97 OB AT fluid change

[tzrider]

OK...I swear I'm not this stupid...

 

200.8k miles on my 97 Outback and I just changed the AT fluid at 27k miles. The old fluid looked fine; not burnt, still a reddish color. I couldn't remember how much new fluid I added when I last changed it, so I checked around. The Haynes book on this car says 4q with a standard fluid change, 10q with a fluid/filter change. The auto parts store computer listed 7q. The owners manual lists 6q. There is little info out there on changing the filter; some say don't bother so I haven't. So, I drained the old fluid into a bucket and calculated the amount at roughly 10q (I didn't know the size of the bucket ahead of time so had to use a bit of old school math to figure out it's volume). I put 10q of new fluid in. The problem is, I have a really hard time reading the dipstick. With the car at normal operating temp, I shift through all the gears, leave it running and check. I just can't tell the level via the dipstick, whether I check it hot or cold. Well, the 10q proved to be too much. When I drove the car the next day, fluid spewed out (from where, I'm not sure). When I got home I drained about 3q and I'm going to check it tomorrow morning after I get the engine up to operating temp.

 

So if that wasn't all confusing enough, my questions are:

1) How much fluid should be added?

2) Where would the fluid have spewed from (there was no apparent leak when the car was parked)?

3) What damage could I have done driving 100 miles with too much AT fluid in it?

 

My car runs great and I'd like to get another couple years out of it, but I'm nervous about the transmission and would like to keep it running smoothly. The AT is just too expensive to replace.

 

Thanks in advance for your insight. Let me know what needs clarification.

[tcspeer]

I think you will be O.K. and yes it is tough to read that stick. Maybe it over flowed at the top of dip stick.

OK...I swear I'm not this stupid...

 

200.8k miles on my 97 Outback and I just changed the AT fluid at 27k miles. The old fluid looked fine; not burnt, still a reddish color. I couldn't remember how much new fluid I added when I last changed it, so I checked around. The Haynes book on this car says 4q with a standard fluid change, 10q with a fluid/filter change. The auto parts store computer listed 7q. The owners manual lists 6q. There is little info out there on changing the filter; some say don't bother so I haven't. So, I drained the old fluid into a bucket and calculated the amount at roughly 10q (I didn't know the size of the bucket ahead of time so had to use a bit of old school math to figure out it's volume). I put 10q of new fluid in. The problem is, I have a really hard time reading the dipstick. With the car at normal operating temp, I shift through all the gears, leave it running and check. I just can't tell the level via the dipstick, whether I check it hot or cold. Well, the 10q proved to be too much. When I drove the car the next day, fluid spewed out (from where, I'm not sure). When I got home I drained about 3q and I'm going to check it tomorrow morning after I get the engine up to operating temp.

 

So if that wasn't all confusing enough, my questions are:

1) How much fluid should be added?

2) Where would the fluid have spewed from (there was no apparent leak when the car was parked)?

3) What damage could I have done driving 100 miles with too much AT fluid in it?

 

My car runs great and I'd like to get another couple years out of it, but I'm nervous about the transmission and would like to keep it running smoothly. The AT is just too expensive to replace.

 

Thanks in advance for your insight. Let me know what needs clarification.

[porcupine73]

I don't think you really hurt anything. Driving with too much ATF I think can cause lots of air bubbles in the fluid which isn't good for antiwear. I believe there is a vent on the top of the AT where fluid can come out. I way overfilled the AT once and noticed fluid all over the floor and traced it back to the top of the AT.

 

There's usually two refill values, one for just draining from the pan, which might be 5 qts or so, and one for a total fill, which includes draining the torque converter. On my '96 Legacy 4EAT phase I, I got about 5 quarts out the drain plug, then when replacing filter, the rest came out, about 9-10 quarts total.

 

I like to check ATF level cold engine running in park, otherwise I can't read it. If you just added fluid, you may have to wipe stick off a few times to clear out the dipstick tube.

[tzrider]

I think you're right about the vent at the top...I noticed that some of the flluid was emulating from the top left of the AT at a point which could be the vent. That would explain why it was blowing onto the catalytic converter and onward to the rear of the car. Good thing that the hot exhaust burns off the fluid.

 

Thanks for your reply.

[Chip]

I thought I had read somewhere that it's impossible to drain more than 3 or 4 litres from the tranny. It holds 10 Litres but only 3 or 4 can be drained....the other 6 or 7 need to be pumped out.

I also read somewhere that they only started putting transmission oil filters on in 1999.

[J A Blazer]

Mine is a 2000, with external filter. Even with a change of filter I don't think that more than 4 1/2 quarts came out.

[outback_97]

FWIW, here's how I do mine (also 97 OBW), it requires three gallons of fresh fluid before you begin.

 

1) Drive car to warm up fluid.

 

2) Remove plug and allow to drain (almost exactly four quarts is what I always get). Replace plug, fill with equal amount of fresh fluid. Drive car around the block.

 

3) Repeat step 2. Then repeat again. Done.

 

I have never dropped the pan or changed the internal screen (too worried about resealing and leaks). The above method may not be ideal in that it wastes a small amount of new fluid and doesn't insure that 100% of old fluid is removed... but it works for me. It is indeed very hard to get a good reading on the dipstick for the AT fluid.

 

Steve

[porcupine73]

The difference is the original 4EAT phase I has an internal 'screen filter' that, when replacing, you must loosen an internal cooler line over the filter, that, when loosened, apparently dumps the contents of the torque converter-I got out the whole 9-10 quarts this way.

 

On the 4EAT phase II's (with the external filter), you don't get anything additional out by removing the filter. I believe these too have the internal screen filter, but it should remain fairly clean as all the clutch shreddings etc. should be captured by the lawn mower sized oil filter on the AT outlet to the cooler. Sometimes the coolers get plugged up with shreddings on some vehicles so I think the external ATF filter before the cooler is intended to keep this minimal.

 

Anyway, I have also used the 'pull cooler line to radiator in-tank cooler' method to pump out the remaining ATF on both phase I and phase II without issue.