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To change or not to change trans oil?

3K views 15 replies 11 participants last post by  surgicaltech 
#1 ·
07 ram 1500 5.7 with 52,000 on it. I'm planning on going on a trip about 2,000 miles round trip. I started reading transmission oil changes on these trucks. Some say 30k or 60k. I read a lot also that they have problems as soon as they change it. My trip is in two weeks and I checked the oil ands it red and doesn't smell like anything. Should I change it or is it best to wait till after my trip to avoid a possible problem away from home so far? I will be towing a 1,700 lb. trailer. That's with loaded weight.
 
#2 ·
Chrysler recommends to follow the maintenance requirements located in your owner's manual.
 
#3 ·
Change fluid & filter (no flush), but I'd wait til after your trip. Just IMO
 
#5 ·
See I'm the other way around. Change it now and verify in the 2 weeks you have no issues. I change mine every 2 years or 15k which ever comes first. Beats having a trans crap out while towing. Fresh fluid for a long distance haul is better than used worn out fluid.
 
#6 ·
Just food for thought the owner's manual lists changing the ATF and filters as part of the 120,000 service, 60,000 if being used as a fleet vehicle. I think you are good for awhile.

I just changed my transmission fluid yesterday in my (for the first time w/ 71,000 on the clock) and aside from the magnet having a little build up on it everything looked fine. However since I only got about 1/2 the old fluid out I plan on doing a drain and fill in about 40-50,000.

While I don't entirely agree with going 120K on such an important lubricant I think putting only 15K on it before changing it is a waste.

With that said I would NEVER do a flush. Read way to many horror stories with these 545's. What kills me is that this is what dealerships will do to service the trans however the service manual lists an entirely different procedure. What's the point putting in new fluid if you're not going to change the filters?
 
#11 ·
We did the the total fluid only change last night in the driveway to get the very dirty looking ATF out of it. It is a 2002 1500 360 Magnum showing 111K miles and we know it has not been changed since the guy got it with 34K miles on it. Shifts a bit better it seems. The 3 gallons that we pumped out looked very dirty and dark when we looked at it this morning. The cherry red ATF 4+ at least gives some piece of mine plus we know the check valve is working well because we had a strong rate of flow. Since it only takes about 15 minutes and cost $60 for the fluid we plan to do it every 3 years or about 40K-60K miles. The truck has not really towed more than a 4 wheeler as far as we know.

Like some others I would really want new fluid if I was towing but if the current fluid is not damaged and dirty you may be ok. Dirty failing ATF is about the only cause of transmission failure that I know about unless it was not using Tow Mode when towing.
 
#13 ·
Assuming your question was to my post about the bucket flush we did not use an external pump but the one in the transmission to remove the old ATF in the transmission, torque converter, lines and cooler.

The last three photos on this guy's site shows the concept of how we did the bucket flush that reportedly can remove about 97% of old ATF in the complete AFT fluid flow path.

http://www.60ateight.com/DodgeRam/

About 6 quarts came out before it started pumping air and the wife shut off the engine. All the pumping is done in Neutral with the parking brake engaged just like when you check the ATF levels per the manual. In Park it will not pump.

I refilled with 9 quarts to insure we would see new ATF before it pumped it all out again. The wife restarted the truck still in Neutral until the dirty ATF turned into looking like new ATF. That happen before the pump started pumping air bubbles.

We then reconnected the return line and topped off to the full mark. Actually we overfilled and the son took off the return line again at the cooler and we refilled two quart ATF bottles to be on the safe side. To get it back on the full mark we had to add back one of the two quarts.

So it took a net of 12 quarts of new ATF 4+ (WM brand approved by Chrysler) to get most all of the the dirty ATF removed from the system of our 2002 Ram with 5.9 Magnum engine (46 series transmission with tow package). We did not drop the pan because it was very late at night and wanted to old ATF out. When dropping the pan we would have done it after the first pump down cycle. In the GM 4L80e transmission about a quart was left after the first pump down cycled so one can drop the pan and not drip any ATF.
 
#15 ·
surgicaltech you do have a way with humor!

After 14 years and 111K miles and perhaps pumping 2.3 billion gallons more or less of ATF I expect the torque converter fins and the pump are OK. :)

At the age of 64 and the kids turning 18 in a couple months I am trying to pass on skills gained from my father, Google and Youtube.

We picked up a 2007 Dodge Dakato with 62K miles and the 3.7L earlier for the daughter and now the 2002 Ram 1500 SLT Plus with 110K miles for the son. I have had the kids helping me with bucket flushes since 2007 since they are quite simple on some vehicles with an external ATF cooler.

The funny part I went 64 years without driving a Dodge truck and yet have bought two this year for the kids when they start to college next year. So far I have been very impressed. The Dakota is very new like but the Ram is very solid and sharp at 14 years.

I do not suggest one do the bucket flush if they have any fear of it. Since the Chrysler approved ATF 4+ is only $4.27 a quart at WalMart it is a low cost flush with almost a total change out of AFT fluid plus it is important the son knows how to do it by himself next time. We did run a $10 can of Seafoam "TransTune" for 600 miles since the truck had over 100K miles and the ATF fluid looked really bad.

http://seafoamsales.com/trans-tune/how-to-use-trans-tune/
 
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