Auto Gearbox fluid drain

[Bongo bus]

Might be of interest to some?....
To drain my gearbox I purchased a 'Pela 6000' oil drainer from machine mart for £43.
It sucked the oil out of the dipstick tube a treat....so I didnt have to drop the pan.
Excellent product & clean to use.

[missfixit70]

You should have still dropped the pan to clean the filter after sucking it out, you'll just have mixed in the new oil with a load of old & you won't know what state the filter's in.
Out of interest, how much oil came out?

[Simon Jones]

There's a circular magnet on the pan which will be covered in metal 'fur'. Although dropping the pan, cleaning the filter & the magnet may take an hour or two, you only have to do it every 50K or so. I expect the ATF that came out was probably fairly clean - that's because all the crud will still be in there .

There is some debate about how much fluid the 'box takes. I used about 4 litres, but other folk have put in up to 6.

[You've Been Bongod]

does anyone know how much it would cost to have the atf changed ?? as thinkin of gettin mine done

[bigdaddycain]

Depends carl, i have a pela if you have some ATF.... I've not the facilities here to drop the pan for a 100% full-on job though, that's mike territory (i.e a ramp)

[You've Been Bongod]

can you use any atf fluid or do you need a special type???????

[mikeonb4c]

As luck would have it, I've got the AFT factsheet lying on my desk (how sad is that). It says:

"Please note that there is a misprint in the owners manual. The ATF should be of type D (for Dextron). It should take 4 litres...........you will need to jack the Bongo up and use axle stands"

[bigdaddycain]

6 litres of dexron3 spec should do it nicely...

[bigdaddycain]

As luck would have it, I've got the AFT factsheet lying on my desk (how sad is that). It says:

"Please note that there is a misprint in the owners manual. The ATF should be of type D (for Dextron). It should take 4 litres...........you will need to jack the Bongo up and use axle stands"

ok.. 4 litres then! Or buy 6 and give me the spare two for my collection!

[missfixit70]

I have it on good authority from someone thats done his at least 3 times that a complete clean out requires somewhere between 5 & 6 litres.

[mikeonb4c]

I guess we'd better get someone amending the factsheet then if we're giving out duff info? I'd be very annoyed to have my Bongo on axle stands with AFT drained, only to find I'd bought insufficient fluid

[Trouble at t'Mill]

Having done this job - complete pan removal and clean (I have a thread on forum page something-or-other about it) - I found it took virtually all of the 5 litre can to get the level back to max - engine and 'box warm and on tickover. I used Comma multipurpose ATF/power steering fluid after confirming on the label that it met Dexron 3 specifications. It cost a reasonable £23 + vat from my local motor factors.

There's no doubt that a fluid change even on it's own is well worth doing, but having seen what I cleared out from the pan I'm so-o glad I went the extra distance. It really wasn't a technically challenging job at all.

'My' Bongo had done 67k miles, and there's no doubt this was the first time the pan was removed - very likely the first time the fluid was replaced too. Now that's it's all beautifully clean inside, a 'Pela' type oil change every, say, two years should be all that's needed to keep it all in tip top condition.

If you are havering over whether to 'drop the pan' - then do it! You will probably only have to do it once! If you really can't face it, then - hey - the fluid change will still be a good move.

(You can buy very cheap '2-way' hand pumps (like short, fat bicycle pumps with a hose connection at each end) for around £5 which will draw your oil out and pump it into a container - they come with a range of hoses, including a 'dipstick' sized one.)

[bigdaddycain]

Thanks Mr Mill, you have spurred me on to do my own now!

[dandywarhol]

Two kinds of autobox on the Bongo - from memory the newer one has less fluid. I think keefysher posted about it recently.

[missfixit70]

I was sizing mine up today, got a steering rack to refurb & swap first, I can see a bulk buy of ATF in my very near future