Need help Refilling transmission fluid at home

samuelsteven

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Ok, So My 2004 LS was leaking tranny fluid from the hose where it connects to the cooler. Im guessing the factory hose clamp just got old and loose. I put a new hose clamp on it and now its leaking somewhere else as well, still need to figure out from where, I dont see it coming from the pan or around the gasket. I see it in different spots as if it were spraying from somewhere.

Anyways, my question is once I repair all the leaks, How can i refill the pan? This is my plan so far, I went to walmart and bought a hand siphen style pump with the this hose. I was hoping to be able to remove the center drain plug and stick one end of the hose into the quart of fluid and the other end into the pan and pump it in that way. Does anyone know if it will work?
 
Ok, So My 2004 LS was leaking tranny fluid from the hose where it connects to the cooler. Im guessing the factory hose clamp just got old and loose. I put a new hose clamp on it and now its leaking somewhere else as well, still need to figure out from where, I dont see it coming from the pan or around the gasket. I see it in different spots as if it were spraying from somewhere.

Anyways, my question is once I repair all the leaks, How can i refill the pan? This is my plan so far, I went to walmart and bought a hand siphen style pump with the this hose. I was hoping to be able to remove the center drain plug and stick one end of the hose into the quart of fluid and the other end into the pan and pump it in that way. Does anyone know if it will work?

If your really wanting to do it that way, get a brake fitting that will fit into the hose and the threaded check plug hole. Get a screw type hose fitting and tighten it down. Get a fitting that will fit the top of the Mercon 5 bottle and clamp that down with another screw type hose fitting and clamp that down. Forget the pump because you can only force so much through at a time before you bust up the hand pump (Been there). Jack up the car after you get the transmission warmed up and insert the brake line fitting where the oil screw use to be. Lower the car so it is level. Squeeze the bottles of Mercon 5 until you want to guess it is full. Jack the car back up. Take out the hose. Quickly lower the car so you do not loose too much fluid. Check level of fluid by checking to see if there is dripping fluid. If it is pouring out, too much. If it is not coming out at all, not enough.

With that said, the other way of doing this is posted above. I would advise doing that. It would have been so much easier than taking an hour and a half to fill and check my fluid. Hope that answered whatever you were looking for.
 
Thanx a bunch"Right on the Mark" The pictures cleared everything up! I didnt think my 04 had the rear fill plug, but I can see I wasn't looking in the right place. Itll be much easier just to fill from there will my little hand pump
 
OK, it seems that the Transmission Oil Cooler is damaged because its leaking really bad right above where the oil line attaches to it. I thought maybe it was just coming from a loose hose clamp, but I put a heavier duty clamp and it still leaks badly. When I put pressure on the hose to try and push it further onto the oil cooler, I could feel the cooler port moving as if it were cracked and more oil started spurting out.

In AllData, it says that the A/C Condenser must come out since the cooler is mounted between the Condenser and Radiator. Has anyone ever changed one out before? I don't really ant to disconnect the A/C System if I dont have to and I don't really see why you would, because both oil lines are accessible from under the car. The only other thing is just removing the nut or whatever is attaching it to the radiator housing. Plan on doing it in the morning and I was super surprised that a new cooler is only $40 at autozone!

Any help is much appreciated..Thanx
 
Number 9 is the cooler and u can see where it connects to the radiator
OilCooler.png
 
Ok, Im confused about which transmission cooler to buy. Autozone has multiple coolers that seem to be just different sizes and come with extra hose, im guessing to extend the length if needed. Are coolers just universal? Does it matter which one I get or will any cooler with the correct number of connections work?
 
Aftermarket coolers are universal. The only problem is they are rated in GVW and we don't know the GVW of the stock one. The best aftermarket ones are a "stack plate" style over the cheap tube type. When you install new one you don't have to install it in the stock spot. You can just leave stock one in place and mount the new one up front in the front facia. Take lines off old one and hook up to new one and mount, done. You are most likely looking in the 24K GVW size. I run a 40K which is huge in my Mk8 but I have a 9.5 inch converter(hot) All things written here are not written in stone you can do as you like.
 
Aftermarket coolers are universal. The only problem is they are rated in GVW and we don't know the GVW of the stock one. The best aftermarket ones are a "stack plate" style over the cheap tube type. When you install new one you don't have to install it in the stock spot. You can just leave stock one in place and mount the new one up front in the front facia. Take lines off old one and hook up to new one and mount, done. You are most likely looking in the 24K GVW size. I run a 40K which is huge in my Mk8 but I have a 9.5 inch converter(hot) All things written here are not written in stone you can do as you like.

