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Transmission fluid change. 06 vlx.


jmiller2496

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 I was going to do the transmission fluid maintenance and I drained the fluid with the suction tool that I use to change the oil. I was wondering is there a filter  or anything else that needs to be done or do you just drain the fluid and replace with new fluid. How often do you guys do this? Also there are two places for transmission fluid what are the differences and how much fluid should each take? I did not measure precisely but it appeared that the one near the rear head to courts and the one in the front about 1 quart.

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There are no filters that I have ever heard of on transmissions. They do take different fluids though. The v-drive takes 30 wt and the inline trans takes ATF. Double check your manual for the proper fluid types.

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In '06 the VD should be a Walter, with just short of one quart of straight 30W oil. The dip stick has to be screwed all of the way in for a correct reading on a Walter. Not sure on the capacity on the trans, but it will be DEX/MERC trans fluid. For me I rely on the dip stick and not necessarily the book because you never know how much is left in either after you drain them.

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15 minutes ago, wdr said:

In '06 the VD should be a Walter, with just short of one quart of straight 30W oil. The dip stick has to be screwed all of the way in for a correct reading on a Walter. Not sure on the capacity on the trans, but it will be DEX/MERC trans fluid. For me I rely on the dip stick and not necessarily the book because you never know how much is left in either after you drain them.

Not sure about this, the 04 and 05's I've seen are Walter's but my 06 and 07 have been ZF Hurth and Ski-Vee.  ~2 quarts in the transmission and ~1 qt in the vdrive.  Both take ATF Dexron/Mercon III

Edited by Ndawg12
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/14/2016 at 8:18 AM, Ndawg12 said:

Not sure about this, the 04 and 05's I've seen are Walter's but my 06 and 07 have been ZF Hurth and Ski-Vee.  ~2 quarts in the transmission and ~1 qt in the vdrive.  Both take ATF Dexron/Mercon III

My 06 was the same^^^^.

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My 2006 has ZF Hurth v-drive as well.

Both my main unit and v-drive unit take Dexron/Mercon ATF.  Approximately 2.6 qts total, IIRC.

I change mine out once a year (part of my winterizing routine).

In the future, you would be better off measuring what you remove.  It will save you a lot of time and effort.

Suck out main drive (the farthest one back).  Pour contents into empty clear plastic 2 L bottle (cleaned, rinsed, and dried soda bottle works well for this).  Mark level on side with Sharpie pen.  Discard old ATF.  Pour new ATF up to line.  Pour new ATF into transmission.  Done!

Repeat process for v-drive.

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On 11/27/2016 at 8:23 AM, srab said:

In the future, you would be better off measuring what you remove.  It will save you a lot of time and effort.

 

What if it is low to begin with? Not too hard to check the dip stick, or am I missing something.

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I've tried it once before without measuring.  I eventually got to where I needed to be, but not before adding a little, checking the level, adding a little more, checking the level, adding a little bit more, checking the level, then, oops, having to suck some out and recheck the level, then adding a couple of drops more.  It was way more time consuming, and a bit messy as well, as I was using the "turkey baster" technique, and each time I sucked out fluid, or each time I checked the level, I had to be careful, with rag in hand, or I would manage to get a drop or two of ATF on top of the transmission, gas tank, or down in the bilge.

It is just so much easier, IMHO, to suck as much out as I can, pour it into my coke bottle, mark it, dump it out, fill to mark with new ATF, and pour it straight down the funnel (I have a dedicated long-stemmed funnel for this purpose because the dipstick for my main unit sits underneath the rear seat brace).  I then check the ATF level just one time.  Its always been spot on.  YMMV.

Not surprisingly, since I keep the same bottle, replete with Sharpie side markings, together with my extractor pump, and reuse it each season, the amount of ATF that I suck out of the respective units each year is pretty darned consistent.  So, if I happened to be significantly low on ATF one year, and forgot to check the level before getting started, not only would I know immediately that there was a problem (the amount extracted wouldn't come up anywhere near last years mark), but, by pouring new ATF up to the old mark and adding it back into the transmission, I'd very likely be back to the appropriate amount of ATF anyway.

Edited by srab
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  • 4 years later...

Just curious - how much oil do folks typically suck out? I seem to get about 55-60% of the total capacity when I use a $20 hand pump with two 52" orange tubes (e.g. 550ml out of the 1L V-Drive, and 1.25L out of the 2L capacity main tranny.) I would have liked to have removed a higher % than this.

On a related note, I find that 10-15% of the ATF doesn't get into the bottle, at least not quickly; rather, it's in the pump and the hoses. So I have to add an additional 10-15%. I can tell because I check the dipstick before I remove the old ATF. 

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You will not likely get the full capacity of the transmission or vdrive fluid out and getting 50-75 percent seems pretty typical.  The lower filter screen and retaining plate could be removed to get more fluid out, but that requires transmission removal and is not reasonable for seasonal maintenance.

There is a specific fluid level check procedure for the transmission that involves running the engine to operating temperature, shifting from forward, to neutral, reverse, then to neutral, shut off the engine, then check the fluid level within 30 seconds.  The dipstick should be put as far into the transmission as possible without threading in the dipstick and the fluid level should be between the two marks on the stick.

A cold level fluid mark can be made on the dipstick after allowing the boat to sit overnight to make it easier to check for the proper fluid level in the future.

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