# Tranny fluid/filter change in a 99 chevy lumina



## toolaholic (Jul 31, 2011)

Wish me luck! Tommorow I will siphon what I can out the filler/ dipstick tube. I will drop the pan and change the filter. And use a seal puller to remove o ring seal if needed. Then torque the drain pan bolts to 100 inch lbs.Then fill w/ approx 6.5 quarts of castrol fluid.Filter is a wix.Looks easy enough on paper/videos. I'm sure something will go amuck! LOl


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## toolaholic (Jul 31, 2011)

Oh and the new gasket is a fel pro rubber/ metal / rubber gasket.


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## ukrkoz (Dec 31, 2010)

get a large drain pan, large aluminum tray, and lots of paper towels. of course, there's no drain plug, right?


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## toolaholic (Jul 31, 2011)

ukrkoz said:


> get a large drain pan, large aluminum tray, and lots of paper towels. of course, there's no drain plug, right?


Yeah no drain plug. It's my teenage dsughter's car w/ 96,000 miles. Owner's manual calls for service at 100,000. Fluid is slightly oxided but still red. I'm aware of the controversy surrounding changing fluid in older vehicles. But since it's still red I think I'm ok. If it was brown I'd worry.


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## toolaholic (Jul 31, 2011)

Anybody have any tips or horror stories?


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## ukrkoz (Dec 31, 2010)

sure. considering it's GM product, and I own Silverado, I tackled that job on pickup 3 times. I gave up twice. Drain plug welded itself to the pan. I had to remove exhaust pipe, and bend gear shifter bracket, and it took me only 3 hrs to remove pan and do the job. by far, tyhis was the messiest and hardest ATF change I have ever done. I was drenched in ATF head to toe, plus half driveway. 

There is no controversy about what you next to do. Controversy is on FLUSHING transmissions on older cars. what you should have done, if not late, was to add can of Transtune to trannie and drive on it for abot 500 miles, THEN change ATF.


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## toolaholic (Jul 31, 2011)

I did it! It went fine. Left old seal on as it was good snd had a tight seal w/ new wix filter. 6 quarts of castol transmax and 20 oz of lucas transmission conditioner(NOT trans fix). Shifts smoother. No leaks detected.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

the controvercy was back years ago. modern materials have this pretty much a thing of the past.

the GM truck trans drain plugs. yeah those things are in there TIGHT. here is how i do it, and it works most times. floor jack the ratchet/socket up into the plug. then put a lot of muscle into it. most all of the time, it will come loose. then put a little grease on it when installing it.


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## ukrkoz (Dec 31, 2010)

I have even tried GripTight on that plug plus cheat bar . No. Rubber seal they have in the plug simply melted and super glued to pan. Even after I had pan off and in vise, I had to drill plug out.:furious: Btw, I biceps curl 175, so ....

Not sure which seal you left in place, pan seal or filter seal. If you left pan seal in place, you will regret it later. It will leak. :whistling2:Of course, unless you put a good dab of red gasket sealant along perimeter. Even so... Not a good idea. :no:If you left filter O-ring in place, that's different story.

Smart guys take pan to a welder, drill hole and weld large nut inside, creating drain plug. Late now.

Lucas is STRONG MEDICINE. Good choice. Hope you did not move solenoid connectors in the trannie rear. Those are known to come off from breeze.


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## toolaholic (Jul 31, 2011)

ukrkoz said:


> I have even tried GripTight on that plug plus cheat bar . No. Rubber seal they have in the plug simply melted and super glued to pan. Even after I had pan off and in vise, I had to drill plug out.:furious: Btw, I biceps curl 175, so ....
> 
> Not sure which seal you left in place, pan seal or filter seal. If you left pan seal in place, you will regret it later. It will leak. :whistling2:Of course, unless you put a good dab of red gasket sealant along perimeter. Even so... Not a good idea. :no:If you left filter O-ring in place, that's different story.
> 
> ...


I left original filter seal on as it was in decent shape.. Even though factory pan gasket looked surprisingly good I used a new Fel Pro that like the factory was rubber/metal/rubber. My mechanic friend loves Lucas oil additive but not transmission additive. I rolled the dice and used it figuring tran wouldn't mind some extra additives since 1/2 the fluid is still old. Was careful removing old fliter and installing new one. Nothing fell off. I would have heard it hit the rhino aluminum drip pan or the drain pan.


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