Tranny Fluid

[99silveradoz71]

I probably should've tagged this under the last post, but I had clicked it already.

 

I'm looking to replace the tranny filter and drain and fill the fluid. I'm thinking Synthetic would be good for extended intervals and protection, anyone have a brand suggestion or know where the deals are?

 

What is the capacity as well? Thanks gang.

[ctoliver]

well i just changed mine. make sure you have a seal puller, a new seal comes with the filter and change it, i serviced my transmission with amsoil took 4 quarts to reservice just dropping the pan, but what i did was run it with the amsoil for about 500 miles then removed the drain plug let it drain again then serviced with amsoil to try to flush more of the old transmission fluid out. dont flip out when you see a lot of fuzz on the magnet mine had a lot, clean it off before installing the pan.

you will need a torx bit also to remove the shifting bracket i want to say a size 40 but cant remember. good luck

ct

[SilveradoWV]

There is alot of fluid in there, just dropping the pan and adding fluid wont be enough to see advantages of synthetic fluid because the ratio of regular fluid would be so high still. If you want to have it totally serviced and switched to synthetic, you could have it flushed with synthetic (Which takes alot of fluid) then drop the pan and change the filter and fill again with 4 or 5 quarts (Whaterver it takes) of synthetic. This is about the only way I see to get all synthetic fluid and the filter changed.

[JayMan]

All depends on how many miles the trans has on it. Conventional Wisdom tells us that more than 50K you probably should leave it alone. Otherwise the new fluid with the new detergents will knock the crud loose and fubar the trans.

 

I took my pan off when it had 1,600km / 1,000mi on it. A few specks in the pan and on the filter, and very light fuzz on the pan magnet. I didn't have access to an ATF flushing system, so I drained the pan a week later and added more Mobil 1 ATF.

 

At 20,000km / 12,000mi, dropped the pan again. No specks in the pan or filter, almost invisible fuzz on the pan magnet. Drained the pan again a week later. At 60,000km / 36,000mi, ditto. Maybe I should invest in an ATF flushing system?

 

Geez, don't throw away the old filter until you carefully remove the seal! The Helm shop manual warns about this. If you didn't know any better, you'd chuck the old filter, then find you're S.O.L.

[Black02Silverado]

Hey 99silveradoz71,

 

If your interested AMSOIL ATF is $7.80 a quart retail. A 2.5 gallon jug is $74.25 retail plus tax and freight. All this is delivered to your door, via UPS. When I flushed my 4L60E tranny it took 16 qts. You can do the pan and filter change go how ever long you want 6k or so and do just the fluid again, repeat this 3 times or so and that will get the synthetic throughout the tranny. It is a little easier this way persay than spending a large amount at one time to have the system flushed. Just a thought.

 

Not sure of the price for Mobil 1 transmission fluid. Auto Zone carries it here in NC. For Redline and Royal Purple you will have to look online for the closest dealer.

 

One advantage to synthetic is better protection against heat and fluid flow in the cold, not to mention extended drain intervals.

 

If you have any questions you can PM or e-mail me.

 

Cheers

[Mule]

I took mine to a tranny shop who had the flush system. We filled it with Mobil 1 ATF and one bottle of Lucas tranny "stuff", made to make it run smoother. Before synthetic, the transmission hump in the car would get warm on hot days highway driving. Now I tow a trailer with my car, and it never gets warm.

 

As said before, you need to get ALL the old stuff out. Some tranny flush machines will give a reading of the filter blockage, too, before digging in to replace it. Five years ago, I dropped the pan, replaced the filter, then did a flush with ATF, then replaced the filter again. Expensive, but got the old stuff out and started with all synthetic and a clean filter.

[JayMan]

I took mine to a tranny shop who had the flush system. We filled it with Mobil 1 ATF and one bottle of Lucas tranny "stuff", made to make it run smoother. Before synthetic, the transmission hump in the car would get warm on hot days highway driving. Now I tow a trailer with my car, and it never gets warm.

 

As said before, you need to get ALL the old stuff out. Some tranny flush machines will give a reading of the filter blockage, too, before digging in to replace it. Five years ago, I dropped the pan, replaced the filter, then did a flush with ATF, then replaced the filter again. Expensive, but got the old stuff out and started with all synthetic and a clean filter.

Very good point! Unless you don't mind changing your fluid over and over and over ...

 

Know what I don't understand? My 1984 Ford F-150 has a 302 V8 and the bulletproof C6 auto. When you have the trans pan off, you then take the torque converter shield off and use a bump switch to rotate the torque converter until you see the drain bolt.

 

Take off the torque converter drain bolt and wait a long time for the ATF to drain from the converter. You've effectivly removed +95% of the transmission fluid.

 

Why don't modern transmissions have torque converter drain plugs?? How hard would it be to put that in at the factory? The torque converter holds most of your total ATF capacity.

