[arjithin]

My 2010 Swift 1.5L 4speed automatic has done nearly 88,000 km in 11 years. I bought this car 1.5 years back from my neighbour (who was the first owner) at 72000 km and is a daily driver for my wife.

Last year I changed the Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) of my Camry ( sold since) and the gear shifts became very smooth. So I was planning to change the automatic transmission oil for Swift as well for a while. There was no issues with the transmission and this was done as a preventive maintenance since the car is now 11 year old.

I am putting down this thread with the hope that the procedure could be similar for other Suzuki models ( or in general any automatic car)

Tools used:
1. Car ramps ( or Jack stands)
2. Funnel
3. Spanner set
4. 2 X 4L of Penrite ATF (https://www.autobarn.com.au/penrite-...le-full-syn-4l). Got it very cheap in a sale
5. A portable LED light.
6. Kitchen tissue roll
7. oil pan to collect the oid oil. Dispose the old oil responsibly.

[arjithin]

Plan:
The AT sump holds around 2L of oil, where as the car manual states 5.6L capacity for ATF. So my plan was to drain the sump, refill exact amount of new oil ; run the car for few minutes for the new oil to mix with the old oil and repeat this process 3 more times since I have 8L fluid with me. If my calculations are correct, I should have around 1L of old oil and 4.6L of new oil within AT at end end of 4th iteration.

Step 1: Raise the car so that we get enough space to work underneath the car. Since I have a pair of car ramps, I used them. A pair of car stands can also be used.




Step 2: Transmission oil sump is on the right side of engine ( when looking at the car from the front of car). Use a spanner/Ratchet to loosen the bolt.


Step 3: Place a bucket or oil pan under the oil drain bolt. Make sure that the bucket or pan is very very clean. This will help you to locate any metallic particles in the oil


step:4 Drain the oil to the pan. Measure exactly how much oil was drained. (Sorry I havent done any photos of steps 2-4 - but it is exactly like how the engine oil is drained from oil sump)





Step 5: put the bolt back in its position. No need to use a spanner to tighten it, just tighten with your hand


Step 6: Find the fill plug or ATF dipstick. I couldn't find a fill plug, so.I used the dipstick hole to refill. Use the funnels other end to make a tight fit at the end. You may want to do some jugad to make the bottom end as a tight fit so that oil doesn't spill. (in my case, I had to save off 0.5 mm of plastic from the bottom side to fit it)



Step 6a. For swift, you can remove the engine coolant reservoir by pulling it towards you ( top) to make more room to access the dipstick



Step 7: Refill the exact amount of oil that was drained slowly and steadily. If there is temperature difference between the drained oil ( hot) and refill oil ( cold) refill 10-15% less volume ( to account for expansion of oil). If you are using the dipstick plug, refill even at a lower rate



Step 8: Start the engine and idle for 5 minutes

Step 9: Move the gear lever from P to N to R to D and back 5-6 times by holding 3-5 seconds in each.

Step 10: Repeat from step 2.

Since I had bought 8L of ATF, I repeated 3 more times. As each iteration progresses, you should see the drained fluid quality & smell improving. By the 4th iteration, the fluid was looking as new.

At the end of second iteration:


Final step: If you have re-filled the exact amount of oil, at the end of 4th iteration, there will be an equal or slightly less oil back into the AT. Remove the car from ramp/stands and do a preliminary ATF oil level check. If its some where close to the expected mark, follow manufacturers recommendation on checking ATF oil level and refill in very small increments ( The level indicated in dip stick can increase quickly for even for smaller quantity refills)

For swift the procedure to check ATF level is to drive the car for 10 minutes with light load, stop it on a level surface , move through all the gears, put it on park and then check the oil level while the engine is running.

[arjithin]

Note:
1. This method works better if the current ATF is not very bad. If the ATF is very bad ( you can check this using dipstick) or the car has done a lot of kilometers, a transmission oil change may cause gears to slip after the ATF change. See this video for more details:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o690DovjDAc

2. Different car models have different mechanisms and different oil types. Do your research, and if possible source the ATF from an authorized service center to reduce the chance of errors

3. For my 2014 Camry, I had to use special tools and procedures to change ATF and wasn't as straight forward as this.

4. Before your last iteration oil fill, double check the total oil drained vs total oil filled. Make sure that the total oil filled is slightly less than total oil drained. This will help in adjusting the final oil level. if you have overfilled, then its much difficult to get to the right level than under filling.

