Hello, to the point. I was thinking about dropping the oil out of my transmission pan to do a filter and fluid change, due to something strange I saw on my transmission dipstick, if you check out my previous posts you'll see what I mean. I have been asking at some mechanics and transmission shops and according to them they do not recommend it. I am the 10th owner of this Jeep and I really have no information on if it has had fluid changes or if it has 132,000 miles, it also has a transmission cooler installed in the front of the grill. What do the guys here with more experience recommend? Should I take a chance and change it or leave things as they are? I have obtained a reading of the pan oil with my thermometer in the parking lot after moving it and it always ranges from 140 to 155, maybe 160 at times.
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- Thread starter 4.0TJOwner
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Just do a drain and fill at each of your next two oil changes and call it a day until the next factory recommended service interval.
I think they recommend against it because of the widespread claim of transmission problems after a flush. Some shops won’t do a flush around 150,000 miles due to this problem. However, it’s not the flush that causes a transmission problem. The transmission was going to have a problem anyway. If you want a baseline for the fluid do a flush. Those temps are good!
Dropping the pan to replace the fluid and filter isn't like a "flush". Why would they not recommend it? I've always done that with my autos with unknown maintenance.
I agree with @TheBoogieman - a flush is one thing, usually done under pressure while attached to a "flush" machine. It can absolutely dislodge crud in the tranny and gum up the works. I would NEVER recommend someone do this - I've worked at a couple repair shops and have seen first-hand the issues that come up. I also allowed a shop flush our tranny on a road trip (700R4) after having some shifting issues, and about 40 miles later, we got stuck in 1 or 2 gear for long stretches - totally burned out our tranny requiring a new one in St. George, Utah.
A drain and refill is a completely different process. You literally just drain out as much fluid as you can and then refill. My understanding is that with most tranny's this doesn't remove all the fluid, just a fair amount, but if you do it 1-2, maybe 3 times over a period of time, you can be assured that there is mostly fresh fluid in the transmission.
Of course, if you have contaminants in the system like water/metal flakes, etc. - all bets are off and a full flush/tear-down, etc. is probably in your future, but that's only if you see physical evidence like metal flakes or a fluid milkshake ("creamy" pink fluid which is water mixed with oil)
A drain and refill is a completely different process. You literally just drain out as much fluid as you can and then refill. My understanding is that with most tranny's this doesn't remove all the fluid, just a fair amount, but if you do it 1-2, maybe 3 times over a period of time, you can be assured that there is mostly fresh fluid in the transmission.
Of course, if you have contaminants in the system like water/metal flakes, etc. - all bets are off and a full flush/tear-down, etc. is probably in your future, but that's only if you see physical evidence like metal flakes or a fluid milkshake ("creamy" pink fluid which is water mixed with oil)
I also don't understand why they don't recommend it, the color of my liquid isn't really dark but I'm worried about seeing this mark on the rod, even though it looks old. That's why I wanted to drop it and do the service.
El líquido en la varilla medidora está bien y no hay olor a quemado, pero mira la imagen que adjunté a mi respuesta a @TheBoogieman Maybe it was a problem that was solved, I just want to make sure I don't make things worse.
Looks like a rusty dipstick to me.
I also thought it was rust, but it's not anywhere else on the dipstick, not even on the ATF marking part, it's just on that part, I scratched the other side a little and couldn't identify what it is. Is there any reason why only a small section of the dipstick can rust?
Maybe the dipstick was removed for a long period during its history and it rusted there. I’d clean it up, drop the pan, change the filter and add more fluid and keep going.
No idea. I bought a transmission that had been removed from a rig. I have no idea how long it was without a rig. The dipstick was included with mine, but I’ve seen them for sale individually on EBay. People wreck a rig, bend their dipstick, sell the parts off, you never know. Once you get that pan off you’ll see if there is anything wrong. Think about getting a Dorman pan with the drain plug so you don’t have to remove the pan the next time. Hopefully everything is kosher inside. Jeep’s have difficult lives.
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