 

I've heard of guys drilling a tiny hole into the torque converter to drain it, then putting in a sheet metal screw with a teflon washer. No way I'd try that, too much to go wrong!

[bigdogs]

I know this may be the wrong forum but how do you flush an Allison to replace it with synthetic? The GM dealership said they don't even have a machine to do that.

[Mule]

I know this may be the wrong forum but how do you flush an Allison to replace it with synthetic? The GM dealership said they don't even have a machine to do that.

I don't know if the machine would be different for an Allison or not. Seems when they did mine, they use the tranny spout, not really the body of the transmission.

 

I would ask a good tranny shop if they have any Allison experience. Then ask them if they can flush one. Finally, ask them what would be different flushing an Allison versus a 480 or 460 transmission. If they know what they are doing, then you can decide from there.

[JayMan]

I know this may be the wrong forum but how do you flush an Allison to replace it with synthetic? The GM dealership said they don't even have a machine to do that.

I guess this does belong in the Heavy Duty forum, but what the heck?No dealer will have something as exotic as an ATF flushing gadget. As long as you get through the warranty, that's all they care about. In their magic dreamworld, everybody trades every 20 months and nobody changes the oil: can you say "turnover?"

 

Since GM uses the same Quick-Connect fittings on the external trans cooler, whether 4L60E/4L80E/Allison, an ATF flushing system like the MotorVac TransTech snaps on quickly. Of course, if the torque converters still had drain plugs, you wouldn't even NEED an expensive ATF flushing gadget. Unless you're independently wealthy, you can't justify one.

 

The Allison 1000 has an external spin-on filter, and there should be a magnet at the top of the filter to catch nasty chunks. It's always a good idea to inspect/clean this magnet.

 

With the spin-on filter, in theory you don't have to drop the pan. I still would, as there are magnets inside the pan and you can remove any residue that the drain plug alone won't drain.

 

Allison has a VERY good web site where you can download brief technical and Quick Service manuals. Although these Adobe Acrobat pdf's don't replace the official shop manual, they still offer a good intro to the operation and servicing. Check out :

 

http://www.allisontransmission.com

 

http://www.allisontransmission.com/publica...icationType=All

 

http://www.allisontransmission.com/publica...bs/OM3063EN.jsp

 

The last link is the direct download link to the Adobe Acrobat pdf you will need.

 

Maybe one day ALL truck transmissions will be Allison 1000's!

[bigdogs]

The difference (according to the dealer) was their machine didn't have the capacity to hold all the fluid in the Allison. I'll ask if other trans shops can do it tho..

 

thanks

[JayMan]

Well, according to the official Allison Operator's Manual for On Highway 1000 automatics #OM3063EN, page 60, here are the fluid capacities:

 

Pan Size Initial Fill in quarts Refill in quarts

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Standard Pan 14.8 10.6

Shallow Pan 12.7 7.4

 

This does not include the fluid needed to fill the cooler lines and the external cooler. I would guestimate +2 qt?

 

I looked up the MotorVac TransTech specs: the thing holds 42 quarts! So I'm not sure what kind of "flush" gadget your dealer has, but it's obviously not a Heavy Duty one! I wish I had commercial automatics, as I could justify buying a TransTech. That baby looks like quite the machine.

 

FYI: Allison recommends the initial fluid/filter change before 8,000km / 5,000mi, then every 24-48 months or 50,000-100,000mi, depending on fluid used

[bigdogs]

Jayman that is quite interesting as they are a GMC truck (not just pickups but bigger ones too) dealership so you would assume they would have a machine capable of that. Thanks for the info, I will go back and ask them what's up.

[JayMan]

Jayman that is quite interesting as they are a GMC truck (not just pickups but bigger ones too) dealership so you would assume they would have a machine capable of that. Thanks for the info, I will go back and ask them what's up.

Weird.

 

The only automatic I've seen in Medium trucks is the Allison 2000, 2400, etc. You would think they'd be all set to work on Allison automatics.

 

Unless they just don't give a rats a**!

 

Have they talked you into using that expensive TranSynd ATF? The stuff is a specially blended synthetic ATF to allow extended oil drains in Allison automatic trannies. It meets Allison C4 spec.

 

So does Mobil 1 ATF at $5 / qt.

 

A quick suggestion? Check out the Allison URL and download the documents! Most of them are free if you only download the Adobe Acrobat pdf. It's always fun to let the "service manager" rattle off a real line for you, then you start quoting from The Book.

[bigdogs]

They haven't tried that yet but there is only 2700 miles on it so far. I want to change the engine oil over to synthetic (still deciding on Amsoil or Delvac) and would like to do the trans, diffs, and transfer case as well. Especially since the temps can vary a lot here in WI.