Quote:
Originally posted by njmaxseltd
With all the oil posts going on lately I figured I'd open this one up regarding Automatic Transmission Fluids.
My 99 has 51,500 miles on it and I'm looking at flushing my A/T with Amsoil Tranny Fluid. The only maintenance done on my A/T was at approx 32,000, when a drain and refill was done TWICE over the course of 2 days. (a mini flush)
I used Penzoil Synthetic Blend ATF fluid.
Since I've switched my engine oil over to Amsoil I'd like to switch the tranny over as well. What benefits will I have using Amsoil over other name brands such as Mobil 1 or even DINO ATF fluids? (OK perhaps thats a stupid question) Will my shifts become smoother using Syn. ATF fluid? How about clutch pack life? Temperature changes/effects - We all know the auto tranny has a hard shift from 1st to 2nd when it's cold. Will Amsoil ATF help out on cold mornings with a smoother shift? Will it make my shifts more stable when the tranny is hot?
What is the recomended change interval for Amsoil ATF? Drain / Refill or Flush?
Any feedback from anybody using Amsoil ATF would be appreciated. I'd like to know if you actually "felt" a difference in how your tranny shifts.
Bill - I have a sample bottle, I'll most likely have the tranny fluid analysed for your spread sheet.
Tom
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First, you need to look at the spreadsheet to see the difference between Mobil 1 and Amsoil ATF in the baseline oil section. You may notice (as I did) that there is no significant empirical difference. Are they the same? Not quite. The main reason I went with Amsoil was because of their testing illustrating their fluids lasting 3 times (in the range of 90k) what a normal dino ATF should last. However, we do have one Mobil 1 ATF analysis as well, which occurred after 27k. Blackstone had no problem recommending 35 to 40k on the Mobil 1. There's an ATF section also that details the Nissan D4 in my 99 after 32k and a couple of Amsoil ATF readings, although none of the intervals have been more than 16k.....
I'm probably the only one here who has dropped the pan cleaned it completely (the two magnets at the bottom of the pan were NASTY and my Minima had only 47k and 1 full ATF machine flush at 32k), ordered a new tranny pan gasket, filled it up with Amsoil ATF, then dropped the cooler return line and did a full system flush by:
A) Aiming the hose into a container
B) Start car
C) Go to container and make sure it isn't spewing everywhere. It should take 15 to 20 seconds for 2 quarts to drain out; I recommend draining 2 quarts at a time
D) Shut off car.
E) Repeat this 5 times and it will "flush" 10 quarts through the system. Once you get used to it, you can shift between Park and Reverse and Drive and then Neutral, etc. during these short intervals to run through all the gears.
Changing the ATF did not improve shift quality for me, but I also NEVER tell a butt-dyno or smoothness difference when switching from dino to synthetic oils, etc.
Here's what you need:
==* Tranny Pan Gasket 31397-80X01 (required if dropping the pan)
==* 19mm Tranny Drain Plug 31377-31X06 (optional, but might as well)
==* (21) Tranny Pan Bolts 31377-32X02 (required if dropping the pan)
==* Tranny "Screen" inside transmission (some think it is a filter, but it is not. Changing isn't necessary, but while you have the pan off, you might as well consider replacing) 31728-80X04
I didn't replace the screen, I just took it off and cleaned it real good with brake parts cleaner.....
If you wanna be cheap and not drop the pan, then look at this thread:
can someone help me with my power invertor?
A good pic that shows the transmission cooler return line:
http://www.greghome.com/images/Maxim...urnLineOff.jpg
You can also see the tranny pan and even the tranny drain plug if you look closely.
Greg's overall tranny cooler instructions can be found here, and have some other good overall pics of the tranny area:
http://www.greghome.com/Greg's%2...n%20Cooler.htm
Good luck Tom.