Vital Vette Fluids removal - cheaper to do it yourself?

[Rain]

I know many here on the CAC change their own oil.
#1 - where does the waste oil go? (proper disposal)

Shop told me I needed to change out my auto trans. fluid.
They want money for this task. Pay it and hope they know what they are doing?
Or get a siphon and a bucket, draw as much out thru the dipstick tube as I can, and refill it to the proper level?

Would this siphoning job also work for changing out the coolant?

Or, is there an easier, yet affordable, method of changing your Vette's Fluids?


Thanks guys (been spoiled with new cars for the last 15 years of my life)
Rain

 

[Vettefan87]

Having a shop do a real Tranny flush is the way i would go. If it is the real flush they flush all the fluid out not just pull the pan off and get about 5 quarts if that. I payed 130 bucks which is not bad considering all the tranny fluid they have to put back in which is like almost 16 quarts. Is a must in my mind.


Justin

 

[Hrtbeat1]

Miles?

Rain,

How many miles do you have? Most likely you could get away with a filter and fluid change. Go to VJ's on Pass & Rodenburg and get some REDLINE tranny fluid, I'm pretty sure he's got it. He should have the filter too. Then give me a call. Im right around the corner and have the ramps set up in my "garage" we could change it out in about 15 minutes. I don't think you could siphon enough of the fluid to do a proper job. Some of the shops have a special hose they use that fits down thru the filler tube, but I don't really recomend that.

 

[c4cruiser]

A local parts store like Shucks/Kragen, AutoZone or even a Jiffy Lube should take used motor oil and some will even take the filter.

I agree with having a reputable tranny shop do a complete flush and refill of the transmission fluid. They will have a systems that flushes all of the old fluid (including what's in the torque converter) and replaces it with fresh fluids. They will also change the filter too. Worth the money and should only take a couple of hours to do.

Coolant flushing can be a messy job todo at home. The procedure in the service manual says to remove the knock sensors at the bottom of the block to get all of the old coolant out. Some radiator shops will recommend a "power flush" but I dont like those methods with the GM reverse-flow design. IF you are going to do a coolant change, you might consider new upper and lower radiatior hoses. The heater hoses should be OK unless you see any signs of softness or cracking.

Your car should have the orange Dex-Cool coolant and I would recommend staying with that. You can use the green stuff but a complete flush with water would have to be done so all traces of the orange stuf is gone before adding the green coolant.
You might try a search using "coolant flush" or something like that to see if there has been a description of the cooling system flushing procedure posted.

The differential gear oil can simply be sucked out with one of those plastic gear oil pumps you can buy at a parts stores. Then use the pump to add new oil. Use a synthetic gear oil in the weight shown in the owners manual and add a bottle of the GM Positraction Fluid Additive.

 

[Rain]

quick reply - Im playing Mr Mom this week while Susan is at Broker School for real estate....

60k miles

Thanks for the info -
Rain

 

[vetteboy86]

I also just had a Tranny flush. They hook a machine up and flush all your coolant. If they do it correctly it will take an hour or so. I had mine done for 110 bucks. The shop recommended it every 25 to 30 thousand miles, depending how it is driven. Driving hard word warrant the flush more often. They also changed the filter as well.


Craig

 

[jmccloud]

Flush

By all means, drop the tranny pan and clean the pan out with lint free rags (I used to work in a clean room and had easy access to them) which are basically long fiber woven fabric (your wife's discarded nylons). Kind of scrape the oil and black powdery stuff into a discard bucket.
There's a magnet in the pan that will hold most of the s>>> and can be cleaned by pulling it out and wiping it off. There's an indentation in the pan so you can reposition it correctly.
When replacing the trans filter, make sure the old gasket comes out with the old filter. It's a ring about 1/2" in diameter. If you leave the old one in the trans, the new filter won't seat fully up and won't work well. Besides the pan will squash it.
When changing the coolant, don't get the opti wet. Be sure to flush the heater core with lots of forward and backward flow. Don't use too much pressure. The cooling system operates at about 16psi and your garden hose runs 60+psi so don't make a direct connection. A hand squeeze over the garden hose to the heater hose (leading to the core) works well so long as you forward and backward flush many times.
Open the bleed screw above the thermostat housing to get out as much air as you can.
The manual recommends at least three cold/hot/cold cycles to eliminate the remaining air before "making aggressive maneuvers"
I found this to be important as the analog and digital temp gauges were all over the place until the three cycles (three days) were completed.
My local town and county each accept discarded oil and antifreeze. They get paid well by a recycling factory for the 'donations.'
Good luck flushing and recycling.

 

[Rain]

Thanks for the offer - Would love to take you up on that!
Susan had the vette all last week and this week has just flown by.
Let me know what the week of July 12th looks like for ya -

Thanks again
Rain (just north of ya off Popps Ferry Rd on back bay)

Rain,

How many miles do you have? Most likely you could get away with a filter and fluid change. Go to VJ's on Pass & Rodenburg and get some REDLINE tranny fluid, I'm pretty sure he's got it. He should have the filter too. Then give me a call. Im right around the corner and have the ramps set up in my "garage" we could change it out in about 15 minutes. I don't think you could siphon enough of the fluid to do a proper job. Some of the shops have a special hose they use that fits down thru the filler tube, but I don't really recomend that.