Mobil 3309 transaxle fluid

JWS3309 is a standard that the fluid must meet.

Castrol Import Multi-Vehicle Fluid Toyota T-IV Mobil ATF 3309 NAPA - AIC ATF0T4 AC Delco T-IV Ford - XT-8-QAW Premium Automatic Transmission Fluid AISIN - ATF-0T4

All meet the standard (the Toyota, Mobil, Delco and Ford are all the same Mobil 3309 just badged for those companies)

Thanks.

The Castrol was $5.50 vs. $8 for the Mobil.

Andy

Then why are you asking on the internet to people who aren't local? Ask your FLAPS if they'd be willing to order it for you. Anyone who can get Mobil 1 products should be able to get it.

There are a few other competing ATF products that meet the JWS 3309 spec, including Toyota Type IV. So you aren't limited completely to the Mobil product (although the Mobil product is good).

--scott

See Steve W's. post.

Before his post, I thought the Mobil ATF was my only option.

Andy

I found out that my car has no transmission drain plug. :-(

My mechanic charges $125 to drop pan and install new gasket and filter.

I thought about using a pump to change it out, but it still leaves a old filter in place.

Since I will only be changing about 1/3 of the ATF out, I may use a pump after the filter change.

My manual does not say what the total capacity of ATF in the transmission.

Andy

I got a fluid transfer pump.

Got out 2.5 quarts.

Will repeat 2 more times a month apart.

Andy

A Volvo dealership I worked at did tranny flushes by disconnecting one of the tranny's radiator cooler hoses. The hose was directed into a 10 gallon bucket. Then they start engine , and add new fluid as the old fluid pumped out, until it ran "clear as new".

Volvo also uses the 3309 fluid as part number 1161540.

IIRC the tech had a length of hose and a clamp he used to extend the hose/tube in the car into the bucket.

thanks for the good ideas.

Andy

Absence of a transmission oil drain plug is seemingly fairly common.

My Ford 4R70W transmission didn't have a drain plug. Had to drain it by re moving the transmission oil pan. Which was just as well, since I was insta lling a new transmission oil filter anyway.

Maybe that's the idea. I haven't yet consulted the service manual, but som e say you should change the filter every time you swap transmission oil. I f you follow that rule, you don't really "need" a drain plug, since you'll be taking off the whole pan to swap the filter when you swap the oil.

My torque converter does have a drain plug. Some newer ones don't. I don' t know how you change out the oil in those. I guess...you don't?

I wasn't willing to mess with the pipes. I couldn't see any way to disconn ect the transmission oil cooling lines without destroying something, such t hat I would have needed new lines or fittings (or both!). So, a small port ion of the old oil remained.

No big deal. I figure that's why I put in a new filter.

It's messy as hell when you do that, though. My inclination is to drill and tap a drain plug hole so that I don't have to deal with that huge gush of fluid when the pan gasket is loosened. Assuming there is even enough metal in the pan to do that properly.

On some of them, you drain the torque converter seperately from the main body, but when you fill the main body up, it runs into the torque converter and fills it.

Anything you do to get the final bit of oil out is both going to be difficult and have some risk of moving any junk in the system around. So just change the fluid more often to compensate for that.

--scott

True. I had significant advantages when I was doing my transmission servic e:

1) access to a lift; 2) oil catch pan on a rolling frame. The frame was tall enough and the cat ch pan long enough to cover the entire bottom of the transmission, so it ca ught all oil from both transmission & torque converter.

Between the two of those things, it wasn't hard to keep oil from going ever ywhere. I simply loosened all the transmission oil pan bolts, then backed them out not quite all the way, one at a time, starting at the back and wor king my way forward. Oil first seeped, then poured steadily, from the rear end of the pan, as I removed more bolts.

Once most of the oil was out, I removed the pan entirely, to get everything out that would drain.

Then I drained the torque converter. That took around half an hour, since it's a small hole and the vanes inside slow the flow.

I can see how the whole operation would be greatly simplified with a pan dr ain plug, if you were doing this job in a driveway or garage with the car o n jackstands.

Even though I have a lift available, I thought this service would be easier next time with a drain plug. So I installed the Dorman aftermarket pan (a bout $20).

The Dorman pan has a bump where the drain plug is. It's the lowest point, ensuring you'll get all the oil out.

If you want to make your own rain plug in the factory tranny pan, you could get the same effect by putting the drain at the rear of the pan. Then whe n you want to remove the oil, block the rear wheels and jack up just the fr ont of the car. Or the other way round - whatever works for you.