Week full of maintenance

[johngraves2]

So I have been saving up lots of money to do a complete maintenance overhall and saving to purcase the tools to do it (probably the most expensive part). I just hit 100,000 miles and plan on doing everything. I am the second owner and I figure what better time than now to make sure everything is in great shap.

I plan on doing (myself):
Front/rear diff fluid
T-case fluid
Transmision fluid and filter
PCV Valve
Fuel Filter
Spark plugs
Wireset
Rotor
Distributor cap

Other stuff I am doing:
Timing belt kit (Thanks to Scott Allan for the parts and Allen Cox for the labor)
Coolant Change (Again thanks to Allen Cox for labor)


In addition to all the basic maintenance im doing, I also finally saved up enough to have my front end fixed after my accident. Taking it in on Monday!!

So basically i have been working my butt of making money and saving it all up. So hopefully i will get this all done in the next two weeks. My front end is being fixed monday, i did my rear diff today, and Allen is doing my timing belt and coolant on thursday.

You could say I am supper excited to do all this work, i am teaching my self how to do most of it and doing it by my self, so it makes it even more fun for me to do!

just wanted to share! hopefully i will get slightly better gas milage out of all this. I am going full synthetic so that should help a little, but we will see!

[steeze]

Replace the timing belt if you haven't done that already.

[johngraves2]

Ya I am having Allen do that for me. way to complicated for me to try and figure out!

[itsme1738]

allen is the man to have around!!!! :D

[Ditchfinder]

NGK plugs and wires NGK.com or where ever you can find them. they had free shipping awile back. good luck!

[Scott Allan]

Way to go John! It is fun to learn to do stuff on your own bit by bit. Due to help from many on this board, I've gone from being totally incompetent to being just merely incompetent :) I've learned a ton of stuff from Allen that I continue to put to good use.

[johngraves2]

Ya it has been great all the little bits of info here and on XOC have given me all good ideas of how to do it corectly. Im supper excited to get it all done, i just wish i had time to go out there and do it all at once! It is amazing how having the right tools can make a job go that much faster!

[johngraves2]

So i just finished up the front differential, and the transfer case. Again i used Mobile 1 full syn products. For my first time ever doing that it only took 2 hours! I was so happy when i finished! Would have been easier if i had jack stands but i dont so i just crawled under there many many times. the fluid that game out was soooooo black and so gunky, so i am not sure when it was last changed. But it is all fresh now and should be good for a while

Also i finally got my X back fromt he auto body shop, took a little longer but they did a really nice job!

Did a long trip over rabbit ears pass and down to craig right after i did my rear differential and i could tell a huge differance. a lot better gas millage than i usually get too. so weather or not that was caused from changing the rear diff fluid or not, i was happy.

[johngraves2]

So thanks to Allen my timing belt was changed perfectly.

Does anyone have any words of wisdom before I do my transmision fluid? I will probably do it tomorrow since it is so nice out! I was reading through the haynes manual and it said to do the filter as well. But when it goes into the directions of how to do it it starts talking abou the 'strainer', is this the same thing?

Thanks in advance.

[Bill Potter]

Auto?

[johngraves2]

yup automatic tranny.

[Bill Potter]

It's best to change it all....not just what is in the pan. Something I think is worth paying someone to do.

Al would be your beast resource on how to do it yourself.

[Scott Allan]

I think what Bill is trying to say is that a "drain and fill" only drains about half the fluid (as oppossed to a flush which is more complicated to perform). I've been known to do a double drain and fill (do a drain and fill, do it again 100 miles later) such that you replace 75% of the fluid, but I was also doing that on a more frequent interval than normal.

[Bill Potter]

Actually I'm saying more then that...new fluid and old fluid don't mix well....I just don't feel like researching and explaining the issues it can cause. I have known a few people that changed the fluid and filter and then within a thousand miles the whole transmission takes a dump.

Somewhere I have seen an explanation as to why it happens...but I can't remember why or where I found it. But I think AL was a transmission guru at one point...he can most likely tell you how to do it correctly.

[johngraves2]

Makes sense. Ya i was reading a post some where that talked about how it is really bad for the tranny if you currently have regualar ATF in there and want to put in syn AFT it doesn't mix well or something. So I will probabaly just take it in and have someone do the full flush like you suggest. thanks guys.

[Bill Potter]

FYI...Even the same fluid type may cause the problems.

[Allen Cox]

What happens is that really dark fluid has bits of the clutch material suspended in it. With worn clutch packs, the particles in the fluid act as a friction surface, allowing the packs to lock up and engage like normal.

When new fluid is put in, and the old fluid (with the particles in it) is flushed out, then the extra friction is gone, allowing the clutches to slip, wearing at a faster pace. That's when the transmission really starts to eat itself. It just makes it go out a bit faster, but the transmission was already on the way out.

If the fluid is only a little dark, doesn't smell burnt and the transmission is acting normally, then a flush is good. If it's acting a bit lazy, the fluid is really dark (almost black), then the flush will just put it out of it's misery.

[Bill Potter]

AL that is exactly what I was getting at...just couldn't remember the details.

I think the explanation I was given included something about the detergents in the new fluid also breaking down the crystallized glue in the abused clutches and the glue suspended in the old fluid....also resulting in valve body problems.

[Allen Cox]

The valve body, at that point, would already have deposits in the little crevices. Add in some fresh detergent and start moving those big chunks of deposits around and the valve body would crap itself. Seize the little check balls in place, not let them close completely, and so on. Bad joo joo.

A flush just isn't a fix for a poorly operating auto trans. But even high mileage autos can benefit from a maintenance flush, as long as it's been taken care of and is operating normally. The current condition of the fluid is key in this determination.