Put back what you think came out, close it up. If its not shifting right add 0.5 ounces till its smooth. About all you can do at this point. Dont bother with fluid temp anymore, better to be a little over than under.

Much easier to pump from the bottom than drip in the top, btw. I just add an ounce or two to what drains out, pump it back up the drain hole then quickly plug drain.

 

Not sure about the discrepancy in fluid levels you are having. I just follow this method, except having to manually figure out the fluid temp. The trans is the same as the MINI except for small differences, the height of the stand pipe being one.

 

I'd guess in the time it takes to cool down to ambient, an additional quart drains out the torque converter into the pan. At least 0.5 qt drains out for me with the standpipe installed. So if you are filling right after running more fluid will have been taken from the pan into the rest of the system.

 

OK. All done and car is away. I added a bit more after it began trickling out so we will see how it goes. Thanks to everyone who stepped in and gave me help. I truly appreciate it. I know now the next time I will make sure it's all measured properly, and in a clean pan. HA.

Have a great holiday weekend everyone.

 

Yah this will be a lot easier 'next time'. I drain/fill every other oil change and we learned to forget the top fill port after losing the plug trying to take it out/put it back in. Got a cheap fluid pump and do everything at room temperature. The manic tune keeps operating temperature down which should relieve the fluid of some torture. Just wait till you change the thermostat and water pump ;-) Happy weekend!

 

Thanks. You have a great weekend as well.

 

I recently drained and refilled as per what this article covered, now have a hick up from the trans shortly after I start. The old fluid was brown an burnt, so much for life time fluid. I've read don't replace the fluid, but the seal was leaking so I had to. I did add more fluid after the first time fill, and re did the steps of going though the gears, and the trans got better. Now once it's warm it runs great, I define warm as over 100 degrees f. I used about 2 3/4 quarts of the Asian brand fluid from discount beamer parts. any thoughts ? i'm not sure if I should drain some out? or drain it all again and refill, I still have 3 or 4 quarts in the cabnet.


thanks Brian

 

doing a second drain won't hurt, especially if the fluid was brown and smelled burnt. Before you drain it the second time, make sure that you pull the plug when the engine is idling. See if any fluid comes out when you pull the drain plug. The level might be a little low, you should get a trickle out of the drain plug (stand pipe in place) when the level is right. If you don't get any fluid out of the plug, add 1/4 quart when you refill and check the level by pulling the plug.

Have fun,
Mike

 

^I concur. How many miles do you have? Use up what you have 2.5 quarts at a time---you might need to buy another quart if you have 4 left.

 

that's not a bad idea to flush it though again, thanks for the idling tip. on any other car that I have owned the trans dip stick always had a hot and cold marker. so I assume as it gets hot the fluid expands, and the hiccup goes away dur to the level going up ?

 

about 86k on it now. we have some out of town trips, the next few weekends but I should be able to flush it again in a week or so, right after I go over my tow rig for a state inspection sticker. i'm gonna add 4-5 ozs today and see what does for the short term.


thanks

 

My thought is that you are slightly low on fluid, and it takes a couple seconds to fill all the passages in the trans when cold. You are right to add 1/2 pint or so and see if that fixes the hesitation.


Mike

 

What is the plug that the red arrow is pointing to? We accidentally pulled this when going to change the engine oil for the first time. Some articles suggest it is a drain plug for the transmission also. Thanks.

2010 Cooper S 6 speed auto

 

thanks, I added 5 ozs on Thursday and it's much better we'll drive it for a week, and poss add another 2 ozs. then well flush it again after track day in Oct. and measure how much we get out. and put the same amount of new stuff back in.

 

Anyone have an answer to my question above?

 

I cant be positive, but I think that it is likely a plug that was used during manufacture of the trans, or a test port. When you removed it, was there fluid that came out?

The process is described in this thread to add fluid to the trans and check the level (it should just trickle out of the drain plug with the engine running, car level, and trans warm).

Mike

 

Yes some fluid drained out, unfortunately I was not the one that undid or watched it drain, there was ~ 1qt fluid in the pan after, but I am not sure how clean the drain pan was.

I just found a Youtube video for a R53 with the 6sp auto and he drains ~1 liter (so about the same) from that plug before going to the main pan so it may just be somewhere that also pools a lot of fluid.

We will see what comes out of the main pan when we get to it and fill with the total quantity.

 

I am having a hard time with my tranny. i replaced it with another one and ran fine for few days until i replaced the ATF cooler. the tranny crapped out (started slipping and eventaully would not grap on D) even though i did not loose any ATF. i put another cooler in and filled it from the plug near the power steering motor. still slipping. I took the pan down, replaced the filter (still clean), filled it with 4 qrts (3qrts the first time, then added 1 qrt) still slipping. reset the adaptation, still slipping. I put 3 more qrts though the plug next to the safety switch, started grabbing but not not quite there. I tested all the solenoids and they all make noise. What am i missing?????????
I did go through the gears each time i fill.

 

I could really use the same information. I did the same thing that Wolverine350r did. But I can't seem to find any information about this plug. Any information would be helpful.

 

[QUOTE=JR2012IBB;4002235]Just for what it's worth I did this today all from under the car using the VW fill tool. I let it drain cold and 2 quarts 4 ounces came out. I had a pre-marked drain container to let me know exactly what came out. Using the VW tool and a small hand pump I pumped back out 2 quarts 6 ounces of new ATF fluid. The extra was to account for the 'line fill' in the pump. I quickly removed the VW tool and promptly put the drain plug back in, with a new crush washer.


Old Thread but after reading all the posts on this subject this seems to be the fastest and easiest way to change/flush the trans. I would assume doing this several times would replace most if not all the old fluid without removing the pan or upper plug hassle. Any new thoughts on this procedure? Thanks

 

[QUOTE=Cockroach;4274299]

Here's a pic of my homemade tool I'll use to refill/flush trans fluid.

 

I still think it is worth pulling the pan once to clean out any debris, there is additional fluid in the pan that doesn't drain.

If there is any odd performance it makes sense to pull the plug with the stand pipe in place to confirm the fluid level when the car is warm and idling.

Have fun,
Mike

 

I had no intensions of removing the upper plug or removing the stand pipe, just puling the drain plug then refilling with slightly more, then removing the tool I made while the engine is running to verify the proper amount. Not to worried about the little fluid in pan since the majority of the fluid is in the converter and will take several drain/fill to replace.

 

If you didn't pull the stand pipe, then you left at least an inch of fluid in the pan, along with all the debris. Having some fresh fluid in there is a good thing. The stand pipe is really easy to remove and reinstall, it just threads into the drain plug fitting. Some people have found that there was no stand pipe installed from the factory.

I never removed the upper plug, I did everything from underneath.

Have fun,
Mike

 

How do you remove the stand pipe? Oh! I see you did say it just screws in, counter clock wise I thought I read someplace.