This might have been talked about but I'm new here...

I have a 93 dakota 2 wheel drive standard cab. Just under 131,000 miles on it and I'm not sure if the fluid has ever been changed (I bought it with 109K and haven't replaced it). I need to replace the pan gasket because it's leaking fairly bad. It's not pouring out fluid or anything but it definitely needs to be replaced. Fluid builds up on the bottom on the pan almost to the point of dripping after about a week.

Think draining and dropping the pan and filling it up with new fluid with wreck the transmission? I'm hearing not to flush it for sure. Just drain, change the filter and fill it back up and I'll have a better chance of it not causing problems.

Any thoughts? Should I chance it?

 

If the trans is functioning properly, just do a pan drain and refill..Anything more than that will probably be a waste of your money......Those "stories" of changing fluid and wrecking a transmission came from years ago happenings...Fluids yesteryear would have a tendency to create a varnish substance inside the gear box when maintained improperly...As new fluid was used it would start cutting this varnish loose and stop the filter up causing the trans to quit functioning( sometimes with near instant results).....If your trans is in good shape there is zero possibility that the correct fluid will wreck the trans...Do not fear changing your fluid, replacing the gasket and be sure to check level in neutral..

Goodluck !

brian

 

Thank you for the reply! Everything works fine on the truck, I just need that leak taken care of. I let is sit overnight in my grage two nights ago and after cleaning off the outside of the pan there was probably about two or three drops of it on the floor. That's more than I'm comfortable with.
I knew the rumors and such. I actually went to Nashville Auto Diesel College for a while. Was 4 classes from finishing but had to leave for personal reasons. I probably know just enough to be really dangerous lol

 

Welcome connmann, yes it is a good idea to drain the trans and change the filter. About the pan gaskets, the best one we have used lately comes from the stealership, a lot more expensive but they sure seem to be worth the extra and supposedly you can reuse them. Also just make sure when you have it up that the Y Pipe would not interfere with the pan coming down.

 

i flushed my 90 at 160K miles no problem. changing the oil in the pan leaves about 7 qts of dirty fluid in the tranny..............

 

the flush could be bad if the tranny fluid has never been changed. Worn down parts with the pressure from the flush could cause damage, but you dont know for sure if it would, i changed the fluid on mine after 30,000 just to be safe (i had the tranny rebuilt when i bought the truck)

 

yea' they told me that when i had it flushed, i said do it, and all was fine. to me just changing the fluid in the pan would be like taking a quart of oil out of the engine and replacing it with a new quart and calling it good!!!!! IMO