4L60E fluid change

Mon, 16 Oct 2017 21:44:33 +0000

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Gather the essentials. How much Mobil 1 ATF fluid you need will depend on your tranny model, if you've changed out your converter, and if you may have upgraded your tranny pan. In my case, I'm doing the oil change on a 94 Z28 with a 4L60E. However, I have replaced the stock torque converter with a Vigilante 2800 stall and also have changed out the deep pan that would normally be found on a late model Chevrolet 4x4 truck with a 4L60E.
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4L60E 4x4 deep truck pan. You'll notice the drain plug. This is NOT common on most automatic transmissions. Believe it or not, but most automatic transmission pans do not have drain plugs!
4L60E 4x4 deep truck pan. You'll notice the drain plug. This is NOT common on most automatic transmissions. Believe it or not, but most automatic transmission pans do not have drain plugs!
4L60E 4x4 deep truck pan. You'll notice the drain plug. This is NOT common on most automatic transmissions. Believe it or not, but most automatic transmission pans do not have drain plugs! For the purpose of this guide since most people do not have drain plugs, I'll show you how it is done without the use of the drain plug. Harder for me but better to show what it's typically like to change your tranny fluid!
On the 4L60E there is a bracket attached on the driver side. Remove the bolts holding this bracket. These will take a 10mm socket. The other bolts are 13mm.
On the 4L60E there is a bracket attached on the driver side. Remove the bolts holding this bracket. These will take a 10mm socket. The other bolts are 13mm.
Bracket bolts removed and bracket moved up and out of the way.
Remove the bolts on half or a little more of the tranny pan. Loosen the other bolts but don't remove them! I loosened these down about 1/8 of an inch. Because of the gasket (or gasket sealant if used in your case) the tranny pan will rarely come down or even start draining tranny fluid with 1/2 the bolts out and the other half loosed up.
Use a rubber mallet and gently tap the pan. I used a "real" hammer and if you use a real hammer as well, tap it very gently so as to not dent your pan. What you are trying to do here is break the seal between the pan, gasket, and transmission.
After tapping it some, you'll notice tranny fluid starting to "ooze" out. This is good and you'll want to have your drain pan ready at this point! Again, pay no attention to the drain plug and me not using it! If you have a drain plug, you'll definitely want to drain the fluid from your drain plug first because it is much easier and makes much less of a mess! Since I'm trying to show how to change the tranny fluid and most don't have the drain plug, I'll show you how you'll most like have to do it :-)
Slightly pry/pull down on the side where you removed the bolts. Do this gently and expect it to break loose suddenly. Don't worry though about this happening because you still have the bolts in on the other side of the pan.
Coming down pretty good now!
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Once you have the seal broken between the pan and the gasket/transmission, carefully remove the rest of the bolts.
While holding and tipping the tranny pan towards your catch/drain pan, carefully remove the last bolt.
With the last bolt removed, drain the excess fluid into your drain pan.
Transmission fluid still looks pretty good. No odors or signs of it being burnt.
You'll want to inspect the magnet for collection of fine metal fragments. This one here looks pretty good and indicates normal wear in my automatic tranny.
Transmission fluid still looks pretty good. No odors or signs of it being burnt.
After you have let the fluid drain for a while, you can remove the transmission filter. Depending on what kind of transmission you are dealing with you may need a socket to do this or you may not. In my case, the filter basically "snaps" in and is not held in place by any bolts. Simply grab the filter and twist it slightly back and forth and then carefully remove the filter. I say carefully because you do not want to damage the seal at the neck of the filterif you can help it!
Your gasket may or may not have come down with the pan. In my case, the gasket stuck to the transmission. Carefully remove the gasket. Depending on how long it has been will probably depend on how much difficulty you have in removing this gasket. In my case, for the most part, the gasket came down in a single piece! When we last did a tranmission service, we used only the gasket and no sealant so I don't have a huge mess to clean/scrape off this time around.
Your gasket may or may not have come down with the pan. In my case, the gasket stuck to the transmission. Carefully remove the gasket. Depending on how long it has been will probably depend on how much difficulty you have in removing this gasket. In my case, for the most part, the gasket came down in a single piece! When we last did a tranmission service, we used only the gasket and no sealant so I don't have a huge mess to clean/scrape off this time around.
Stuck gasket material that I'll later need to scrape off.
This is the insert that came on the neck of the filter I purchased. Since I did not damage this piece when I removed the used filter and I change my transmission fluid on regular intervals, I have decided to reuse the insert that is currently in the transmission. If you do need to replace your insert, be very careful as you can scrape up the seal area of the transmission while trying to remove this insert.
You can see the insert in this picture. It is in good shape so I'm going to reuse it.
You can see the insert in this picture. It is in good shape so I'm going to reuse it.
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Scrape off any excess gasket material that may have stuck to the tranny or pan. You can use a putty knife, razor blade, or about anything sharp. Just be careful that if what you are using is fairly sharp that you don't gouge up and mar the sealing surface with your scraper.
In my case, I'm working on a 4L60E. On this transmission, these solenoids are delicate and you can damge them if you hit them too hard so be careful to not slip with your scraper and damage any of the internal components in your transmission.
