Does anyone know any alternatives to flushing the auto tranny?? My local shop charges almost $100 to do it. I have a new filter and fluid, but wonder how vital it would be to even flush the whole system?
Thanks

 

How many miles do you have on your transmission? If you're over 100k, skip the flush and just change the fluid. Also make sure to adjust the bands.

 

a little over 126,000.
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i have also wondered bout changin the tranny fluid, whats the best way to do it? not a whole fluch just the fluid like ya said, but the filter still gets changed right?

 

A tip from a transmsission mechanic friend of mine. When you drop the pan, loosen up the bolts on the valve body and let it drop down. You won't need to take it completely off. This will allow quite of bit more fluid to drain out. Just be prepared to torque the valve body in the proper sequence and to the proper specifications. He will torque it down, let is sit for a period of time, and go back over it again. There are a lot of bolts, so it may be a bit of a combersome task. When he did some work on my Caravan, he had to pull the valve body down. It took approximately 5-1/2 to six quarts of fluid to refill it. According to my Haynes manual, it should take 4 quarts for a fluid and filter change and 9 quarts for an overhaul.

Another alternative is to pull the line off from your radiator or tranny cooler, start the truck and catch the fluid in a measurable container. Shut it off, replace with the amount you pump out, and redo until you feel you have the new fluid worked through the system. This would be approximately the amount required to fill the entire system. If your old fluid is dark in color, you should be able to tell when the new fluid is being pump out through the line, well at least in theory. If you have some helpers and can pour fluid into the tranny at the same rate it is being pumped out, then you won't have to stop and start. Always keep one person at the ignition switch so they can shut the truck off when the line pops out of the container and starts spraying fluid all over the underside of the truck. (You don't even have to ask how I know). It may not be quite as good as having a tranny shop flush the system, but it is approximately what they do, pump new in while the old is being pumped out. Of course, you would want to pull the pan and put the new filter in and adjust the bands before you start pumping out the old fluid. Otherwise, if there is some debris in the bottom of the pan, it will contaminate the fresh fluid and you will lose the new fluid that is in the pan.

 

how do you adjust the bands on these transmissions?

 

http://dodgeram.org/tech/transmissio...T_band_adj.htm (NOTE: It's in INCH-lbs...not FOOT-lbs )

You have to remove the pan & filter to adjust them.