I just finished the DIY transmission flush. The whole process was a little messier than I thought. I first, pulled the return line to pump out as much fluid as possible, but I guess I shut down the engine to early. I had about 2.5 gallons of oil in the bucket, but when I unbolted the pan, I still had oil pour all over me. My first draining process removed about 3 gallons of oil. I then poured about 7 quarts of new oil down the dipstick and restarted the truck.

To measure the amount of oil I removed, I did a little math and new that the 15 quart of new ATF +4 was 3.75 gallons. I made a mark on my 5 gallon bucket that was about 3.75 gallons then just started the truck and let it pump oil while I still filled new oil.

After everything, I was pretty stoked about getting it done. I had about 60,000 miles since the last fluid change. The truck shifts perfectly. I used the WIX deep filter since I had a 4x4. I didn't have any problems with the filters either. I heard there were drainage issues with WIX filter where it would take awhile for the tranny to engage.

Good news, my pan was very clean with very little debris on the magnet.

BAD NEWS: As i was balancing the pan filled with oil over my head, a F**King wasp stung me on my thigh. I could only watch as the little thing from hell crawled around on my leg. I got the pan down on the ground and preceded to smash the wasp about a million and a half times.

 

LMFAO------that is frickin hilarious!!!!!

Tranny work is usually a mess, but then add insult to injury---hope your feeling better!!

 

while you are still in the mood. you might want to ad an EXTERNAL trans filter. the input tube should be the left rear tube, put the new filter there. be sure to use only high pressure hose or if you need new tubing use ONLY steel tubing. i think the external filter will reduce the number of times you will need to go into the bottom of the trans. the 3/8 tube should fit chrysler trans, the other is for refrance. of course i have one its been in over a year

man o man i about forgot yes its a cut & past sorry. __________________
after you clean the trans. add this to your*chrysler*trans. an external fluid filter
1. go to auto-zone. get 2210, its called a power steering filter, but it is for transs to. it is for 3/8 tubing. by (magna-fine) be sure to use high pressure hose. Reff:http://www.magnafilter.com
2. for other sizes wix 58964 5/16 tube size

 

The best part of this post is the flow of that last sentence into your signature. "smashed it a million and a half times. STRAIGHT MURDERED!"

 

HAHA i forgot I even had a signature. I think i did that years ago. Perfect hashtag though.

 

I was under the impression the external cooler lines were low pressure, simply used for cooling the fluid.

 

If your taking down the pan, you let the fluid sputter for maybe 5seconds and thats it.
You'll still be left with about 1.5-2qts in the pan that the filter cannot suck up.

Filter issue's? I've nly heard that the OEM filters before the revision had that problem. I didn't know Wix had that same issue. I havent done research to see who makes oem filters but I do know Champion Labs used to make their oil filters.

I've done countless trans flushes and I rarely have more than a couple of drops of fluid on the cardboard that I lay down. I guess that's from all the practice over the years.

So, as I read your stinging story, I could picture in my head that sucker stinging you...hahaha funny stuff as that has happened to me in similar instances(holding stuff and getting stung or bit and not being able to do anything)

 

LOW pressure? well it depends what you call low pressure. most factory service manuals i have say that the highest line pressure is between 80-100 psi, this is INSIDE the trany. BUT i never seen what the factory says the coolant pressure is. so i go by what the highest pressure it could be. carb fuel hose are rated for 100 psi max. dont forget the coolant line when it comes in goes the bearings. in the hydraulics business a safety margin of 2x is min. i worked on pressures in the hydraulics business as high as 5,000- 6,000 psi. and some systems are much higher. i have seen a 5-6 k systems spike a 0-1,000 gauge bending the needle in an S.

 

I think it was because I had the truck on level ground, and with my truck sitting higher in the front, the oil was sitting in the shallow end of the pan. I tried lowering the deep end first, but oil just poured out the sides. Oh well. It's all done and does;t leak so Im pumped.

Funny story, I had the tranny flushed when I first bought the truck. The tranny leaked for years after that. The mechanic said that I would need a new pan because there was a kink from someone letting a full pan of oil dangle from one bolt. AKA: his worker. I never brought the truck to him again after that. I would have had to pay him to drop the pan, replace the oil, and replace the pan.

I just did it myself and it is as dry as a bone, old pan and all. The money I saved this past month is astonishing. The list of maintenance so far: upper control arms, lower ball joints, wheel bearings, cv axles, tranny oil, front diff oil, outer tie rods, inner tie rods, front shocks, transfer case oil, and a few other things. I could only imaging how much a mechanic would have charged me.

 

I think he meant RETURN line. At idle, I think it's ~20psi btw. It's certainly not a firehose but it will dump a couple qts of oil on the ground in a matter of 5 seconds.

Just re-read. Oil coolers run at the same pressure as the fluid. It uses the trans pump to circulate.