Transmission Fluid Drain and Fill DIY

[TEEKAY]

There existed on these boards a thread that detailed the drain and fill procedure for the transmission fluid of the S40/V40 that was by user "Nickshu" way back in 2007.

Below is that thread with supplemented images from my flush this weekend. The only difference in my procedure was that I didn't use a milk jug and I didn't remove the return line, I just used the line coming off of the transmission to the cooler.



Tranny flush - by Nickshu, Jan 13 2007

tl;dr later in the thread it talks about phase 2 5speed auto tranny use mobil1 3309 atf and 4 speed use dextron 3. also some people have the lines on the oil cooler clamped with worm clamps, some have them with fancier bits


Replacing the Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) is recommended by Volvo at intervals of 55-100K depending on how hard the car is driven. I think this is way too long of an interval, considering that the transmission has no filter, and the 5-speed models shift all the time, so much that they require an oil cooler to maintain ATF temps in a normal range. So my philosophy is that 1.) Clean oil is always better than dirty, and 2.) Oil is cheap, transmission's aren't.
3.) Your transmission will probably last 100K without much of a problem on the original oil, but it's longevity from 100-200K miles which is determined by how well you take care of it from 0-100K...which is true for many things on your car.

So here's the procedure, step by step, to change and flush the ATF at home. This is per the VADIS procedure. You can only drain 35-50% of the fluid, and the rest must be flushed out. This procedure only dilutes the remaining 50% of fluid as you flush thru new fluid, so the more times you flush, the cleaner the remaining fluid becomes. This may not be as effective as the use of a professional ATF flushing machine, but I venture to guess it replaces 80-90% of the fluid effectively. So if you start early (30-40K) and do it every 30K, you will maintain oil that is plenty clean. If you are at 100K+, and you have not ever changed it, then I would consider the use of a flushing machine to get a 95-100% change out, but you may be able to do the same thing using this procedure, and just flushing thru several more quarts than I call for below.

Step 1: You will need the following items:
1.) Mobil 1 3309 synthetic ATF (for phase 2 5-speed automatics) - about 12 quarts -- A case of 12 is about $55 from http://store.avlube.com/mobilatf3309.html
2.) Some clear flexible tubing size 7/16OD / 5/16ID (I got this a Home Depot in the plumbing section, about $5).
3.) A new hose clamp size 20mm
4.) Empty milkjugs
5.) A drip pan/oil bucket
6.) A 24mm open end spanner wrench (I don't recommend a cresecent wrench, and there's not room for a socket)
7.) A long funnel with an end with OD less than 12mm to fit in filler tube
8.) Rubber gloves (optional)
9.) Paper Towels (lots of them)
10.) Brake parts cleaner (optional - to degrease/clean your spills)
11.) Duct tape
12.) Other normal tools (screwdriver's, etc)


Step 2: Raise the front of the vehicle SAFELY, set the parking brake and block the rear wheels for safety:


Step 3: Identify the ATF dipstick/filler tube. Loosen the dipstick to provide a vent, but don't remove it (you don't want dirt falling in here)


Step 4: Locate the ATF drainplug, passenger side of the transmission, right next to the subframe. There is not enough room for a socket here, so you need a 24mm spanner wrench.


Step 5: Cut the end of a milkjug to make a deflector so that the draining ATF doesn't run all over the engine subframe (Less mess to clean up)


Step 6: Position your deflector so the fluid will run down it, away from the subframe. There's plenty of room for your wrench and fingers next to the deflector...it worked great!


Step 7: Position your oil drain pan, wear some rubber gloves and have papertowels nearby. Remove the drainplug and allow the ATF to drain. It will drain 3-4 quarts, so make sure your drainpan is big enough.

 

Step 8: Locate the two lines to the transmission oil cooler in front of the transmission (from under the car). They are both hard metal lines which connect to flexible tubing. The hard metal line which is a J-shape is the return line. Cut off the hose clamp with large wire cutters and remove the hose.

