Tranny flush and fill

[kis86]

How much is a tranny flush and fill on average for these? I'm getting $150 bucks from the dealership...seems pretty high. What's involved if I do it myself or have a friend help? Thanks!!

P.S. Where's the hood latch on this thing? I pulled the lever under the dash but can't get the hood up! lol :rolleyes:

[nexus_7]

about 89 at local shops here.

Greg

[svxfiles]

How much is a tranny flush and fill on average for these? I'm getting $150 bucks from the dealership...seems pretty high. What's involved if I do it myself or have a friend help? Thanks!!

P.S. Where's the hood latch on this thing? I pulled the lever under the dash but can't get the hood up! lol :rolleyes:
At $2.00 a quart for trans fluid you can change out 75 quarts yourself.:)

What you want to do is drain and refill the trans, while it safely supported by jack stands.
4 quarts will drain out quickly, and 6 if you let it drain for two hours.
If you do this four times, driving it for a day after each drain and fill, you will have MOSTLY changed out all of the fluid.:)
And having done it yourself, not forced the seals askew with the high pressure MOST trans fluid exchangers use.:rolleyes:
You have only spent $32-$48, and you have NOT DAMAGED your trans in the process.:)


P.S.
Have a friend lift up on the hood as you pull the hood release.;)

[nexus_7]

That is some cheap tranny fluid. I would go for the good mobil synthetic stuff. Cools and flows better.

Greg

[ensteele]

How much is a tranny flush and fill on average for these? I'm getting $150 bucks from the dealership...seems pretty high. What's involved if I do it myself or have a friend help? Thanks!!

P.S. Where's the hood latch on this thing? I pulled the lever under the dash but can't get the hood up! lol :rolleyes:

There have been members here that have had a major problem after a tranny flush. I would change it, but not do a major flush.

There is a small lever just right of center under the hood that needs to be moved to the left to open it. :)

[ensteele]

That is some cheap tranny fluid. I would go for the good mobil synthetic stuff. Cools and flows better.

Greg

I can afford to change 4 quarts every time I change the oil when I use the cheaper stuff. With a cooler, I have found it stays cool enough. :)

[svxfiles]

That is some cheap tranny fluid. I would go for the good mobil synthetic stuff. Cools and flows better.

Greg
I personally use either Mobile1 full synthetic, or BG Products full synthetic for the reasons you put forth.
BUT you know "the garage/dealership" is using the cheapest stuff that still flows and looks red!
The idea is, my hope is to get people to change their OWN trans fluid, so that it gets changed!
When I do a trans swap, I use the cheap stuff, just to flush the system of debris.
However, I recomend/ask that they change to the good stuff at the first chance.
12 quarts @ $5.00 a quart is $60.00, plus tax:rolleyes: and not everybody can afford that.
And the trans is not set up like an engine, when you drain it(an engine) it is almost fully drained in 5 minutes.
I USED to change the tranny oil every time I changed engine oil, about every 6000 miles,(Mobile1 full synthetic;) ), but with a good full synthetic ATF, you can run it longer.:)
I want all of us to take care of our SVXi.
They are not making any more.:(

[ensteele]

I want all of us to take care of our SVXi.

They are not making any more.:(

And when you go to ebay, you see how many are being dismantled every day for parts. :( :( :( :(

[kis86]

I think I'll just be doin it myself...or at the very least not going back to the dealer. They had a long list of "broken" things when I went to pick it up, costing about $600. I'll definitely be getting another opinion before throwing 600 bucks at something that might not be broken to begin with. :p Thanks everyone!

[Sov13t]

While being on this topic, when I purchased the 6spd tranny for the swap, the guy I talked to (in Canada) gave me a mix of oils to use for Tranny and he claimed that its the best thing he ever used, and he uses it on all his cars, considering that he had a 650 whp STi sitting in the driveway 2 skyline's and a bunch of WRXs and a few old Imprezas I asked him to write that mix down it uses 3 different type of oils but unfortunately since I bought the tranny way back in November I lost that piece of paper somewhere on my desk, however i wrote him a letter asking to see if he can drop it back to me... and if you guys want I can def share it with you to see what you think. He said that its quite popular on the NASIOC forums, however I barely have enough time to spend on these ... :o

-Sov.

[benebob]

I personally use either Mobile1 full synthetic, or BG Products full synthetic for the reasons you put forth.
BUT you know "the garage/dealership" is using the cheapest stuff that still flows and looks red!
The idea is, my hope is to get people to change their OWN trans fluid, so that it gets changed!
When I do a trans swap, I use the cheap stuff, just to flush the system of debris.
However, I recomend/ask that they change to the good stuff at the first chance.
12 quarts @ $5.00 a quart is $60.00, plus tax:rolleyes: and not everybody can afford that.
And the trans is not set up like an engine, when you drain it(an engine) it is almost fully drained in 5 minutes.
I USED to change the tranny oil every time I changed engine oil, about every 6000 miles,(Mobile1 full synthetic;) ), but with a good full synthetic ATF, you can run it longer.:)
I want all of us to take care of our SVXi.
They are not making any more.:(

Just curious Tom do you drop the pan when doing a swap and clean the sludge out. It is quite nasty in there and gets real nasty quick!

