Hello all, I have been changing the oil and filter since this car was new. It is my wife's car and has 21,000 miles and I want to change the Automatic trans fluid and filter. The dealer did this once, at 30 months, 10,000 miles but when I checked the fluid last night, it was full but the fluid was brownish in color.

 

The owners manual suggest Dexron II or III fluid. What is a good brand to put in? I use Mobil 1 in the engine with a factory filter. I plan on getting the filter from the dealer but I'm unsure of what is a good transmission fluid. It doesn't look to difficult but I'm sure the entire trans is not going to drain the 9.8 quarts.

 

Also I noticed in the owners manual it states the A/T dipstick has markings for hot range and cold range. The dipstick in this car doesn't have those markings, just low and full.

 

Any advice would be appreciated, this is the first time I have attempted changing A/T fluid.

How does the fluid smell? From what I've seen the color and smell varies slightly but as long as it's not a burnt smell it should be ok. 11,000 doesn't seem right for fluid to go bad..

 

I just did a drain, fill, and filter replacement today. Drained out about 6 quarts, last time I only got ~5 when I didn't change the filter. One of the parts guys over here told me the AT filter is a lifetime part, I have a hard time believing that though (filter is a bit pricey too ~$24).

 

I mixed in 6 quarts of castrol full synthetic ATF, hoping for a bit smoother shifting/better cold performance.

 

I saw a procedure somewhere that explains how to do a complete flush by disconnecting the trans cooler line in front, and letting the transmission pump all the fluid out. I'll see if I can find it.

 

You'll need a fairly long skinny funnel to fill it back up, since you have to use the dipstock hole.... I also put a crush washer (like on the oil plug) on the atf drain plug, not sure if it needs one though.

 

I wonder if maybe they changed the dipstick between model years? Mine has a cold and hot scale. You're better off filling it up a little low (measure how much came out) and then measuring the new fluid hot, it seems to be more accurate.

 

Good luck.

Dextron 3 is the probably the best tranny fluid to use(better than dextron 2). Make sure you have enough fresh fluid for a full flush, or your car available to go to the parts store in case you need more. Mine took over a gallon...but now I forget how much...Hope it goes well!

I noticed there is a new type of fluid, Mercon V (new ford spec). From doing some reading, penzoil and mobil1 both have multigrade dexronII/dexronIII/mercon + mercon v fluids available. Anyone have any thoughts on these combo types in a subaru trans?