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Clean the tranny pan getting ready for reinstallation. I use brake parts cleaner for this as it works very well. Carburetor spray cleaner works well too but isn't quite as strong as brake parts cleaner.
Clean the tranny pan getting ready for reinstallation. I use brake parts cleaner for this as it works very well. Carburetor spray cleaner works well too but isn't quite as strong as brake parts cleaner.
Complete the clean-up by wiping out the inside of the pan with a rag. You'll want to clean the magnet as well and make sure it gets put back in the pan when complete! In many cases, these magnets can be removed and cleaned (they aren't "glued" in place) so don't forget to reinstall it!
Wipe the oil off the sealing surface and do another quick inspection to make sure all gasket material or sealant (if previously used) are removed. It's better to spend a little extra time here than to have to remove the pan again later down the road because you have a leak!
Install your new filter. The filter can be installed crooked so make sure you have it straight and aligned in parallel with the sides of the transmission.
Since this filter is not held in place by any bolts/nuts and simply "snaps" in place, use the palm of your hand and gently push the filter up into the seal/insert in the tranny.
One quick lookover before putting everything back together.
Place the gasket on top of the pan and grab a handful of the tranny bolts.
Align the pan and gasket and install a couple of bolts finger tight.
A couple bolts are now installed finger tight which will hold everything in place.
Keep the filter and set it off to the side for later inspection!
Install all the bolts in the tranny and just snug them up. Don't tighten them at this point... yet!
If you can, you'll want to torque the bolts with a torque wrench. The bolts being used in my application are 8mm. Bolts with 8mm threads are torqued to 120 in/lbs. If you don't have a torque wrench to do this, hopefully you have a little experience in working on cars and can use your "elbow torque wrench" so as to not over or under tighten them :-)
Torquing the bolts to 120 in/lbs. If you're not doing a 4L60E transmission fluid change, your torque specs may be slightly different.
Grab the old filter that we set aside earlier and a pair of side cutters. You can get a good idea of what is happening inside your tranny by inspecting the internals of the filter. While many people just throw away their filters without even thinking twice, you can learn a lot by looking at the insides! These are easy to take apart too... just use the side cutters as pliers (more or less!) and while using a twisting and pulling motion, break the two pieces apart.
Grab the old filter that we set aside earlier and a pair of side cutters. You can get a good idea of what is happening inside your tranny by inspecting the internals of the filter. While many people just throw away their filters without even thinking twice, you can learn a lot by looking at the insides! These are easy to take apart too... just use the side cutters as pliers (more or less!) and while using a twisting and pulling motion, break the two pieces apart.
With the two pieces pulled apart you can now see the entire filter. However, the "good stuff" is in the middle of the filter.
With the filter opened up you can see what has been being filtered. You can look for converter material and basically "chunks" of stuff. The dark around the edges is normal and what you see here is pretty typical of a normal wear in the tranny. If you have any questions or concerns about what you find in your filter, ask a buddy who might know or even take the filter to a tranny shop for them to inspect. You might be able to find some serious things about to go wrong in your tranny by inspecting this filter and it will be better for you to get it repaired asap than to get stranded someday on the side of the road!
With the filter opened up you can see what has been being filtered. You can look for converter material and basically "chunks" of stuff. The dark around the edges is normal and what you see here is pretty typical of a normal wear in the tranny. If you have any questions or concerns about what you find in your filter, ask a buddy who might know or even take the filter to a tranny shop for them to inspect. You might be able to find some serious things about to go wrong in your tranny by inspecting this filter and it will be better for you to get it repaired asap than to get stranded someday on the side of the road!
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Add the necessary amount of Mobil 1 ATF fluid through the dipstick in the engine compartment. A normal 4L60E in a Z28 would take around 4 to 5 qts just for a normal changout of the fluid. It is important to remember here that much of the tranny fluid will stay in the torque converter and there is really no way to get it out when performing your own tranny fluid change so you'll be mixing your new ATF with the older ATF that was in there. This is OK and it is even OK to mix synthetic and normal ATF if you decide to switch to Mobil 1 synthetic ATF. In my case I am using a deep pan which takes about 2 qts more than a normal pan. However, I also have a Vigilante 2800 converter which is slightly smaller than stock so for me, the total I needed to add was 5.5 qts :)
Nothing but the best!
After you have added the correct amount of fluid, you'll want to check it! Start the car up and go through the gears a couple of times. Leave the car running and in Park and check the dipstick for proper level.
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The Trans Fluid dipstick should be clearly labeled. Make sure you aren't adding fluid to the Engine Oil dipstick area! :-)
Owner's manual showing the maintenance intervals.
The "Capacities" page from the owners manual. Note how in my case the amounts are given for both the drain and refill (what I did here) and the overhaul.

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4L60E fluid change

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1994 Vortech Supercharged Z28