Transmission Fluid Change

I have a 2001 LeSabre and I need to have the transmission fluid changed. It is a few bucks at the dealer, but I was thinking of buying on of those $15.00 pumps people use to change oil, and doing it myself. Wondering if anyone used these pumps to change tranny fluid or even for oil changes.
Comments...good or bad?
Thanks.

i would just drop pan and change filter also it's not that hard. no to the pump ideal...

I have a 2001 LeSabre and I need to have the transmission fluid changed. It is a few bucks at the dealer, but I was thinking of buying on of those $15.00 pumps people use to change oil, and doing it myself. Wondering if anyone used these pumps to change tranny fluid or even for oil changes.
Comments...good or bad?
Thanks.

You don't say how many miles but I assume it's 70K or so. It's time to drop the pan and change the filter while you're in there. It's fairly easy to pull the filter off and replace. Dropping the pan requires a large container to catch 7 quarts of fluid in. Walmart sells a kitchen container that's sterite or some name like that. Raise car on two small ramps and slowly remove the 18 screws. Retighten to about 20 inch pounds. Reuse original pan gasket with metal pieces at the bolt locations. I used Walmart brand Dexron VI fluid in mine 2003 transmission.

I have used those hand pumps to change transmission fluid, but never have for changing the oil. Just slide the hose all of the way down the fill tube and pump it out. You can drain it this way into a bucket and replace it with an equal amount of new fluid. It can be kind of messy, but, dropping the pan can be a real mess. You'll need to put a rag over the bucket to keep the old fluid from splashing.I did this on our Sable not too long ago and on one of our Lesabres last summer. I usually substitute some Lucus or some Slick 50 automatic transmission additive when putting in the new fluid.

I have used those hand pumps for changing tractor fluids as well. I pumped out about 15 gallons of hydrostatic fluid with one of those hand pumps last summer. I just buy the cheap ones from harbor frieght. They are kind of work like a bike pump.

The only way I'd use the pump is if it were at 36,000 and 3 years or less and I was doing the first change. But with this car having possibly 8 years on it and definitely 7 years, I'd drop the pan and do the filter. The filter catches the normal wear products from the parts in the transmission. I'd want a clean, fresh one in there. I'd also want to see if there's more than minor amounts of metal slivers caught around the magnet and see if there's more than a 1/16 inch coating of pulpy clutch material all over the bottom of the pan.

I changed the fluid on my 2000 LeSabre about a month ago. I also used Dexron VI from Walmart and found the shifts smoother and quicker. In my case, I wanted to get all of the Dexron III out and proceeded as follows. I dropped the transmission pan which holds 7.4 qts. and installed a new filter.

Bolt the pan back on and if its the original gasket, you can reuse it. Pour back in 7.4 qts.

I have a 5 gallon bucket which is marked in 1 qt increments up to 13 gts., which is the total refill for the 4T65E transmission. I poured the old 7.4 qts. into this bucket. Then I disconnected the supply transmission line on the bottom of the cooler. To route the fluid into the bucket, I bought a 3/8" I.D., 4 ft. length of clear vinyl tubing from Lowe's.

Then the engine was started and the fluid was pumped by the transmission oil pump into the bucket while new fluid was being poured into the transmission. I used two helpers, one to turn off the engine if it became necessary. The other was to monitor the amount of fluid being pumped into the bucket and let the other person (one who is pouring the fluid in) to match the fluid coming out. I found it easier to pour two quarts in at one time to match the flow rate. The flow rate was approximately 1 gt. in 10 seconds. Once the bucket is up to 13 qt mark, all the fluid has been removed. You'll see a color change when you get near this mark. Finally, connect the transmission line and you're done.

You may find it easier to use a 3/8" jiffy-tite removal tool to remove the oil cooler line.

Here's a link which describes the above procedure...
http://www.amsoil.com/lit/g3000/2008/sections/amsoiltransmissionfluidprocedures.pdf

Thanks for all of the advice. I think it is probably best to just drop the pan, as someone pointed out, the filter should be changed also. The car has 100k, and while the fluid looks good and doesn't smell burnt, I don't think it was ever changed.
stuzman..thanks for the extensive instructions...

I wouldn't replace all fluid with clean, detergent rich fluid if the car has 100K miles without a change. My own cars get changed about 35-40K.

I would put in good fluid, I suggest Dexron VI because it's more consistent in viscosity and repaced Dexron III in new cars.

Then I'd drive 6-10 K miles while it picks up gunk that may have deposited. I'd drop the pan and drain and refill without a new filter. Then you will have only about 20% of the original fluid left in the transmission.