 

 

This is the return line with the J

Step 9: Clean the magnet on the drainplug and reinstall it in the transmission. Torque it to 40Nm if you have a crow's foot for your torque wrench, otherwise tighten it carefully, no need to overtighten this. Also here's a picture of the hose clamp, cut off the return line.

 

 

 

Step 10: Cut a section of your clear tubing and attach it to the rubber return line with a hose clamp. No need to tighten excessively, just enough to hold it. Then cap off the metal return line to protect it from debris getting into it. I used a plastic baggie, some foil, and a ziptie. Place the other end of the clear plastic tubing into an empty milkjug, and make sure you tape off the top with duct tape...it will spit and sputter as you flush the fluid out, so you don't want it to get all over. I also taped the empty jug to the garage floor, to keep it from tipping over as it starts to fill with ATF.

 

(TEEKAY comments, I put mine on the out line coming straight off the transmision, not the return line from the oil cooler, so that's what this picture is of. If you follow the directions remove the other line on the oil cooler and use that one to hook your hose up to)

Step 11: Place your funnel into the filler tube.

Step 11 (cont'd): My funnel was too short, so I used a larger funnel to connect the two. Now add two quarts of clean, new ATF.


Step 12: After adding your 2 quarts of clean, new ATF, start the engine with the gear selector in park. Run the engine until the two quarts have flushed thru and you see air bubbles in the clear plastic tubing. It only takes about 20 seconds to run it thru. The Volvo procedure says to repeat this 2 times. I repeated it 4 times. I would say the more the better....I would repeat it as many times as you can, based on how much fluid you have. I had 12 quarts, so I used 8 to flush, and had 4 left over to refill, which was plenty.

Step 12 (cont'd): Notice the dark, dirty ATF coming out. Make sure you change the milkjug after every 2 flushes...otherwise you'll overflow and have a big mess!

 

(TEEKAY comments - I dumped all my initial drain into an oil pan, then ran everything else from the hose into a bucket so I knew how much I was running through)

 

Step 12 (cont'd): This photo was taken on my 4th flush. Notice the clean, bright red ATF compared to the above picture on the first flush.

 

Step 13: Remove the clear hose and replace the oil cooler return tube. Tighten a new hose clamp in place. Clean the area with brake parts cleaner to get any spilled ATF off.

Step 14: Now you need to refill the transmission. This can be tricky, and you have to get it right. Add 2 quarts of ATF. Start the engine and with your foot on the brake, switch thru all the gear positions, stopping for 3 seconds at each. Now back the car off the ramps, so it is sitting on a level, flat surface. Check the level on the dipstick with the engine running. BE CAREFUL OF THE ENGINE COOLING FAN, IT CAN START AT ANYTIME AND IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE DIPSTICK AREA!!!
The level on the dipstick should be in the cold range, or below the hot range if the engine is warm. Add ATF a little at a time until you get this, repeating the gear switching maneuver each time. See the Volvo guidelines below to get the level right. If you overfill the ATF, you can get overheating after driving on the highway for awhile, so make sure you get this right (this happened to me several years ago on another car, not fun).

 

(TEEKAY comments - at this point after finishing I had put in 10 quarts for drain and fill and my bucket had 9 in it. So I knew I was +1 quart. Then I dumped my drain pan into the bucket and it put me at 12 quarts. So I guestimated that I only needed to add 2 quarts to hit the 3 that had initially been in the pan. FWIW this put me right on the money. That's if I had realized it and I put in an extra quart that I had to later remove when I drove back to my apartment. Removing the 1 quart put me back down to the 3rd hash on the "hot").

 

 

 

Step 15 (if needed): If you over fill (which I did a little), you can raise the car again and loosen (don't remove) the drainplug and let some drain off. I used an empty ATF bottle b/c it has a level indicator on the side so I could measure how much I was draining. According to VADIS, just 0.2 L is the difference between the high and low marks on the dipstick.



I hope this helps!!! Good Luck!!                     
 

I don't understand why some of my image links aren't working :/

Sigh, can someone delete this again? Some images are corrupt and I can't fix the post.

Or maybe they aren't corrupt? Cool.

[theForgottenone]

Good job.  I ain't got time for this so I"m taking it to a shop.