Cool, thats good to know. Will this one work? Some say with super cool and some say without..What is it? Is it vehicle dependant or just preference?

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/pa...ing=search&itemIdentifier=538981_12015_0_4687
 
I cannot tell you what super cool means they don't say what it is. You need just a cooler no options. Options would be a therm that controls oil to cooler and does not let it go to cooler until its hot and needs to be cooled down. That one you picked looks like a higher end plate type. It is sized to your car from them. Coolers are matched to car or truck. Small 4 cly cars take a small cooler. Cars like our 4000lb LS take a bigger cooler and Trucks take bigger and RV's take even larger if you tow its even bigger. More heat means bigger cooler.
 
I cannot tell you what super cool means they don't say what it is. You need just a cooler no options. Options would be a therm that controls oil to cooler and does not let it go to cooler until its hot and needs to be cooled down. That one you picked looks like a higher end plate type. It is sized to your car from them. Coolers are matched to car or truck. Small 4 cly cars take a small cooler. Cars like our 4000lb LS take a bigger cooler and Trucks take bigger and RV's take even larger if you tow its even bigger. More heat means bigger cooler.

So, do you think its a good choice?
 
Looks like they sized it for your car. It also looks like a plate style which is best. If these are true its good unit. What is the price? Should be like 75 for a plate cooler that size.I paid best cheapest price of 100 for my 40K cooler.
 
Ok, I replaced the Cooler, but the transmission is still acting funny. It doesnt always feel like its in gear when I put it in drive from park.. I have to give it gas for it to kick in to gear. im hoping itll do better once I drive it for a day. Also, Im gettin the service park break message, which I had been getting, but now its saying foot on break, but im driving when it does.. Any solutions?
 
Make sure the trans fluid is full. Sounds like it is low to me. If it just barely dribbles out of the small plug, add about a half quart till it runs out with steady drips. The park brake concern is probably the DCCV (coolant valve). Causes wierd electrical things when it starts to fail.
 
Ok, I replaced the Cooler, but the transmission is still acting funny. It doesnt always feel like its in gear when I put it in drive from park.. I have to give it gas for it to kick in to gear. im hoping itll do better once I drive it for a day. Also, Im gettin the service park break message, which I had been getting, but now its saying foot on break, but im driving when it does.. Any solutions?
Did you check and fill the trans? Why didn't you mention this in last post? If you didn't the new cooler takes about a qrt of fluid just in itself. You sound like your low on trans fluid. Don't keep driving untill topped off.
 
Did you check and fill the trans? Why didn't you mention this in last post? If you didn't the new cooler takes about a qrt of fluid just in itself. You sound like your low on trans fluid. Don't keep driving untill topped off.

Why didn't I mention the park break thing? Ill have to recheck the fluid again. I didn'y think to because I filled the tranny the day before, when I thought the leak was just from a hose. I put a new hose clamp and then refilled the tranny until a stream came out of the center plug. When I took the old cooler off, There wasnt very much that came out of the lines or cooler, I caught it all in a pan.
 
Make sure the trans fluid is full. Sounds like it is low to me. If it just barely dribbles out of the small plug, add about a half quart till it runs out with steady drips. The park brake concern is probably the DCCV (coolant valve). Causes wierd electrical things when it starts to fail.

I will recheck the fluid today, what other things can I look for to stop the service park break? I recently changed out the DCCV like last month, and I had the service park break before then.
 
Im wondering if it matters which is the inlet or outlet on the aftermarket cooler? It wasnt marked and I didnt see anything in the installation manual. I figured it wouldn't matter since it was just flowing through.
 
Im wondering if it matters which is the inlet or outlet on the aftermarket cooler? It wasnt marked and I didnt see anything in the installation manual. I figured it wouldn't matter since it was just flowing through.
I meant did you fill the trans up after putting new cooler on. The trans has to take fluid that WAS in pan to now fill empty space in cooler so now your pan will be low. The cooler does not matter both nipples can be ins and outs.
 
Ok, it took a little less then a quart, until it started flowing out of the drain plug...But its still acting up, it feels better though. Its mainly from a halt, it feels like its just in neutral, when I have it in drive. I might try and check it again later and see if it needs more, but I did fill it up. Ive been adding it with the car off, is that the right way to do it? I wanted to try it with the car on, so the fluid would circulate, but I didn't know if it was a good idea...
 

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