I ruined my car :(

[twisty]

you have that big air tank in the back of yours too, right? id get a decent air impact also if i had that set up. it may not be big enough for sustained use, but to bust it loose it should work great

[Stang70Fastback]

Exactly. The tank doesn't run tools very long, but it's more than enough to knock several bolts loose before it drops down to 90 PSI, which is all I ever really need - and then it charges again in a minute.

The point of my buying a nice tool is that in the ONE case where I need it, I want it to work no matter what. That was what happened to me several times in a row a few years ago with some cheap things I'd bought, and at the time, it made me SO angry that I vowed never to do that to myself again.

[Ivant]

Exactly. The tank doesn't run tools very long, but it's more than enough to knock several bolts loose before it drops down to 90 PSI, which is all I ever really need - and then it charges again in a minute.

The point of my buying a nice tool is that in the ONE case where I need it, I want it to work no matter what. That was what happened to me several times in a row a few years ago with some cheap things I'd bought, and at the time, it made me SO angry that I vowed never to do that to myself again.

It looks like you have learned a few lessons from all this. One being to not take the car through floods.

[Stang70Fastback]

Hey, I made it out the other side. I'd call that a success! The funny thing is ALL of the cars behind me followed once I went through... which makes me wonder what happened to all of those, lol. I basically broke the chain of cars making u-turns. My bad.

[Ivant]

advance auto dexron IV is fine.

 

if you do 3 drain and fills (about 3.5 qts per drain)

with driving around the block in between

you will replace about 80% of the fluid.

3 gallons will cost about $45.

if you really have not changed it in that long,

you are way past due.

 

or go to a shop and pay them $125 to do a flush.

but i hear bad things about flushes.

 

alcohol will absorb water,

but i think it will cook off at around 180 degrees.

i do not know what happens to the water at that point.

water will cook off at 212 degrees, DUH!

 

do a drain and fill.

then, if there is any evidence of water,

(and i do not know what that would be,)

maybe then add some alcohol and do a drain and fill after driving.

you do not need to drive it hard,

just circulate the fluid and mix it.

you do not want to drain the new clean fluid out of the pan that you just added.

 

TIP:

it is easier to measure how much you drain ,

and then add that much back,

than it is to read the dip stick.

this assumes the fluid level is correct to start with.

I don't understand what you mean when you say only so much of the trans fluid will come out when you drain it. I drained mine a few weeks back and after leaving it to drain for about 15 minutes, as a small stream of fluid continues to come out for a while, found that the container I used, that was an old trans fluid one was full at the end of the draining. So it seems to me that pretty much all of it had come out. There's one thing that I always notice after a change though, and that's how smooth the trans changes gear. Amazing what a change of fluid does. I must admit that on inspection the old fluid didn't look that bad despite having just been used for 50.000ks. But it was used so it went.

[Ivant]

Hey, I made it out the other side. I'd call that a success! The funny thing is ALL of the cars behind me followed once I went through... which makes me wonder what happened to all of those, lol. I basically broke the chain of cars making u-turns. My bad.

I was wondering did you get any water inside on the carpet. Imagine what would have happened if it had got into the elecs. Not nice.

[Ivant]

Just get a breaker bar, much cheaper and more useful.

They are good but don't always work. I used one once to try and get a CV nut off. Do you think it would budge. Not on you life. After me and another guy tried for a while we just gave up and the bar that we used had even bent out of place by an inch.

[halwith]

I used a 1/2 inch drive craftsman ratchet and put a jack under the handle. Jacked up and the plug popped loose. There is a picture http://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4083071&postcount=268

 

It was a 2010 forester so pretty easy access, but it may work for your plug also. Dont lift the car though. If it lifts a little and doesnt come free try smacking the ratchet with a metal hammer. Your bolt might be more of a challenge gl.

[Stang70Fastback]

I don't understand what you mean when you say only so much of the trans fluid will come out when you drain it. I drained mine a few weeks back and after leaving it to drain for about 15 minutes, as a small stream of fluid continues to come out for a while, found that the container I used, that was an old trans fluid one was full at the end of the draining. So it seems to me that pretty much all of it had come out. There's one thing that I always notice after a change though, and that's how smooth the trans changes gear. Amazing what a change of fluid does. I must admit that on inspection the old fluid didn't look that bad despite having just been used for 50.000ks. But it was used so it went.

 

What size container did you use? The transmission holds 10 quarts of fluid, and that is NOT how much drained out for me. I only got about half of that each time. If you just had a normal container (i.e. a 1 gallon jug) then that would explain why you filled it, but it's not nearly how much fluid is in the transmission.

 

I was wondering did you get any water inside on the carpet. Imagine what would have happened if it had got into the elecs. Not nice.

 

No water inside the car or anything. Right now the car is running perfectly other than the fact that I still haven't managed to break EITHER of the rear diff bolts loose.

[johnegg]

I don't understand what you mean when you say only so much of the trans fluid will come out when you drain it.

 

the trans holds about 10.5 qts,

removing the plug in the trans oil pan will only drain out about 3.5 qts.

that is about 1/3 of the total fluid.

[Ivant]

the trans holds about 10.5 qts,

removing the plug in the trans oil pan will only drain out about 3.5 qts.

that is about 1/3 of the total fluid.

It would seem that the manual is a bit wrong when it tells you to replace every 50.000 without saying that there is a lot more fluid in there than most people think, and that if you want to get it all out you will need to do a few flushes. It would seem that it needs to inform people about the right process for replacing it all.

[Ironcheflove]

It would seem that it needs to inform people about the right process for replacing it all.

 

 

You never want to replace all your trannie fluid at once in a old trannie. Just asking for trouble.

[Ivant]

You never want to replace all your trannie fluid at once in a old trannie. Just asking for trouble.

Really is that right. I have heard that getting it flushed out seems to be the new thing these days. But like johnegg says there are bad things that have happened after having it done, like blown seals etc, and who's going to pay for the repairs. You can just about bet the garage isn't going to. It seems like I'm going to have to look into the best way to change trans fluid. Mixing new fluid with old and then draining doesn't seem to be a very efficient way of doing it, as there will always be small amount of old fluid mixed in with the new, meaning that there will never be 100% new fluid in the trans. Maybe I'm being a little bit annoying in my thinking but when I do a fluid or oil change I want it to be completely new not half pie. Then again some of the older members may remember back in the 60s and 70s it was common practice to only replace the oil filter every third oil change. It wasn't until the eighties that it became normal to replace the filter at every oil change.

Sorry for the rant, got a bit carried away.

[Stang70Fastback]

Yeah, there is going to be no way of getting all the fluid out without doing a flush. And if you do that, as you mentioned, you risk dislodging a lot of built-up gunk that normally wouldn't have caused you problems.

[twisty]

ive pulled the trans cooler lines, put one hose in a new bottle and the other in an empty and ran the engine to trade out all the fluid before. it works well, but it takes a bit of fluid to be thorough about it. that way, you are using the trans pump to get it out, so no forced flush.

[Ivant]

ive pulled the trans cooler lines, put one hose in a new bottle and the other in an empty and ran the engine to trade out all the fluid before. it works well, but it takes a bit of fluid to be thorough about it. that way, you are using the trans pump to get it out, so no forced flush.

That seems like a good way of doing it. I might try it.

[twisty]

keep an eye on the level of the new fluid if you do try it, some cars ive done this on didnt have pumps that would suck well enough and i had to add through the stick as well. havent done this on a subaru yet, so i dont know how their pumps are.