A343 tranny drain/fill quantity pain in the ... (1 Viewer)

[IdahoDoug]

This is the third time I've done a drain and fill on the 97, and it seems like the quantity needed changes each time?! Today was like the 5th time I've done it on the A442 and it's conisistent - just under 6.5qts.

Wonder what the issue is? One time I put 5 quarts in and checked and I was a quart high. Drained about a quart to proper level. This time I put 4 quarts in and it was way low - about a quart. So I kept adding, rechecking, etc until I had put 5 quarts in again.

The engine/tranny were hot, and I did everything correctly - engine running, shifted through the selector before checking level, etc. Can anyone shed light on this? Others experience the same thing? I love the tranny, but the drain fill shouldn't take me 45 minutes...

DougM

 

[concretejungle]

I think it's really tough to tell where it is on the dipstick. Nearly impossible, since you are supposed to check it while it's run. THat slings it all up the dipstick, so it looks like it's over-filled.

 

[Elijah]

I've done about a half dozen drain and fills and I've always done the 4 quarts, checked the next day and the level marked perfectly at full every time.

 

[CJF]

Was the time interval from "vehicle last driven" to "drain plug removed" similar in each case?

Curtis

 

[IdahoDoug]

Curtis,

Yeah, I'm a stickler for that kind of stuff. To the degree that this morning I had two errands to run. Ran one, came home and got the other Cruiser to run the other one so they'd both be warmed up for the drain/fills. Normally, I'm anal to the point where I routinely attempt to use/heat cycle only one vehicle if it works out with my family's schedules.

All is well, but just kind of a pain. I see in my notes from last time that I put in 5, then checked later and it was a quart high.

I will say that last month I specifically bought a tranny filler funnel and it actually fits into the dipstick tube vs the one I've used for years being a POS that leaked. Made the fills downright pleasant.

DougM

 

[turbocruiser]

Wow. In my experience I have never had such variation - it does matter the more it sits but still it is never more than 4.5 quarts in my case? Weird.

In the hope it helps I'll tell ya that for tranny fluid, and for tranny fluid only, I always start with an absolutely empty container to drain to, take three one liter bottles of M1 Synthetic ATF and add them to the tranny after the plug is in, and then fill those three bottles up with my waste fluid, then I slowly but surely add a fourth measure again and then just top off as accurately as possible. I think it would be hard to accurately aproximate how much drained any other way. JMHO. HTH.

 

[dace voit]

I always drain until it starts to drip slowly, put the plug back in, fill with 4 qts. and am good to go.

 

[97 FZJ80]

Mine drains between 4-5 quarts consistantly. Since I drain the transmission fluid after I change the oil, I always pour the transmission fluid into the 5 quart oil container that has a sight window with the quart markers and reads the amount drained.

 

[Ted44]

Mine drains between 4-5 quarts consistantly. Since I drain the transmission fluid after I change the oil, I always pour the transmission fluid into the 5 quart oil container that has a sight window with the quart markers and reads the amount drained.

That's my method, also.