jhc7399

Just bought my 99 in March, 150,000 miles. Checked all of the fluids again today and noticed the power steering fluid is low, brake fluid looks black and dirty and the tranny fluid is the same color as the oil. Could be original, I read another post somewhere that said to change your tranny fluid multiple times over so many miles until it looks clean every time you change it then you know tranny is flushed and clean? What do you guys think?

Turbo X_J

That's fine, I don't think anyone would tell you it's OK to drive around with contaminated fluids.

MonacaYankee

I am in the process of doing the transmission drain and fill a couple of times for my 94. My fluid was pinkish black but came out of the pan brown...that was real nice.

Brake fluid is easy, just do the gravity bleed right rear, left rear, front right, front left until clean fluid comes through each line. Take out the dirty fluid with a turkey baster from the master. I am doing this when my 99 hits 200k.

Same concept for the power steering. Take out what you can with a turkey blaster and put clean fluid in. Run it a while, do it again. That way no bleeding is involved.

cruiser54

This^^. Except with a perfectly clean turkey baster, suck the fluid out of the brake master cylinder and wipe it out with a lint free rag before adding fresh fluid and bleeding.

SteveMongr

And keep in mind, brake fluid is hazardous stuff and a bit caustic.

cruiser54

At first glance, I thought you were referring to me.

SteveMongr

No sir, only respect from me.
..Was that due to the term caustic?..

cruiser54

Yep. LOL!!!

blakexcore

Bleeding/turkey baster method works as mentioned above for brakes/ps fluid. For the trans just drain the pan, and add 4 qts of dex/merc iii. Do this every oil change until the fluid is nice and red. I had to do the same in my 98 and it took 4 changes.

SteveMongr

I have found that the pump from a jug of hand soap works very well also. It can be less messy. Especially with thin fluids.

jhc7399

Thanks for all of the info, I will probably start on this next weekend.

anarce

I flushed my transmission using the "fluid exchange" method and it worked great. You don't have to get under the Jeep and mess with the pan or do multiple drains and fills. You just take the return line off the transmission cooler and route it to a 5-gal bucket with a piece of hose. Take out the transmission dipstick. Turn on the car, and the pump in the transmission will start pushing fluid out into the bucket. With a funnel in the dipstick tube, add ATF at about the same rate it's coming out. Have a friend go through the gears, stopping for a little bit in each gear, then back to park. If you use a clear hose into the bucket, you'll see when the new red fluid starts coming out. Shut off the Jeep, reconnect the hose, drive around and double check the fluid level, and you're good to go. All new fluid in the transmission in one pass, no mess, and it's not a reverse flush that can push crap out of the filter and back into the transmission.

cruiser54

So now tell these guys which hose is the return hose.

anarce

I think it depends on the year? I believe mine was the top hose on my '98. I cut both hoses anyway because I was installing a cooler at the same time. Cut the rubber hose, put in a barb with a hose clamp, put a clear hose with a hose clamp on the other side of the barb, and ran it into a bucket.

It was really easy to do. I learned this method originally from another post on here that had more detail, but I can't find it now. I was getting ready to do the popular drain and fill method when I ran across this way and decided to try it instead.

At first I tried running the other end of the return hose into the gallon of fresh ATF, thinking that the suction from the pump might pull the new ATF into the transmission as it filled the bucket, but that didn't work. I had to pour it into the dipstick like the write-up said.