, but some crud came out on the initial 3. id recommend it.

Hey bud,

its to measure exactly what you take out so you can exactly put the same amount in. 1,2,3 quarts is the lines, every time you take some out, it could be 2.2 quarts if you dont turn off the car in time. all you have to do is pour the same amount in the second jug, lining up the lines. You only use 2 jugs for this whole process, there is the dirty jug, and the clean jug.

Thanks for the explanation, makes total sense.

Hose Size
 

Great post! There's a you tube video showing this but doesn't have any commentary

What size hose did you use?

I guess this method can be considered easy peasy but I still manage to make a big mess tonight.

Be very careful that you put the hose from the funnel into the nipple on the top of the radiator. I got it backwards and spayed nasty burnt transmission fluid all over the place.

I used 1/2" clear vinyl hose. You definitely want to go the next smaller size. 1/2" doesn't seal tight enough on the nipple attached to the radiator inlet side. I was able to make it work with a zip tie but only after leaking a good bit more clean ATF until i figured out how to seal it better.

But, the good news is that the mess and frustration was totally worth it. My 2008 V6 with 195k miles shifts much better now. Better than it ever has IMO. It is much more drivable around town. Besides quicker shifts, one of the things I have really noticed an improvement in is when coasting up to a stop light and then hitting the gas again before coming to a complete stop. Before, there was a slight delay between stepping on the gas and the truck accelerating. Now it just goes. Awesome.

Also, I bought 12 qts of new fluid but only replaced about 11qts. After pumping out about 8qts, I noticed that the fluid coming out was looking much better than it did at first. I decided to stop with 1qt of the new fluid left just in case I had a spill or needed to top it off after all was said and done. In the end, I didn't need i but I'd rather be safe than sorry when it comes to stuff like this.

Anyway, thanks for the post! It inspired me to finally do this maintenance which was seriously needed.