tips and advice on allison service

[THE BIGPUNN]

i think ( weather permitting), im gonna change the fluid and filter in the ally and do an engine oil change. i know how to do the oil change, but is the ally as easy as it appears? drain the fluid and take off the filter? what kind of new fluid should i use and how many quarts? thanks for any information.

[bigdogs]

i think ( weather permitting), im gonna  change the fluid and filter in the ally and do an engine oil change. i know how to do the oil change, but is the ally as easy as it appears? drain the fluid and take off the filter? what kind of new fluid should i use and how many quarts? thanks for any information.

 

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Unless you have like 50K+ miles on it (think that is what the manual says) all you have to change is the external spin on filter which is just changing an engine oil filter.

[Daubs]

Yep, book calls for filter change on Allison at first service interval (crazy confusing "maintenance I" and "maintenance II" in the book...)

 

I got concerned when my computer said I had 25% engine oil life on my brand new truck that had over 5,500 miles on it. So I went ahead and changed the oil "early." Then took the truck to my dealer for the Allison filter change. They had no idea why I was asking for a filter change...I pulled out my book and said, here, read this. Filter was $22.00! Ouch.

 

D.

[THE BIGPUNN]

when i take off the ally filter, wont fluid empty out of the tranny or not? i figured if i removed the filter i had to drain the ally first?

[Shooter_va]

bigdogs, you actually should change you internal filter every 25K miles when heavy towing or driving under extreme conditions (unless you are 100% synthetic).

bigpunn, yes, it is easy to change you ally filter. As you described, drain using drain plug, but be carful, there is still plenty of fluid left. Get your filters from an Allison shop, much cheaper.

The Allison takes Dexron III and should take approx. 7.4 qrts.

You can buy all synthetic fluid and have your transmission flushed (that's what I am going to do at 75k miles and use Mobil 1).

[bigdogs]

I did change my spin on filter at 5K miles and it was a snap I ordered it from GMDieselTech and it was less than $22. Bigpunn it wont drain out when you take off the filter (other than the little bit in that pipe). I just filled up the new one with new fluid and it was fine.

 

 

ShooterVA thanks, I was talking for "normal use". To get those extra miles (approved) with synthetic you need to be using Transynd, the other brands they wont accept (according to an Allison shop). I'd like to get mine flushed too, probably with the Amsoil Torquedrive since that is supposed to be "identical" to the transynd and cheaper. The Allison shop will only use transynd tho.

[Shooter_va]

I paid $9.- from the Allison dealer (spin-on filter). Make sure that you clean and re-use the magnet that sits on the old spin-on filter.

[bigdogs]

That is what I paid through GMDieselTech.com.