advice on changeing trans fluid

[beige97camry]

97 camry with 145k on it, fluid in auto trans has never been changed to my knowledge, question is should I change it when I have the motor out for new shortblock???? what are your recommendations. not pulling trans, leaving it in car. thanks.

[dc_98_cam]

Sounds like a good idea .... but if you ever do remove the transmission, maybe you should be careful of one thing. The repair manual states that you should not tilt or invert the transmission, particularly with a dirty transmission fluid pan. ... The reason being that metal particles or something worse will get into the valve section .... I think they mean just keep it upright, until you have changed the fluid and cleaned the pan. .... Maybe just drain the fluid from the pan and clean the pan, replace pan gasket ... just to be safe. .... Fluid shouldn't be dirty anyway.

[renmike]

It's just about as easy if not easier to pull the tranny out with the engine, beings there is so little room to slide the transmission back enough to let the torque converter unmate to the flexplate. Regardless, while you are doing maintenance to the engine, I suggest with the fluid change to go ahead and replace the trans filter and check the seals. I had my engine/tranny out twice and did not notice any problems with leaks on the transmission then about 2 months ago the shaft seal that the tq converter slides up into went out, so I had to pull everything out again. Besides, its just good preventive maintenance.