5. Plan your iterations in such a way that there is 500-1000ml good oil left with you for any future adjustments.

6. No point in checking oil level using dipsticks during the iterations except last one

End Result:

The gear shifts became much smoother after the oil change, and I am very happy to know that new fluid is inside the transmission at 1/10th cost of doing it at a proper mechanics place.

Time spent :

Research : 2 hour
Shopping : 1 hour
work: 1.5 hour
Difficulty level : Simple to medium

[Gannu_1]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing Jithin!

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Good job arihithin. Thanks for sharing the details, these shall be useful to many of us.

While changing the transmission oil, I would suggest to unscrew the refill plug first, before draining the oil. If we drain the oil first and then discover that the refill plug is jammed, we will be left in an ackward situation.

Also, the location of the refill plug is given in the owner's manual. It shall be more convenient and quicker to pour the new oil from here.

One question:
What you did was not just draining and refill. It was a sort of flushing using the new ATF and refilling at last. Why did you feel a need for this? Normally, we just drain the old fluid and refill, which is a recommended practice too.

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by Rahul Bhalgat

While changing the transmission oil, I would suggest to unscrew the refill plug first, before draining the oil. If we drain the oil first and then discover that the refill plug is jammed, we will be left in an ackward situation.
Also, the location of the refill plug is given in the owner's manual. It shall be more convenient and quicker to pour the new oil from here.

I agree with you, please do this as part of the research.

One question:
What you did was not just draining and refill. It was a sort of flushing using the new ATF and refilling at last. Why did you feel a need for this? Normally, we just drain the old fluid and refill, which is a recommended practice too.

The primary reason for this method is that there is a no way to fully drain the ATF in one go (unlike engine oil). Remember when I drained the old oil in first iteration, only 2L out of the 5.6L came out. This 2L is the part stored inside the sump. Rest of the The ATF will be stored inside the transmission, torque converter etc. So the easy (and relatively safe) option to get the old oil out of these parts is what I did.

The other faster way to change ATF is to remove the transmission oil cooling pipe connections to the radiator at radiator end, and use the output of the radiator end to suck from a brand new oil container and the other one to dump old oil to a pan. I found that method to be too fast for my comfort and hence didnt go for it. I understand most of the mechanics use this method as its really fast.

[mvadg]

Also, it's been suggested that it would be good to remove the ATF pan and clean it, as it tends to accumulate metal particles and dirt at the bottom.

https://youtu.be/xxS5dij2fNw

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by arjithin

The primary reason for this method is that there is a no way to fully drain the ATF in one go (unlike engine oil). Remember when I drained the old oil in first iteration, only 2L out of the 5.6L came out. This 2L is the part stored inside the sump. Rest of the The ATF will be stored inside the transmission, torque converter etc. So the easy (and relatively safe) option to get the old oil out of these parts is what I did.

By this way, every time you are draining around 36% (35.71% theoretically) of the old oil remaining inside every time.

So old oil remaining inside after every refill is as follows:
64.29% of 5.6 lit = 3.6 lit after 1st refill.
64.29% of 3.6 lit = 2.31 lit after 2nd refill.
64.29% of 2.31 lit = 1.49 lit after 3rd refill.
64.29% of 1.48 lit = 0.96 lit after 4th and last refill.

This is a substantial quantity. Almost a liter of the old fluid has remained inside your transmission and an equal amount of new oil has gone out from the drain. So this isn't an ideal procedure to follow. However, I admire your willingness for a DIY and the amount of thought you have put in.

Generally, a transmission will have a drain plug at correct location so as to drain almost all the oil. If needed, a designer will give two drain plugs at different locations. Draining only 2 liter out of 5.6 liter won't be by design. So next time, I suggest you to find out if there is another drain plug.

In case there is no other drain plug (looks unlikely, the designers won't do such things), you have two options.

1. Follow the procedure using the heat exchanger outlets as you have described.
2. Or follow your existing procedure two more times. After another two refills of 2 liter, only 0.4 liter of the old oil will remain inside the transmission. And that is just 6% of the total quantity.

[GTsunny]

Originally Posted by arjithin

My 2010 Swift 1.5L 4speed automatic has done nearly 88,000 km in 11 years.

