q about changing tranny fluid

[charley240sx]

hello TN. i had a quick question pertaining to changing the tranny fluid. since i wont be driving my vehicle in a couple of days, i was wondering if i just drained and dropped the tranny pan, and left it to drain for a couple of days, would that get most of the tranny fluid out? sorry for the noob question. i know a lot of it is behind torque converter. but will that be able to come out? i would like to get most of it out, and figured that it sitting on jackstands would drain majority of tranny fluid of a period of 3days.
Thank You
Charley

[Kep]

No joy, if you do a quick drain you will probably get about 2.25 quarts out. If you let it sit for days maybe you'll pick up another pint (if that). The torque converter has a reservoir that the fluid sits in like a bucket.

Kep

[charley240sx]

hmm. that sucks. was planning on disconnecting the tranny cooler lines connected to the radiator, but have not had experience with that method of tranny draining. i want to do a complete drain. but also would like to take the pan off as it currently has 193,xxx miles and has yet had the tranny pan pulled to be cleaned.
btw, this is a 1997 lexus Es300 1mzfe autotastic.
Charley

[dc_98_cam]

Really a good idea to remove the pan and clean out the sludge ..... mine had a considerable amount at 44k.

[charley240sx]

yeah, i cant even imagine how much mine will have at 193k.
Charley

[Kep]

Charley240sx, if you have 193000 miles and this is your first transmission oil change I would advise you to do a search of this forum and the gen 1-2 forum. There is a lot of disagreement whether or not to change the oil at all if it has been allowed to go for over 100,000 miles since the last change.

I took a middle of the road approach and drained my transmission pan (about 2 quarts each time) every couple of weeks ten times with high milage transmission fluid. It seemed to work without stressing the transmission.

A couple of guys have written how to do a DIY flush. Two of these are 1) kocho at: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t9830.html and 2) heat at: Should I flush the tranny?

They both seem pretty straight forward if you decide to do this.

Kep

[redgtxdi]

I thought it was whether or not to *flush* if it was over 100,000 miles??

I thought drain was ok at any given time.

I'm a big fan of drain/fill over a few consecutive weeks.


Heck, if we changed our trans oil every time we changed engine oil (3 mos. or so) we'd probably all have zero oil related trans probs.

[charley240sx]

well, i wasnt necessarily going to do a flush, like as in a pump commercial unit flusher. i was planning on dropping the pan first and clean. then flush with cooler lines. i dont know though. i have yet to do it. but i wouldnt consider myself a beginner with cars. but a beginner to tranny junk.
btw, my tranny was flushed at 140k approximately 1.5 years ago. but i do not plan to go with a flush flush. but rather a DIY homestyle flush. lol. i make up all kinds of mumble jumble words.
KEP- thanks, im going to read those articles now.

TIA TN.
Charley