[osx-addict]

Hi all.. As many of you may know, our 2001 Ody is hopefully going to get it's 4th Transmission within the next few weeks. To that end, I'd like to make changing the trans fluid as easy as possible. I was thinking that since I've got the modification in place that adds the external coarse spin-on filter and the magnefine filter, that it would be easy to add some sort of gate valve fitting in-line for the external filters so that you could connect a 1/4" hose to a hose barb fitting with a valve, open the valve and pump fluid out into a bucket of sorts.. At the same time I'd like to find a way to easily re-fill the trans with equal amounts of fresh fluid. I guess I'm thinking of something like a DIY flush machine that you'd find at the local Jiffy lube type of places. While draining is the easy part, I suspect a gravity fed bottle to re-fill with fresh fluid probably won't work..

So... Any ideas on how to make draining/refilling the trans would be appreciated.. I'm trying to streamline the painful process of draining/refilling as it's not the easiest on the Ody due to tight space constraints....

One of the container systems I was looking at was this one that looks like it might work OK.

http://www.oilsafesystem.com/

They offer a 10 quart "drum" (bottle) and have a few different pumps and options.. Seems like it might be a good option to control the mess that can occur when dealing with any sort of oil change (transmissions in particular)..

So.. Are there any drawbacks with going down this route? Obviously any valve needs to be able to handle the heat of the engine compartment AND be able to handle transmission fluid (no plastics that might break-down over time). I should note that any valve would need to be tight such that it would not open on it's own due to vibration,etc.. I'd probably still want to put some sort of screw on cap on the output side of the valve to keep dirt/grunge out and to ensure no leaks if the valve did open somehow by itself (or by small children,etc)

Comments?

 

[OdyinNH]

Sounds interesting, would you replace the oil with the car off or do the more gutzy route of dumping in new oil as fast as it comes out with the motor running? I did this once a Caravan to get all the old crappy oil out. If done with the engine off, how much would be left in the tranny seeing you wouldn't be using the drain bolt from what I understand.

 

[gregersonke]

20,000 transmission cooler and make the switch to Synthetic about 1000 miles after you rebuild your old one.

 

[osx-addict]

Sounds interesting, would you replace the oil with the car off or do the more gutzy route of dumping in new oil as fast as it comes out with the motor running? I did this once a Caravan to get all the old crappy oil out. If done with the engine off, how much would be left in the tranny seeing you wouldn't be using the drain bolt from what I understand.

I was thinking of using the pump in the van to do the emptying -- you'd just have to ensure you can have a helper to shut off the engine when needed to ensure you don't drain too much -- it comes out REALLY fast!

 

[osx-addict]

20,000 transmission cooler and make the switch to Synthetic about 1000 miles after you rebuild your old one.

Are you suggesting we use synthetic trans fluid instead of genuine Honda fluid? I'm not rebuilding my trans -- hoping to get a remanufactured one.

 

[PITB]

Just did drain flush with amsoil. To save time and get more old fluid out I started engine and put it in reverse and D several times for about 1 minute. On the 1st drain got about 5.5 qts out! Refilled with 4 qts and started engine to pump fluid to torque converter so trans wouldnt overflow, then filled remaing fluid. drove on highway about 15 miles to engage TC lockup a number of times. On 2nd drain using same procedure got 6qts. filled the same way. If my math is right I have about 92 pct new fluid with just 2 D/F instead of 4. Test drove no probs. seems that lockup is smoother. 2001 w/104K on orig trans., dealer did the first two D/F.