It's really such a rewarding ownership experience. That's so neat to have had it its entire life, and still going strong!

 

Alright.. it's been a minute, time for updates.
The tranny gave out on me completely on the highway. RPMs began fluctuating wildly and within 1/4 mi, throttle input was meaningless; she was just coasting along and giving her gas just raised the RPMs with no effect on speed. Pulled over, got a tow home, tried to drive her the next day and everything became neutral within 300ft. On another occasion, couldn't even move her ~70ft to get her into the garage; she lost gears while backed halfway in.. Threw a couple codes for solenoids. So I parked her while preparing for the next step..
On July 23rd at 146,4XX miles, I finally pulled her into the garage for another resurrection. Drained the fluid with an extractor pump, dropped the pan, pulled the filter, cleaned the pan. Nothing worth nothing in terms of metal shavings/bits. Fluid was dark, darker than it looked on the dipstick. And she was overfilled, too. Replaced filter and gasket, put the pan back on, refilled with fluid while checking often to ensure proper fill.
So far I've been driving her nearly daily, made a couple long (~1h+) trips, city and highway driving, without a single issue. At least 1000 miles so far. The whine is completely gone, she doesn't struggle to shift, pulls strong and shifts cleanly.

Pics!

Special guest appearance by The Spud..

 

Why the pump?

Transmission has a drain plug [There are two low points with drain plugs, ideally located to get the sediments out].

Salim

 

Why not? Lol. I have one, it's easy and convenient and nifty, and, well.. fairly certain removing and totally cleaning the pan should be sufficient for removing sediment..
Dealing with the drain plug instead would have been as silly as explaining drain plugs and pans to someone who does all their own work, as well as maintenance on family and friends' vehicles.. :P

 

Granted you don't need to crawl underneath, and if you have the device, why not use it. Just be aware of what you miss out when you suck ... the bottom sediments still remain. As you mentioned, if the pan is dropped and cleaned you get the remaining sediments. The not crawling under advantage is obviously negated. But there are two low points. By sucking out and dropping the pan, the other low point has roughly another 1/2 qt (my guess) of fluid + sediment left. I have had a few spills transferring old fluid from collection pan, so I understand why you would prefer the suction method.

Note for everyone ... I have had regular oil recyclers refuse accepting used transmission fluid.

Salim

 

Sure, I do generally prefer to drain the old fashioned way - faster, feels more thorough, fun to get in there and do it that way. I think I'm unclear on one thing you mention - a second "low point" somewhere besides the pan, which would drain via hole but not via pan removal?

Interesting about places declining ATF. I know my O'reilly's and all those I've worked at take any hydraulic fluid, fairly certain that's company standard, so that ought be a safe bet.

 

I was unable to locate a picture. I did look through the sticky thread on transmission fluid change. Maybe another member can point out or add one. Some refer to it as front diff. The transmission fluid is shared. Next time you crawl under look for the drain bolt on the transaxle.

Salim

 

Oh! Gotcha, that front diff/transfer case. I've seen that one. I could certainly make sense of that being a second separate drain point and the fluid all eventually mixing, same as the fluid within the torque converter. Maybe if she acts up again/next tranny fluid change interval, I'll look at draining that as well.