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Transmission and Coolant flush?

dc9137

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Rogers, AR
The EUC cleared on my 1028 and I plan on changing all of the fluids right away. Is it worth paying for a place to do a coolant and transmission flush with the fancy equipment or am I just as good off doing it myself?
 

WARWAG

Active member
That depends. IF you have alot of gunk/crud on the bottom of your transmission pan a coolant flush could distribute all that gunk inside your transmission. NOT GOOD. If your pan is clean then a transmission flush is a good thing. It gets all of the old fluid out (torque convertor as well) and your transmission is really happy. I just had this done last week. I did not bother to drop my transmission pan as it only has 50K miles on it. My next step will be to drop the pan and change the filter and clean the pan if needed. I do not think it will need cleaning. You could always just drop the pan and replace the filter anyway and see what you have. No big deal. Good luck and take plenty of pics if you do.
 

MarcusOReallyus

Well-known member
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Many, many mechanics STRONGLY discourage commercial transmission flushes. The reason is that the machines that are used for this operate at a high pressure that can dislodge gunk in your trans. That gunk then may clog passages, resulting in transmission damage. Not good.

Here's a better plan:

Pull the pan, clean or replace the filter, then refill with clean fluid. Now, if you want to get out ALL the fluid, you can disconnect your cooling lines. Make sure you know which is which! One of them will be returning fluid from the radiator to the trans. THIS one goes into a container of new trans fluid. (Hey, make sure it's clean on the outside so you don't contaminate the clean trans fluid!) The other one takes fluid from the trans to the radiator. THIS one goes into an empty container. Preferably, one that's translucent so you can see it getting full, and a bit bigger than the container of clean fluid . Now, have a helper start the engine, and the trans will pull clean fluid in, and pump dirty fluid out. When you see clean fluid coming out, you're done. Shut off the engine and reconnect your lines.

This doesn't have the high pressure problems of a commercial flush, but it will get the old fluid out.


As for the cooling system, you can always cheat. I put in a quarter cup of Amway SA-8 laundry detergent, drive around for a few weeks, then drain, fill with water, run for 10 minutes, then drain a fill with antifreeze. Works great. Recommended to me by an old mechanic 30 years ago, and I'm sold on it. There's nothing in it that will hurt your system, and it does a good job of cleaning things out.

No, I don't sell it. You can find it online.
 

dc9137

New member
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Location
Rogers, AR
As for the cooling system, you can always cheat. I put in a quarter cup of Amway SA-8 laundry detergent, drive around for a few weeks, then drain, fill with water, run for 10 minutes, then drain a fill with antifreeze. Works great. Recommended to me by an old mechanic 30 years ago, and I'm sold on it. There's nothing in it that will hurt your system, and it does a good job of cleaning things out.

No, I don't sell it. You can find it online.
Does it have to be Amway or will any detergent work? Maybe one of the "green" brands. Also, liquid or powder? And what's the difference in the commercial coolant flush stuff?
 

MarcusOReallyus

Well-known member
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Location
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Can't tell you about other brands, as I have not tried them. I DO know that some powdered laundry detergents have pumice in them to scrub the clothes. You do NOT want pumice in your cooling system! The label won't tell you, since it's not intended for eating.

I use the powdered version. It has rust inhibitors in it. It has worked very well for me. Of course, it's not a miracle in a box - if your system is plugged up with corrosion, it's not going to make it new. But it's worth a shot before you pay to have it flushed.
 
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