Trans fluid change
Well, I finally got the chance to change the transmission fluid this evening. It was fairly straightforward; lift the Jeep up a little to make it just a tad easier to crawl under, put the drain pan down on top of the big “baking sheet” drip catching pan I have, drop the pan too fast and make a mess anyway…
I changed both of the transmission filters. There is the usual, flat filter that bolts to the underside of the valve body, and then a very *unusual* spin-on type filter that goes on near the point where the cooling return line comes into the front of the trans. It is actually up inside the pan, sort of forward and to one side of the valve body, and is shaped like a miniature oil filter. Trouble is, it was a bit “stuck” and ordinary hand pressure wouldn’t break it loose. It was too small for the cap style oil filter wrench I have. So I tried my largest pair of channel-lock style pliers, but they weren’t big enough. Finally, I hit upon the solution: I used one of my 8″ C-clamps as an ersatz wrench. It was a little clumsy, but it worked great!
Note that there is an oil seal ring for the normal transmission fluid filter that must be replaced. There are lots of warnings to not put that ring onto the new filter’s tube and just jam it into the underside of the trans. Apparently they will get loose and cause all sorts of trouble. Prying the old one out was no joy; it’s a tight fit. I had to have the secondary spin-on filter removed to get to it with a small screwdriver, but it finally popped off. Next, putting the new one in required pressing it in place and tapping it with the butt end of a hammer handle.
Other than those things though, a very simple, straightforward, if messy fluid change. It took about 7½ quarts of transmission fluid before it was finally filled up, so I’ll have to remember to have plenty on hand.
Oil Change
While I was at it this evening, I also changed the oil. At 41K miles, it was due to have the original synthetic 5W30 swapped out, and Angela needed the Jeep to go to Wisconsin for her dad’s surgery. So I went down to the quickie lube place and had them throw in regular 5W30 to get it through that trip. (The Jeep apparently performed great in the 12″ plus snowfalls they had out there, by the way. She said it just kept right on going with no drama.) So we were at the 3,000 mile mark on this dino oil a couple of days ago. Knowing I would have the evening free, I stopped by Walmart and picked up 6 quarts of synthetic.
Now the subtext to this is that gas has hit $4.00 a gallon, and of course, the Jeep being what it is, it averages 12-13MPG in the city, where it gets most of its use. I’m cool with that; I knew that’s what it would be like, so no worries, but it needs to be kept tip-top so we’re not wasting anything, either. So I decided to try Mobil 1 0W30 this time because of its advertised fuel saving benefits. It’s the same price as the 5W30 synthetic, so even if it doesn’t do a thing for fuel economy it will at least not cost anything extra.
Finally, I swapped the air filter out too. It was fairly dirty, and certainly could use the change. They’re a bit pricey for this thing at $15 though. The air filter is a Fram; the oil filter is a Mopar, just for the record.
Old News
About ~1,500 miles previously, I noticed that I hadn’t managed to cure the Jeep of the leak at it’s rear axle last summer. Upon closer inspection, I realized that it was leaking at the pinion seal, rather than at the back cover as I first thought. I checked with a friend and found out that the powertrain warranty would cover it, so I took it over to Monicatti and let them work on it. They noticed that the front outboard axle seals were leaking, as well as the outboard seals on the rear in addition to the pinion seal, so the Jeep got treated to a bunch of new seals for the $100 deductible.
