My truck is a 2008 and I am going to change the transmission fluid and filter at 60,000, which is approaching real soon. I am against having a dealer flush it with a machine, but I also know that simply dropping the pan only drains about 40-50% of the old fluid. What do most of you guys do for these trucks?

I was thinking of going 1 of 2 ways:

1. Drop the pan. Clean pan and magnet. Replace filter and reattach pan. Then add what I drained and disconnect return line from oil cooler. Turn on engine and add fluid until it is exiting the return line clean. This would push out the old fluid from the torque converter and oil cooler.

2. Drop pan and replace with Mag-Hytec pan and new filter. Add what drained + extra capacity of new pan. Then drain every 10,000 - 15,000 miles by simply removing the plug from the Mag-Hytec pan. I would drop the pan to change the filter depending on how much I tow, driving conditions, etc.

If there is a "how to" on this site for 2004-2008 trucks I would appreciate the link. Thanks!

 

which transmission? 4R75 or 6R80?

I am not a big fan of the in line filters, they cause a restriction in the cooler flow, even if you replace them often.

 

Either way will work fine.
I drop my pan and change the filter and refill every 20k miles. The refill is about 4 qts and my trans and tq converter hold about 12 qts total.

 

He should have the 4R75W. The 6R80 didn't come out till 09.

 

The first option you describe is how I do it. I have yet to do it on my truck, but that's how I do it on other vehicles.

In addition, I use old 5 quart oil jugs to measure how much fluid I took out and compare it to how much I put in. This gets me close enough so I can test-drive it and get the trans warmed up for final fluid level adjustment.

After dropping the pan, I add whatever I took out plus an extra two quarts to give me a safe zone when pumping it from the cooler line. This helps ensure that I don't let the trans run dry if I can't dump the fluid in fast enough.

 

Yeah, this is pretty much how I have always done it, but never for this truck. Thank you all for the input.