you have no idea what the PO put in your transmission, maybe they used motor oil once.

 

at least it looks red with light behind it .. dark though .. 1st 2 quarts drained were black

 

Smell it....I just changed mine it was black but smelled just like trans fluid...hopefully yours doesn't smell motor oil

 

is it possible for them to circulate to each other ? thru small leaks or what not ?

smells like trans fluid for sure .. I know my smells

-oil
-trans fluid
-gear oil
-coolant

definatly know PB Blaster smell .. cuz i feel ill after using it

 

I don't think they could mix never heard of anyone having that problem...I would say if there is oil in your tranny someone put it there

 

For that kind of fluid exchange to even be possible, the leak between your torque converter and rear main seal would have to be so severe that all of your oil would be on the ground within a couple days.

It's conceivable that someone very creative MIGHT rig an aftermarket or home-brew fitting and plumbed the transmission cooler with the engine - maybe thinking "oil cooler" - but you'd also encounter serious problems with this too.

ATF turns darkwhen it's cooked. Reasonably common. Dude just probably never changed it

 

This may be a case where the trans pan needs to be removed and filter changed. I would think the trans fluid should be cleaned up by now.

 

+1 on draining and refilling with Merc/Dex. I wouldn't bother dropping the pan. I did and the filters we haven't really aren't going to catch anything short of a BB-sized chunk of crud. Just do it once and drive it. Drain and refill again when you're changing your oil. I've done a lot of towing with my XJ and fresh trans fluid along with a 25,000 lb-rated trans cooler has worked wonders for my trans temps.

 

How much fluid is in the trans total? And how much fluid can you drain/replace at one time? I know that some is in the system so you can't drain/fill everything in one sitting.

 

The "filter" is a screen. A fine one at that. It will catch a lot. I agree with Cruiser, you might want to drop the pan. Just remember that the dipstick is attatched to the pan. It is a two piece dipsticktube.

 

Hmmm I missed that the fluid is still coming out dark - agreed, drop the pan

I can't remember my units right now - either pints or liters - there's about 8 whatevers in the entire system (transmission, torque converter, cooling) but only 4 in the transmission itself. Another way to get the crap out - though you won't get to see inside the pan - is to let the transmission's own pump exchange all the old fluid for new stuff. I drive a stick so no experience with this, but I recall reading this in another thread that a gent took the cooler lines off of the rad, put one into a bucket of new fluid and one into a bucket to catch the old stuff, then just wait for the pump to do the exchange.

 

I am pretty sure that it is quarts.

 

I could imagine it is in quarts, I have a gallon of fluid that I think I may run through as a poor mans flush (changing it steadily over a couple of weeks). But I know that this hasn't been done in probably forever so I'm debating if I should drop the pan and change the filters and screen and what not.

From my research it seems that all you have to do is drop the pan, remove the filters and replace, then just seal it up with rtv and put the pan back on? How much has al the parts costed you guys?

 

Dropping the pan is easier said than done. Like I said before, it has a 2 piece dipstick tube. It is not hard if you take your time. The filter and gasket come as a kit. Around $20.00 at Napa. The screen is easy to replace. Take your time and you will do fine.

 

I'm in the process of doing the poor man's flush because im poor lol...I did my first fluid change Sunday. My fluid went from being black like burnt oil to the look of a fresh oil change. I am assuming that its only gonna get better from here. As far as price I started with the dex/mercIII walmarts brand for like $11 and some change per gallon. I will finish up with a better fluid like castrol that autozone has for around $17 a gallon. On my first drain I emptied a little less than 1 gallon. Put the same amount back in.