I have a 2000 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad cab 5.9 liter. I plan on changing my tranny fluid. I know most of the fluid stays in the trany, torque converter, and radiator cooler. So my question is, if I just drop the pan, and drain whats in the pan, change the filter and put it back together, how many quarts do I need to buy? Someone told me, if its totally empty it's like 15 quarts, but I wouldn't think with what I'm doing, I would need that many. Sure would love to know how to drain the rest. Short of a re-build.

 

Somewhere between four, and six quarts.

 

It's easy enough to do. Mark a five gallon bucket in quarts, then find a helper. Disconnect the transmission line that goes to the radiator at the radiator end, and stick a bit of hose on it so it will drain into the bucket. Have the helper start the engine and shift through the quadrants slowly, then go into neutral for the rest of the process. As a quart is pumped out, pour in a fresh quart. When you see the color of the ATF coming out of the cooler line change from the old to the new, shut the engine down, reconnect the cooler line, and top up as necessary. Bingo: You've just replaced all of the ATF.

****** that nasty damned check valve out of the cooler line while you're there. When it sticks closed it'll eat your transmission.

 

Question if the previous owner installed a big aftermarket trans cooler then i shouldnt have a check valve right ? Because my cooling lines dont go to the main radiator they go right too the transmission radiator he installed and then back out going down to the metal line going to the transmission.

 

Look at the lines near the frame rail, right up by the radiator, The check valve is on the line with the nut type fitting, that screws into a little brass feller, about an inch or so long. (yeah, real tech terms there huh?) THAT is the check valve. If it isn't there, smile, and be happy. If it IS there, get rid of it, THEN smile, and be happy.

 

i only dropped the pan, and it was 5 quarts....well like 5.2 quarts.....install a drain plug while you have it off.....cost me 10 bucks to put one in....

 

when i did mine it took like 6.5 quarts but my truck does have two stock trans mission coolers

 

That means the previous owner screwed up. The ATF is supposed to flow through the radiator even with an auxiliary cooler. Maybe the original transmission went south and filled the radiator with friction material and metal and he was too cheap to fix it?

He probably deleted the check valve already. If it's one piece of rubber from each of the metal lines to the aux cooler, there's no check valve.

 

So what should i do about this then ? I'll go look at it again, however from what i saw by wiggling the 2 hoses they go from the cooler line under the truck right to the radiator in front of the main one.

I'll check again and see if its going to the main radiator also but i dont think it is.


EDIT: ok i looked at it again and your right, I see 2 hoses that are just hanging there and they are the right length to reach the return and incomming metal line on the transmission. Both hoses seem to connect to the main radiator. One is on the bottom and one is in the middle. It seems he bypassed the main radiator and ran 2 new hoses from the cooler lines to the radiator he install in front of the main radiator.

Also i think the check valve is still installed. When looking at the rubber lines that go into the metal lines i see some kind of little device that has a 6 sided nut shape on it and then that connect to the line. Am I ok to continue driving it like this ? Or will this fry the transmission ?

 

Shouldn't take much to reroute the fluid so that it goes where it is supposed to. Just make sure you flush the cooler in the radiator REALLY well before hooking it back up. Make sure to flush in both directions.

And get rid of the check valve.