After seeing this informative video on transmissions.

I feel its safest not to do a full fluid change as I do not know the condition of my current fluid and replacing it all could cause slippage.

I have 98k on it no issues. So I figure a partial change is safest, that way I don't loose all the grit that may be helping my clutches grip.

So I want to just drain the pan without replacing the filter. Just drain out all the fluid I can then adding fresh. Some new is better than no new fluid.

So how much fluid will I be able to get out if I just suck it out the fill hole?

I assume some will be left in the torque converter.

Is these doable? Just suck it out the plug and add new?

 

If the only thing holding your trans together is some dirty fluid you should do a full change and force the issue instead of failing while on a road trip somewhere remote.

 

I don't think that is the case. Just doing a full change is too hard and sucking out and replacing the fluid might do 90 percent of what it needs. Some fresh oil which should extend the life more than doing nothing.

Land Rover says sealed for life.

 

ZF says 70k miles.

 

Would Land Rover lie to its patrons?

 

Sure sounds like it. Do you really think trans fluid and filter never needs to be changed?

 

You won't need to suck it out the fill hole, it'll come pouring out if the truck is off. But that'll only drain a few quarts worth. I guess you could try to pump some out through the fill hole, but that's going to be a lot of mess and work for what might struggle to be a 30-50% fluid change.

Most drop the pan and change the fluid that way, which is more thorough and allows you to replace the mechatronics sleeve that almost always needs replacing if it is original (it usually leaks).

Don't believe the "don't change transmission fluid or it'll kill your transmission" message. If it's reached that state, it's gonna die anyway. As Abran said, it might put of the inevitable failure a little bit, but keeping original fluid is not going to keep your transmission happy if you've left it in there for 100k miles.

 

I just need a shop that will do the drop the pan. Its pretty involved having to pull the motor mounts etc. Meaning they can easily break other things just changing the oil creating a new issue not related to the tranny.

One option that does not involve that is to get a different pan that holds 1 less quart that can be pulled without having to monkey around with the motor mounts and exhaust.

That tube would need to be cut to get the current pan off completely or would need to raise the motor.

Or did you mean just loosen the pain let it drain then put the original pan/filter back in?

 

Switching to the metal pan is exactly what I had my shop do. Just cut the plastic one out and the metal slides right in. There's debate as to whether or not it actually reduces fluid capacity. I don't think it does.

You could just loosen and let it drain, but that would create a mess. The tranny fluid stinks and is an oil, so you really don't want it everywhere.

 

The OEM plastic pan has a drain plug.