- Jan 22, 2014
- 359
Ok so I want to do a transmission fluid change on this guy, and fairly soon. It was supposed to have been done at time of purchase at the dealer last year, however my confidence in that is waning.
So I have 2 main questions, besides the obvious "how do you do it"?
One is, should I pay to have the dealer do it? I really don't mind the possible $150-$200 cost of them doing it, but what are the chances of them shortcutting the procedure, not completely flushing the thing out including the cooler, and or skipping over the filter change? Am I over thinking it? I also worried about the 10000 other things I know they will find wrong, most of which I feel confident I can handle myself (transfer case/diff fluid change, cv axles, leaking seal on front diff, tie rods etc), but they always scare my half to death when I go in for anything other than a oil change.
The second one, which may or may not be easy to figure out, is how do you know if you have the deep pan? Assuming I do it myself, I can purchase a ACDelco 24208576 Professional Automatic Transmission Fluid Filter Kit on amazon for about $28, but that kit said Notes:USED W/DEEP PAN 76.6MM. I would be less than happy mid change to find out I have the wrong one. Amazon says fits 2007 tahoe blah blah blah..but not sure if I can trust it. I got the p/n off a different forum describing the procedure.
Which, brings me back to the procedure. I'm not quite sure I follow 100%. I get you use the internal pump of the truck to get 3-4 quarts out. It seems you do this first. Then drop the pan, where if you do a good job you can get the last 3-4 quarts out without coating yourself and the driveway with it. Pull the filter and replace, clean the pan, put it back together. Dump in 3-4 quarts through the filler tube? Then start the truck and keep pouring another 3-4 quarts through until you see crappy looking fluid replaced with new stuff? Then put it back together and top it off with remaining 3-4 quarts?
I know thats a lot of silly question marks there lol. But I have this feeling I'm missing something, and I'm going to buy 15 quarts of fluid and only use 8, and not be able to figure out why.
I do have the ability to connect up to the external trans cooler or the one from the radiator, because I installed the factory cooler/lines myself last year, so I have extra old lines, new lines, clips, etc (they had to send me a second kit when first was damaged).
Of course that install was like a 12 hour project lol. I guess its making me nervous about this lol.
And as far as cost. I mean 1 quart of valvoline dex vi is running about $8. Times 15 equals $120 plus the kit $30, so I'm at $150 and I haven't started. Of course thats o'riellys price on single quart atf, maybe I can get it cheaper elsewhere in bulk quantity?
What prompted this all was my drive in...stuck in traffic for a long time, watched temps climb fairly high, 195 range, which if it wasn't for the fact it was 50 out, wouldn't have surprised me. Switched routes, watched temp go back into normal area (or what I would consider more normal I guess), checked when I got to work. Full of fluid, still red in color but a little darker grungier than I would like.
Looking at dealer sites said something about a trans flush for $150ish for some BG ultra guard stuff? But says up to 3 quarts? Not sure exactly what that is, but it sounds like something I wouldn't want.
Any help/thoughts etc is appreciated.
So I have 2 main questions, besides the obvious "how do you do it"?
One is, should I pay to have the dealer do it? I really don't mind the possible $150-$200 cost of them doing it, but what are the chances of them shortcutting the procedure, not completely flushing the thing out including the cooler, and or skipping over the filter change? Am I over thinking it? I also worried about the 10000 other things I know they will find wrong, most of which I feel confident I can handle myself (transfer case/diff fluid change, cv axles, leaking seal on front diff, tie rods etc), but they always scare my half to death when I go in for anything other than a oil change.
The second one, which may or may not be easy to figure out, is how do you know if you have the deep pan? Assuming I do it myself, I can purchase a ACDelco 24208576 Professional Automatic Transmission Fluid Filter Kit on amazon for about $28, but that kit said Notes:USED W/DEEP PAN 76.6MM. I would be less than happy mid change to find out I have the wrong one. Amazon says fits 2007 tahoe blah blah blah..but not sure if I can trust it. I got the p/n off a different forum describing the procedure.
Which, brings me back to the procedure. I'm not quite sure I follow 100%. I get you use the internal pump of the truck to get 3-4 quarts out. It seems you do this first. Then drop the pan, where if you do a good job you can get the last 3-4 quarts out without coating yourself and the driveway with it. Pull the filter and replace, clean the pan, put it back together. Dump in 3-4 quarts through the filler tube? Then start the truck and keep pouring another 3-4 quarts through until you see crappy looking fluid replaced with new stuff? Then put it back together and top it off with remaining 3-4 quarts?
I know thats a lot of silly question marks there lol. But I have this feeling I'm missing something, and I'm going to buy 15 quarts of fluid and only use 8, and not be able to figure out why.
I do have the ability to connect up to the external trans cooler or the one from the radiator, because I installed the factory cooler/lines myself last year, so I have extra old lines, new lines, clips, etc (they had to send me a second kit when first was damaged).
Of course that install was like a 12 hour project lol. I guess its making me nervous about this lol.
And as far as cost. I mean 1 quart of valvoline dex vi is running about $8. Times 15 equals $120 plus the kit $30, so I'm at $150 and I haven't started. Of course thats o'riellys price on single quart atf, maybe I can get it cheaper elsewhere in bulk quantity?
What prompted this all was my drive in...stuck in traffic for a long time, watched temps climb fairly high, 195 range, which if it wasn't for the fact it was 50 out, wouldn't have surprised me. Switched routes, watched temp go back into normal area (or what I would consider more normal I guess), checked when I got to work. Full of fluid, still red in color but a little darker grungier than I would like.
Looking at dealer sites said something about a trans flush for $150ish for some BG ultra guard stuff? But says up to 3 quarts? Not sure exactly what that is, but it sounds like something I wouldn't want.
Any help/thoughts etc is appreciated.