Drain plug on botton of AT pan??

[ehall]

historically the plug is softer metal than the pan so that the plug will strip first

 

[the onion]

My HS shop teacher said when auto trannies first became mainstream, they had drain plugs. What happened during routine oil change, was the mechanic would pull the tranny plug thinkning it was the engine oil. The cars would leave with 10 qts of engine oil and no tranny oil, so Detroit stopped putting drainplugs in auto tranny pans.
I'm not sure how much truth there is, or where he heard that. [/hijack]

Haha thats funny. When I worked at a ford dealership we had these 2 highschool intern kinda kids..the had to do an oil change on a f350 with a 7.3 powerstroke. Well after about 20 minutes I went to see if they were close to done(I was advising and they were wrenching) and apparently they pulled the trans plug, drained all the trans fluid and added the normal 15 qts of oil to the truck(meaning 30qts of oil and 0 trans fluid).


Lets just say they were carefully monitored after that haha

 

[kastein]

My HS shop teacher said when auto trannies first became mainstream, they had drain plugs. What happened during routine oil change, was the mechanic would pull the tranny plug thinkning it was the engine oil. The cars would leave with 10 qts of engine oil and no tranny oil, so Detroit stopped putting drainplugs in auto tranny pans.
I'm not sure how much truth there is, or where he heard that. [/hijack]

Firestone just did that to my father's Subaru. Drained the A/T fluid & changed the A/T filter! Put 4 quarts of additional oil into the crankcase!
They did not know why they could not drive it out of their shop!

I caught this on a Benz SUV that came into the quicklube I used to work at, it was one of those ones with the stupid plastic oil filter holder that screws in instead of a metal cased oil filter, one of the few things I recall about it. The guy in the pit drained the front diff instead of the oil, it looked a bit thick and not as dark as we expected, noticed it when we tested the oil pressure and checked the level (it was store policy to show the customer the dipstick after checking the level, to show that it was filled properly and clean oil.) To the pit guy's credit, it took the two of us about 3 minutes to find the damn pan drain plug with all the stupid skid plates and dirt shields MB installs these days. The front diff on the other hand was right about where you'd expect the oil pan to be, and the plug looked about right. They got a free diff fluid change service out of us, but at least we didn't screw up their car and have to spend a few grand putting new gears and bearings in it.

 

[N8N_99xj]

Yes it is on the AW4. To service the trans, remove the plug and drain it. Install new washer on drain plug and reinstall. Add about 3 and 3/4 quarts of fresh Dexron/Mercon fluid. Double check the level per instructions on the dipstick.

Thread necro.

What does the washer look like? Copper? Plastic? Does it matter? I apparently need one because either it fell into my drain pan (one of those "clean" ones that just has the little hole in the top for the fluid to go down inside, and then a spout with a cap so you can pour it into bottles for recycling) or else it was missing. I didn't get one with my filter and gasket kit. Have to run to parts store anyway so no biggie...

 

[Dozer11B]

Mine's brass. I know because I am looking at it in my drain pan right now- forgot to put it back in- no leak so far. Gonna bag it up with a note to meself for next trans fluid change...

I don't recall my last XJ having one when I got it and I never leaked there either. Probably why I didn't remember to put it back on this last time.:confused1

 

[kastein]

brass, copper, or a hollow steel crush washer should be fine. A fiber or teflon washer could work as well but I'm not sure about longevity.

I would be tempted to brakleen the drain bore and plug clean and daub a little RTV on it.

 

[Dozer11B]

Firestone just did that to my father's Subaru. Drained the A/T fluid & changed the A/T filter! Put 4 quarts of additional oil into the crankcase!
They did not know why they could not drive it out of their shop!

That really is scary...

 

[Ricker]

He tends to loose his temper in those situations, and he did......
The AT fluid was special that they did not stock. They had to get it at a Subaru dealer.

 

[N8N_99xj]

brass, copper, or a hollow steel crush washer should be fine. A fiber or teflon washer could work as well but I'm not sure about longevity.

I would be tempted to brakleen the drain bore and plug clean and daub a little RTV on it.

I'll be draining it again soon anyway... Parts store didn't have anything that would fit so i'll have to cut one from something and pick one up at the stealer. I'm sorta ashamed to admit it but when I did the first oil change on my 944 the PO had lost the washer and put it in dry... I cut one from a pik-a-nut box and it was bone dry for 3k miles

 

[cruiser54]

Tranny shops stock the washer. It's a crush washer with a taper that goes toward the pan. I buy 5 at a time.

 

[N8N_99xj]

Hah, there's probably three dealers closer to me than any trans shop... but I did pick up a copper washer assortment at HF yesterday, hopefully one of them is close or can be reamed a little to work. Gotta get it back on the ground today; new battery will be here tomorrow and I just found out that due to a family emergency I need to be back in Pittsburgh this coming weekend, so it's gotta run otherwise I have to drive my company car (which is kinda worthless in snow...) I guess that will be a good flush for the trans, I can probably change the trans fluid again when I get back.

 

[my2monkeys]

I caught this on a Benz SUV that came into the quicklube I used to work at, it was one of those ones with the stupid plastic oil filter holder that screws in instead of a metal cased oil filter, one of the few things I recall about it. The guy in the pit drained the front diff instead of the oil, it looked a bit thick and not as dark as we expected, noticed it when we tested the oil pressure and checked the level (it was store policy to show the customer the dipstick after checking the level, to show that it was filled properly and clean oil.) To the pit guy's credit, it took the two of us about 3 minutes to find the damn pan drain plug with all the stupid skid plates and dirt shields MB installs these days. The front diff on the other hand was right about where you'd expect the oil pan to be, and the plug looked about right. They got a free diff fluid change service out of us, but at least we didn't screw up their car and have to spend a few grand putting new gears and bearings in it.

HA HA, this reminds me of my first new car I bought when I was a kid was a Mustang GT with a 5.0.

It sat so low to the ground that when I changed the oil I always removed the drain plug in the back of the pan that I could see.

It wasn't until sometime later that I noticed it also had a plug in front, because the pan had two sumps to avoid steering linkage.

That's why it helps to read your owners manual, I thought I new my stuff having taken 3 years of Auto shop in High School.

Except my previous car to this was a 68 Galaxy 500 so technology had changed quite a bit!

No wonder I never got 5 quarts in my drain pan.

 

[Sidewinder CC]

My HS shop teacher said when auto trannies first became mainstream, they had drain plugs. What happened during routine oil change, was the mechanic would pull the tranny plug thinkning it was the engine oil. The cars would leave with 10 qts of engine oil and no tranny oil, so Detroit stopped putting drainplugs in auto tranny pans.
I'm not sure how much truth there is, or where he heard that. [/hijack]

I call BS on that teacher's story.

"Detroit" may have stopped putting drain plugs on tranny pans because it cost more money to manufacture pans with plugs, not to prevent A55holes from removing the wrong plug.. Everything the manufacturer's do is to save money (more profit). Example: No dipsticks on new trannys.

 

[2X_01_Jeeps]

I like that drain plug. I changeout 2.5 qts of ATF when I do an engine oil change. So on average, my ATF is pretty clean.

 

[cruiser54]

I like that drain plug. I changeout 2.5 qts of ATF when I do an engine oil change. So on average, my ATF is pretty clean.

I agree.