Thank you for this thread, I’ve been looking for someone who can guide me on what to do next for my face lifted 2012 Honda City torque converter automatic, it’s been more than 7 years and almost 38k kms and, I don’t know when the automatic transmission fluid was last topped up or replaced and, I don’t know the scheduled maintenance for this ATF change and, I have for more than 2-3 years now given the car to FNG and, I have read recent threads where the wrong transmission fluid was put in a fellow TeamBhpian’s Honda City CVT automatic (dolphin shape) by an authorised service centre and that scares me.

I will not try DIY so, my idea was to speak with authorised Honda service centre close by like Arya Honda Mazgaon or Arya Honda Wadala and, ask them what they would do if I brought the car in for servicing and, if they mentioned ATF fluid change then, I would ask them name of the product and maybe check back here on Teambhp, does this idea make sense or does someone have a better suggestion pl?

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by GTsunny

2012 Honda City torque converter automatic, it’s been more than 7 years and almost 38k kms and, I don’t know when the automatic transmission fluid was last topped up or replaced

It's highly unlikely that ATF in your car was replaced given its only 7 yrs/38k driven. Most of the answers for your questions will be in the car manual. Check what is the recommended ATF replacement frequency. Also you can check the quality & quantity of the atf if there is a dipstick. If your transmission is shifting smoothly, then you don't need to worry.

Originally Posted by Rahul Bhalgat

Almost a liter of the old fluid has remained inside your transmission

Thanks for confirming my calculation of leftover fluid, I had mentioned it in my post and was aware of this before I started any work. In my case the old ATF was still in a very good condition ( pink color), and I am comfortable with the 1L leftover. I will follow your advice next time I change the ATF, not very sure if the car will be with me for that long.

Originally Posted by mvadg

Also, it's been suggested that it would be good to remove the ATF pan and clean it, as it tends to accumulate metal particles and dirt

Good point. I didnt do it as the old fluid was in relatively good condition and to reduce complexity.

[bigron]

I am a strong advocate of not changing the ATF in older cars with high mileage on the transmission say over 100,000 kms.

Almost always the transmission is going to start acting up once the ATF is changed. Plus even if its something that is absolutely necessary ( its already to late) then a drain is the way to go and never a flush. And a drain hardly gets rid of the old oil and in some cases upto 50% of the older oil stays inside.

Unless the ATF is being done periodically, it should not be done in really old cars.

I am aware of so many cases where older cars ( 10 years or so) with perfectly fine ATs going for a toss because the owner wants to change the ATF. To many things can go wrong. The old thickened oil actually works as a barrier for older transmission with worn out parts to function normally.
If noting has gone wrong then thats great, because then the owner has just increased the life of his transmission and is also going to experience smoother shifts.

Many garages will not even offer to change the ATF in high mileage cars that have never had their ATF changed or make the owner sign an undertaking that the garage is not going to be responsible if the AT starts acting up post the change.

Great that you have managed to achieve the desired results.

[Sumedik]

Originally Posted by arjithin

My 2010 Swift 1.5L 4speed automatic has done nearly 88,000 km in 11 years.

What did your user manual say about ATF change frequency? Was Suzuki ATF 3317 or Mobil ATF 3309 mentioned as ATF's of choice?

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by Sumedik

What did your user manual say about ATF change frequency? Was Suzuki ATF 3317 or Mobil ATF 3309 mentioned as ATF's of choice?

ATF change frequency - Replace at 165,000 km ( 100,000 miles)
Was Suzuki ATF 3317 or Mobil ATF 3309 mentioned as ATF's of choice? Yes

[Sumedik]

Originally Posted by arjithin

ATF change frequency - Replace at 165,000 km ( 100,000 miles)

Was there no mention of changing ATF after 11 years irrespective of kilometers driven in the User Manual? Can you please double check?

Also it looks like the condition of the 11-year-old 88K used ATF was good, at least based on the photo.

[Jeroen]

Good job, but as already mentioned it makes sense to remove the sump for at least two reasons. There will be a filter and a magnet. When changing the fluid you need to change the filter too! Now you pumping clean fresh oil through an old and maybe partly clogged filter. When that filter bursts you have no protection at against larger particles.

Also, there will be a magnet inside the sump, maybe it was on the sump plug? Very often they are fitted inside the bottom of the sump. They collect all the minute metal particle. It’s a good indication of any undue wear. And it needs to cleaned.

Your method of several flushes is a tried and tested method. The only thing is, it will never remove the dirt and grime that has really got stuck. Therefor it is advisable to really get a proper flush done of a gearbox. But it require a special flush machine, cleaning fluids and somebody who knows what they are doing.

Jeroen