[jackb]

I helped a friend remove his transmission over the weekend. It took a dump and is warratied in Anchorage. So he is shipping it back to them and when we get it back we are going to re-install it.

My question is how do we do the initial servicing after it is installed. It will be completely empty of fluid when we get it. Do we just install it in the vehicle, fill it, check it, and top off as neccesary? Should we fill the torque converter prior to install? The last thing we want to do is toast the new transmission after we install it b/c it's not serviced properly.

It's a 97 Nissan Pathfinder BTW.

 

[ratlover]

This is all general stuff I do. Every trans can be different and I dont know crap about nissans

I'm anal.....so I put a bit of fluid in the converter. Not enough were it will pee out at ya when you tip it on its side....but just a lil to lube everything before the fluid gets pumped to it. Overkill and many converters get instaled dry and live? Yep but it also only takes 2 minutes. I also lube the snout on the converter that slides into the front seal.

MAKE SURE THE CONVERTER IS SEATED! And make sure it stays seated. Sometimes its a real PITA to get it to seat and sometimes it will wiggle forward while you are stuffing the trans. Keep turning/wiggling and jiggling and waiting for it to click down untill its all the way home. When the trans is seated against the bellhousing the converter shouldnt be pressing ajaist the flex plate hard. If the trans dosnt want to seat up against the motor easy MAKE SURE YOUR CONVERTER ISNT WHATS STOPING IT. You can realy screw things up if you crank the trans up to the motor with bolts if its not seated. You should be able to rotate the converter with no bolts into the flexplate pretty easy, there should be no bind.

CLEAN THE COOLER LINES!!!! You may need to replace the cooler too depending how bad the trans tossed its cookies and if you can actually get it clean. If the trans didnt completly lunch itself they make cooler flush kits in a can. Buy one and follow its directions.

Install, fill it up with fluid, start it, let it run in P for a bit, turn it off, check the fluid and dump some more in, start it, cycle the gears from P to R to D, keep with the cycle of dumping fluid in and such trying not to run it dry. It will take quite a bit of fluid to fill it....way more than what you can dump in the pan right off the bat. Once you think you have it close and she is running for a bit then check it again with it running, then go take it for a drive, come back and check it again. Maybe check the fluid again in a day or 2.

Some trans come with fluid in em.