I had a tranny flush done today. Mostly because I'm not sure of the service history of my truck and I was due for the regularly scheduled service.

Call me paranoid, but I like to check out the work completed which means I generally will crawl under my vehicle to check things out, make sure nothing is leaking and to make sure that whoever worked on my vehicle cleaned up after themselves.

I was surprised that the tranny pan looked like it hadn't been pulled so I checked the fluid level and it came out a nice ***el-tone red (as it should) and full.

So, how does the dealer actually do a tranny flush? Don't they need to pull the pan?

My parts list on the invoice included a "GSN1941 Transkit". I Googled it, but didn't find any information.

The pan looked like it had some dried run/drip marks, but the area where the pan meets the tranny still had what looked like an undisturbed "ring" of dirt around it (went 'wheelin this weekend) and the pan was still kinda dirty... like it hadn't been wiped off, which I would assume you'd need to do after letting all the fluid drain out.

Anyway, if anyone has any experience with this, I'd like to hear from you. I just want to make sure I didn't get ripped off.

I had to switch dealers for my regularly scheduled service's (that I can't do or don't want to do). My favorite dealer has been a victim of Chrysler's "dealer reduction program".

 

Sounds to me like they didnt take the pan off (but i cant see it to know for sure) and there is no other way to change out the filter than to take that pan off.

but i wont ever take my auto anywhere to get serviced. last time i did that they put dexron in it insted of +3. I ended up buying a new tranny....

 

Yep most of the tranny shops stick a tube down into your tranny suck the old fluid out and put new fluid back. They say that somehow they back-flush the filter, but personally I think its cr@p. I made them pull my pan and replace the filters (I have 2) and then put it back together. I don't think any other way is acceptable, but that may just be me.

 

A proper transmission flush disconnects the hoses from the lower radiator (trans cooler) and reconnects them: the return hose gets connected to a reservoir of fresh fluid, the "out" hose discharges into a catch pan large enough to hold 5-6 gallons. When this is set, and reservoir filled, start the engine and let the flushing begin. when the out fluid is the same color as the in fluid, you are done. THEN the pan is dropped and the filter changed, the level topped off, and you are done. Uses gallons of fluid.

a cheap flush won't change the filter.

We used to charge several hundred dollars for the full job.

 

I was talking about filter and fluid change, sorry. mact has given the only real way to do a complete fluid flush if that's what you are looking to do.

 

I'm almost certain they didn't drop the pan... but they did conveniently charge me $230.00.

I'm gonna give the service manager a call in the morning.

I can't say I'm completely unsatisfied. Again, the tranny fluid is that nice red ***el-tone color that it's supposed to be, but if I'm gonna be parted with a couple of hundred bucks, I want my money's worth.

I'll report back.

 

if they didnt remove the pan, they basically charged you over 200$ for new ATF. this is why i do all my own work. if im not sure how to do something, i found out how to do it and give it a whirl.

 

yep that's what I usually do except now I just have my mechanic (I own a motorcycle shop) do it because he can basically work on anything and he does it for me cheap . These shops that cut corners, I either make them do it right, take it somewhere that will or do it myself.