[cherry-coke]

I did my first tranny service by myself (even the Isuzu service center only flushes them now for $179) yesterday. I started at 6:00 PM, I wasn't sure how much of my life (and beer) it will take but I finished right past midnight

My Trooper has 62K miles now, I changed all the the goodies including the German filter and ~ 4+ quarts of fluid (brown but not too bad.) I'm just glad I'll never ever have to do this crap again - it wasn't fun... Maybe I'll replace the fluid eventually but pumping and taking the bath in Dexron III is not my thing anymore.

One thing that worries me is the fact that I might have screwed the larger pan in a bit too much and the new gasket started breaking apart where the screw holes are with some pieces sticking out a bit. Is that a big deal? I just hope not...

 

[Hatfield]

One thing that worries me is the fact that I might have screwed the larger pan in a bit too much and the new gasket started breaking apart where the screw holes are with some pieces sticking out a bit. Is that a big deal? I just hope not...

Oh yeah, you're going to have to do it again. That gasket will continue deteriorating and leak more and more. Ask me how I know. Torque specs for the pan are a mere 8ft-lbs, so it doesn't take much to break it if you don't have a torque wrench.

 

[IsuzuGeek]

Couple things that I have learned with my VX:

1) Don't cross thread or over tighten those little bolt holes that hold the tranny main pan on. I think I ruined 2 or 3 of my bolt holes, and now I am going to have to take the VX into a shop and have the holes Heli-Coiled. I've changed the gasket 3 times now, and it still leaks. :evil:

2) You should change the fluid, filter and gasket every 30k, imo.

3) You don't have to pump the ATF in. Like you, I did it this way my first time, and also took a bath in fluid. Not fun. You just need a 4' length of clear tubing (any hardware store has it for cheap) of the right diameter, and a funnel you can attach the tube to. Hold the funnel high, and siphon the fluid in. Works REALLY well. I think last time I did this job I barely lost any fluid on the floor.

Isuzu tranny service is annoying, however, after you've done it a couple few times, it gets easier. I can do mine in a few hours now. I'm just pissed about the chronic leak. This time around, I am also buying a new pan, new bolts, OEM gasket and taking it to a shop to check each bolt hole and repair as needed. You also could be leaking from your shift selector shaft seal.

Bart

 

[98Issuzu]

as opposed to using a regular fluid transfer pump or the funnel and hose method, i bought a barrel of fluid and a pump for the barrel. Just ran a hose from the barrel into the drain hole, and lost ZERO fluid. The manual transfer pump i bought was garbage and i returned that. I probably lost a good 3 litres of fluid with it.

 

[mallen]

One thing that worries me is the fact that I might have screwed the larger pan in a bit too much and the new gasket started breaking apart where the screw holes are with some pieces sticking out a bit. Is that a big deal? I just hope not...

Oh yeah, you're going to have to do it again. That gasket will continue deteriorating and leak more and more. Ask me how I know. Torque specs for the pan are a mere 8ft-lbs, so it doesn't take much to break it if you don't have a torque wrench.

Or strip the screws. (I found one of mine stripped and missing when I went to change the gasket and filter) Make sure you have a fiber/paper gasket not a cork one. Cork ones just plain suck.

 

[mallen]

Couple things that I have learned with my VX:

1) Don't cross thread or over tighten those little bolt holes that hold the tranny main pan on. I think I ruined 2 or 3 of my bolt holes, and now I am going to have to take the VX into a shop and have the holes Heli-Coiled. I've changed the gasket 3 times now, and it still leaks. :evil:

2) You should change the fluid, filter and gasket every 30k, imo.

3) You don't have to pump the ATF in. Like you, I did it this way my first time, and also took a bath in fluid. Not fun. You just need a 4' length of clear tubing (any hardware store has it for cheap) of the right diameter, and a funnel you can attach the tube to. Hold the funnel high, and siphon the fluid in. Works REALLY well. I think last time I did this job I barely lost any fluid on the floor.

Isuzu tranny service is annoying, however, after you've done it a couple few times, it gets easier. I can do mine in a few hours now. I'm just pissed about the chronic leak. This time around, I am also buying a new pan, new bolts, OEM gasket and taking it to a shop to check each bolt hole and repair as needed. You also could be leaking from your shift selector shaft seal.

Bart

Where are the holes. The holes are all very deep and some of them go right through the flange and terminate on the outside. I had a stripped one on mine and I just replaced it with a longer bolt. There was plenty of thread left in the rest of the hole.

Another trick that sometimes works,and looks like it will work here is to use a slightly larger bolt.I dont recall the size,but there is a size of standard bolt that has an almost identical thread pitch but a slightly larger diameter. A nut in that standard size will loosly fit a the oil pan bolts,but a nut that fits the oil pan bolts will start to thread on the standard bolt but jam. In the past,on occasion Ive used such bolts to grab the remaining threads of a damage hole. Another trick that works if you have room is to simply find the next largest size of bolt that can be tapped into a hole that just barely clears the threads of the old bolt and use that. Again,this will often be a standard bolt to replace a metric one or a metric bolt to replace a standard one. The secret in many cases is trying to use the smallest bolt you can get away with as you often don't have a lot of metal or space around where your working. Of course,the best way to do it is to just buy the right tap and drill and get a helicoil or other similar thread repair insert. Just get an old part and drill some holes and practice before you do it on the real thing.

Putting the fluid in is rather simple. Take the drain plug to the hardware store. First,find a nut the drain plug fits. Now find a hose barb that fits that nut. Then either pump or siphon or what not into the hose which is securely connected to the barb.

 

[beater]

I used to have somethign like this on my amigo. I placed the quick connect on the fill side. I attached a 4" hose to the other end with a funnel.

Since there is no fill port in the engine bay I drained the old tranny fluid at every oil change. I connected this device and fed the new tranny fluid in. then when i thought it was full i just lowered the funnel side to a point lower than the fill port. when the fluid stopped comming out i was done. very fast and clean, no using a hand pump.

http://www.aeroquip.cc/fbm3117fcm3117se ... tions.aspx

 

[jeremy_worden]

my friend asked my to do this for his rodeo and i was like

are you kidding me?

 

[CalG]

New pan gasket....not too tight ;-) No leaks

I use a 2 gallon plastic garden sprayer to transfer ATF.

Pump and squirt ;-) Remove the spray nozzle to allow full fluid flow.

Cheers

 

[justwork]

my friend asked my to do this for his rodeo and i was like

are you kidding me?

lmao

 

[Ramblin Fever]

Yeap....if that gasket is cracked it WILL definitely start to leak.

IMHO, if you want LONG transmission service life, change that ATF every 15k miles....I'm not kidding you....these transmissions were not meant for the weight of the trooper in the first place, keeping fresh ATF will allow it to last longer.

If the fluid is ever allowed to go brown, IMHO, it's been in service too long.