[benebob]

And when you go to ebay, you see how many are being dismantled every day for parts. :( :( :( :(


Gotta look at it both ways Earl, if people on this sight weren't buying dismantled parts then there wouldn't be a market for 'em! I know you've bought used stuff!:D

[AFBeefcake]

While being on this topic, when I purchased the 6spd tranny for the swap, the guy I talked to (in Canada) gave me a mix of oils to use for Tranny and he claimed that its the best thing he ever used, and he uses it on all his cars, considering that he had a 650 whp STi sitting in the driveway 2 skyline's and a bunch of WRXs and a few old Imprezas I asked him to write that mix down it uses 3 different type of oils but unfortunately since I bought the tranny way back in November I lost that piece of paper somewhere on my desk, however i wrote him a letter asking to see if he can drop it back to me... and if you guys want I can def share it with you to see what you think. He said that its quite popular on the NASIOC forums, however I barely have enough time to spend on these ... :o

-Sov.
You mean Scotty's cocktail.

1qt Redline lightweight shockproof
1qt Pennzoil Synchromesh
2qt Castrol HypoyC 80w-90

[svxfiles]

Just curious Tom do you drop the pan when doing a swap and clean the sludge out. It is quite nasty in there and gets real nasty quick!
Of course Ben!
Drop the pan, wash it out, clean off the magnet, and install a new filter.
Blow out the trans cooler lines, replace them as necessary.
The Used Parts places I buy the trannys from will not guarentee the parts if I don't replace the filter.

[benebob]

Of course Ben!
Drop the pan, wash it out, clean off the magnet, and install a new filter.
Blow out the trans cooler lines, replace them as necessary.
The Used Parts places I buy the trannys from will not guarentee the parts if I don't replace the filter.

It amazes me how quickely those get bad. On our racer it looked just as bad 8 months and 500 miles after we had done it once (which is about an inch of sludge and clutch material). My F-250 is the same way but you get to clean it out when you change the fluid- annually for me since it doesn't have a drain bolt.

[ensteele]

The next time I change mine in my Chev, and drop the pan, I am going to install a plug. I will still probably change the filter and have to drop the pan, but it will be a lot cleaner by not getting a bath of fluid because it will be drained first. :)

[benebob]

The next time I change mine in my Chev, and drop the pan, I am going to install a plug. I will still probably change the filter and have to drop the pan, but it will be a lot cleaner by not getting a bath of fluid because it will be drained first. :)

Yeah, it seems like a dumb obmission by the domestics imo but then again it makes ya tend to take it in to have it done. Ford actually made the 92-94 with a plug but went away from it in 95 and no one is sure if it'll fit and I'm not gonna pay for it if it won't when they order it.

[Sov13t]

This is what I talked about earlier and seems to be popular for the 5speed WRXs and 6spd STis. Dont know about how well this will go with automatics so use at your own risk...

1qt Redline lightweight shockproof
1qt Pennzoil Synchromesh
(top to level) Castrol HypoyC 80w-90

Here is the thread on NASIOC forum this. (http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=920674)

[kis86]

Well guys, thanks a bunch for your help! :)

I decided to check the fluid myself. I took the dip stick out and smelled it...no "burning" smell, just maybe like it had some sort of additive in it. I swiped it onto a white piece of paper and could not find even one particle of anything in it. It was even just as pink as it would be out of the factory. I could find nothing that would indicate it needing to be changed at all. :confused:

Any idea why they might think it needs to be changed?? I don't think I'll be going back to a dealership...I'll just take it to an import place if I can't do something myself.

[ensteele]

They probably think it needs to be changed because they can make some money $$$ by changing it. :rolleyes: :)

They usually want to error on the safe side when they do maintenance because if they say not to change it and there is a problem, then you will blame them for it. :o

[dan_j_b]

I put fresh fluid in that tranny about two weeks ago, so don't let them tell you it needs to be flushed.

Dan

[STORMINORMAN]

I may be one of the relatively few remaining originl 1992 SVX owners...

At first there was a SVX/SUBARU Club & a monthly (as I recall:confused: ) magazine with SERVICE DISCOUNT COUPONS good at the local Subaru Dealerships. About $26 for a "transmission service". I doubt they dropped the pan and changed the filter each 15K but I do know that at the 30K there WAS a new transmission filter installed.

There was the CLUNK/CLICK! in the dash recall campaign, and a transmission campaign where they changed something very early in '93, as I recall.

Anyway, when my tranny puked at 56K (all it wouldn't really do was shift from 2nd to 3rd) it was handled within 24 hours of me calling the Dealership: I called them in the mid-afternoon on a Tuesday, they made an appointment for 8:00 am for me to drop it off, gave me a ride home & picked me up at about 3:30. Done Deal.

Anyway (again), by this time I was very concerned about transmission repairs because my $1,100 7/100K extended warranty was fully refundable IF you didn't have any warranty claims with them until the warranty expired. I made sure I got tranny services every 15K done at the dealerships until I hit the 7 year mark. :D Always asked them to pull the pan and clean the sump, never had any material/sludge in there per the mechanics.

Now I do about what Earl does: pull the plug and drain out about 4 to 5 quarts of Chevron DexronIII every other oil change, put in a new external tranny oil filter kit at about 120K, new pan filter every 30K. And a new radiator.

I really think the tranny's built (or "factory reconditioned") after about 1996 had all the improvements built in and a reliable in normal spirited use.

Just IMHO.

Cheers!