My older son and I drained and refilled the transmission yesterday. I recalled hating the job the last time we did it, which was admittedly too long ago (5-1/2 years and 43,000 miles). This time it was even more of a PITA, due in part to my ignorance.

I tried to do the job 2-1/2 months ago but couldn't get the drain plug to come out (documented in another thread). I got it out yesterday using a pair of Vise-Grips. The fluid that drained out looked not-too-bad given how long since the last time it was changed - a decent brownish-red.

Now, time to refill. There's noting I like better than lying on my back trying to pump fluid into a transmission or diff. And with the trans you get the bonus of having the engine running so that you have the opportunity to get a nice burn on your arm from the exhaust system.

Last time I used a pump that requires two hands to operate. One hose goes in the fill hole and the other goes into the container of new fluid. The hoses can have a mind of their own and either pop out of the fill hole or the container, or cause the quart-size container to fall over when it gets near-empty.

So this time I went looking for a better solution. Some say to use a suction gun. That's great if the truck is up on a lift by lying on my back I don't know how I'd maneuver it to fill it. I found a few pumps that mount onto the new fluid container allowing you to press down and pump so I bought a couple of those to try.

It turned out that the body of the first new pump I tried was too large in diameter to fit into the quart-size containers. The second one fit, but the "straw" that fits onto the bottom of the pump to allow it to reach to the bottom of the container kept falling off. So finally I went back to the old pump from five years ago.

Before I continue the story I'll note that to keep the hose from coming out of the fill hole I wedged it in place with a small piece of wood. It was actually a piece of mulch, but a sharpened wooden pencil stub would work well next time.

Back to the story. The first quart with the old pump went pretty well. Next I wanted to add the quart of Lucas Transmission Fix that is recommended as a preventative for older transmissions. It is significantly more viscous than the ATF fluid and was a lot more difficult to pump even though I diluted it to about 50/50 with ATF. As I got near completing that quart the output hose blew off the pump, sending a spray of Lucas/ATF everywhere. Lovely. After that I made sure I had one hand holding the output hose in place on the pump.

I regrouped and soldiered on until a nice little stream of ATF was coming out of the fill hole. After a good discussion of roles and responsibilities my son got into the truck and started it. This time I had the pump intake hose in a gallon jug of ATF so I wouldn't have to be changing quart-size containers during the next stage, which I knew would likely take about 3 quarts.

This stage went pretty well until my ignorance kicked in. My son shifted slowly through the gears and back to Park. I kept filling until a steady small stream was coming out of the fill hole.

IGNORANCE PORTION OF THE STORY - The instructions I'd read in the RAVE and elsewhere said to reinstall the fill plug before stopping the engine. I understood that the engine running pumps fluid into the nether regions of the trans but what failed to occur to me is how quickly all that fluid drains into the pan once the engine stops running.

Because I don't like being under the truck with the engine running I thought "Why not install the plug after the engine is shut off?" Big mistake. I pulled the hose from the fill hole, got ready with the fill plug and drain washer, and told my son to turn off the engine. Fluid immediately gushed from the fill hole as I tried to insert the plug. Those fill plugs are not the easiest to get started. I don't know how much was lost; maybe a quart or more.

If I'd had greater presence of mind I'd have had my son restart the engine right away when the gushing started, but I didn't.

Once I gathered myself again we had another roles and responsibilities conversation and he started the truck. I removed the fill plug, inserted the fill hose and pumped. Once filled I installed the drain plug and we were done. Except for a cleanup effort rivaling that of the Exxon Valdese.

So what does any of this have to do with Pepto Bismol? On the final fill what came out of the fill hole wasn't the normal red nor even brownish-red. It was pink, close to the color of Pepto Bismol. If you've read this far and have any insight about why it was that color please let me know.

 

Could have been fine air bubbles causing the fluid to look pink. Why they were there, IDK.

i use a bug sprayer, try that next time.

 

Somone posted a color chart of the color degradation of the fluid. The color you mentioned is ok and normal as i remember.

 

 

As just draining and refilling my tranny, due to a gasket leak, here is my take...

I used Redline ATF4 and it was red and slightly bubbly as it came out of the fill plug, when engine was running and I was pumping.

The pink color could be a couple items...
1. a mix of old fluid with new - Maybe
2. a bit of water in the tranny - Probably

My recommendation would be to button it all back up and drive the truck for a couple of days and go back and check the fluid again. Obviously if there is an issue shifting gears check immediately.

By driving it, it will cycle all the fluid and "should" get any condensation out via the breather hoses. If it is still pink and bubbly, you may have a breather hose clog that is preventing any condensation from leaving the tranny.

 

I still had the old fluid in a container awaiting recycling so I checked it. Looks not-bad to me based on the color chart.

 

Gee, the 2nd picture in the chart looks like yours exactly. So youre still good.

 

Best fluid pump I ever bought was from Tractor supply for 39 dollars. it was a 5 gallon bucket pump with a large 1 hand pump lever. the beauty of it is the end of the hose has a curved metal tip that keeps the hose hooked into the fill hole and its not hard to do lying on your back in your driveway. I have one for gear oil and one for tranny.. makes life cleaner and easier trust me.

 

I'm thinking that if I ever again do this job I'll devise something with a long pump outlet hose so that one person can lie under the truck watching the fill hole while a second person is beside the truck doing the pumping. Seems to me there's no reason to be doing the pumping from under the truck.

Abran, you wrote about using a bug sprayer but I'm not sure just what you mean by that.

Or I might just take it to a shop. It's not rocket science and it's not Rover-specific.

 

Go to Lowes and get the clear rubber tubing. They have a size that fits the hole nice and snug. Get it long enough to come up around the exhaust where you can add a funnel to the top. Pour it straight in there from under the hood like a normal car would have.