Diff and Tranny Fluid???
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Diff and Tranny Fluid???
I'm sure this topic has come up before, but could anybody tell me how to change tranny/diff fluids and which fluids are the best to use? I'm going need to get a fluid change soon and i'd rather do it myself but should i just leave it to the pros? I change oils regularly myself on various cars...but i'm new to the other fluids. Thanks.
Joined: Mar 2001
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It best to have the car up on 4 jack stands on a level surface. I used Honda's MTF for the tranny (need 2 qt.) and Mobil 1 synthetic 75W90 (need 1qt.)
The diff fluid will come in a jug that has a cone type top which you can cut off as big a hole as you need. I got a length (about 3 feet) of clear plastic tubing which if pushed onto the cut cone end and held on with a piece of duct tape. You need a 24 mm socket to remove the drain plug and a 23 mm box end wrench for the fill plug. Remove both, drain the fluid out, replace drain plug, insert tubing into fill hole and squeeze the bottle to get the fluid into the diff till it begins to run out of the fill hole. Remove the tubing and wait till the fluid quits dribbling out and replace fill plug (replace the washers on both bolts if you're worried - I just reused the old ones but don't get them turned around). You can torque the drain bolt (don't have that number handy) but you can't torque the fill bolt (torque wrench won't fit up there) so you need to estimate the tightness based on how much strength it took to unscrew it.
Now do the same with the tranny. You can use the same cap and tubing from the diff fluid bottle on the tranny fluid bottle. Just clean the tubing and cap with some methyl hydrate and let dry. The fill bolt on the tranny is a standard metric size (can't remember the size but it's not abnormal) and the drain bolt you remove with the 3/8" rachet with not socket on it. Again, get new washers and torque bolts down. Fill till fluid runs out of fill hole by squeezing the tranny fluid out of each bottle.
Torque specs:
diff drain - 33#
diff fill - 33#
tranny drain - 29#
tranny fill - 33#
The diff fluid will come in a jug that has a cone type top which you can cut off as big a hole as you need. I got a length (about 3 feet) of clear plastic tubing which if pushed onto the cut cone end and held on with a piece of duct tape. You need a 24 mm socket to remove the drain plug and a 23 mm box end wrench for the fill plug. Remove both, drain the fluid out, replace drain plug, insert tubing into fill hole and squeeze the bottle to get the fluid into the diff till it begins to run out of the fill hole. Remove the tubing and wait till the fluid quits dribbling out and replace fill plug (replace the washers on both bolts if you're worried - I just reused the old ones but don't get them turned around). You can torque the drain bolt (don't have that number handy) but you can't torque the fill bolt (torque wrench won't fit up there) so you need to estimate the tightness based on how much strength it took to unscrew it.
Now do the same with the tranny. You can use the same cap and tubing from the diff fluid bottle on the tranny fluid bottle. Just clean the tubing and cap with some methyl hydrate and let dry. The fill bolt on the tranny is a standard metric size (can't remember the size but it's not abnormal) and the drain bolt you remove with the 3/8" rachet with not socket on it. Again, get new washers and torque bolts down. Fill till fluid runs out of fill hole by squeezing the tranny fluid out of each bottle.
Torque specs:
diff drain - 33#
diff fill - 33#
tranny drain - 29#
tranny fill - 33#
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Joined: Mar 2002
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I switched from Honda MTF to GM Synchromesh, and it is AWESOME! Check out this thread: https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...?threadid=70383
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