We have lot discussions about fluid replacement. Everybody has his personal preferences. Those who read my replies could figure out, that I am one of the guys, who prefers using the vehicles instead of washing and waxing them.
So my family has Mercedes vehicles with 240,000, 172,000 and 80,000 miles. Having lot of mechanical toys, I tend to neglect the recommended maintenance and prizing dry California weather I am getting away with it. My boat, motorhome, tractor gets oil changes on average 5 years intervals. Brake fluids work for 10 years without a problem. I continue experiment with keeping 30+ years old COMMERCIAL tire on my motorhome.
So getting to the point there are several ways owner deal with transmission fluid refreshing. Some drain 2 qt from the pan, what is about 25% and are happy with it. Some go for flushing, what doesn't change the filter and doesn't clean the bottom of the pan.
I was thinking about it, till Harbor Freight Tools had fluid exchangers for the price I could not refuse.
My general policy is "if you finally do it, do it right" so I went the route with dropping the pan, wiping it clean, changing the filter, putting fresh fluid in it and than do the flushing.
I tried to vacuum some fluid to avoid big splash, but the tube was just gargling. The plug in the pan was overtightened and didn't want to force it too much, since I was doing the job on the edge of my swimming pool, that I filled up last year, so some splash on the dirt wasn't any issue.
I will use this server for pictures, so it might take few steps to go thru all of them.
The pan had some nasty stuff in it. The bottom had fluid, that remind me more of 80-90 oils coming from differentials, than light tranny fluid. Look at the white towel soaked in it.
So my family has Mercedes vehicles with 240,000, 172,000 and 80,000 miles. Having lot of mechanical toys, I tend to neglect the recommended maintenance and prizing dry California weather I am getting away with it. My boat, motorhome, tractor gets oil changes on average 5 years intervals. Brake fluids work for 10 years without a problem. I continue experiment with keeping 30+ years old COMMERCIAL tire on my motorhome.
So getting to the point there are several ways owner deal with transmission fluid refreshing. Some drain 2 qt from the pan, what is about 25% and are happy with it. Some go for flushing, what doesn't change the filter and doesn't clean the bottom of the pan.
I was thinking about it, till Harbor Freight Tools had fluid exchangers for the price I could not refuse.
My general policy is "if you finally do it, do it right" so I went the route with dropping the pan, wiping it clean, changing the filter, putting fresh fluid in it and than do the flushing.
I tried to vacuum some fluid to avoid big splash, but the tube was just gargling. The plug in the pan was overtightened and didn't want to force it too much, since I was doing the job on the edge of my swimming pool, that I filled up last year, so some splash on the dirt wasn't any issue.
I will use this server for pictures, so it might take few steps to go thru all of them.
The pan had some nasty stuff in it. The bottom had fluid, that remind me more of 80-90 oils coming from differentials, than light tranny fluid. Look at the white towel soaked in it.