Oh believe me, I thought long and hard about the lefty-loosey thing. Wondering if being upside down and backwards I was doing it wrong.

I think I can remove it still attached, it has an oil reservoir between the pan and dipstick outlet that would come with it, only reason I'm not doing that yet.

Thanks, Padre

 

My '97 is the same way, unless you drop the pan, the only way to drain is the dip stick tube which works great. Usually 4ish quarts per drain. I'm fixing to do mine any day, maybe today after I drive around and warm up the fluid a bit. I put Amsoil ATF in there, OMG so smooth.

 

So I went old school on it.

Propane and wax.

Heat it up for about a minute:


Stick a candle to the threads (I did both sides):


Pops out, practically with your fingers.


So much easier than beating the heck out of it or buying huge wrenches and pipes.

Oh, and clean entire area with brake cleaner to get rid of any flammables, but have a fire extinguisher handy.

Padre

 

What a great idea. I'll try this. I used to pay a little quickie lube place $20 to drain it and fill with my Amsoil ATF. They went out of business and Valvoline is there now and they won't do it. Reason for stating is that the previous guy tightened the hell out of it and I can't seem to get it off from under the vehicle.

 

I was very pleased it worked. Went by my Chevy dealer to talk with my buds, and one of the old school guys immediately recommended it. I had read about it and was dubious, but with their encouragement, I tried it.

The wax melts and is pulled into the threads. I used maybe an inch of a small candle. Why spend lots on penetrating oils that don't work?



Padre

 

Oh, and here's the verdict on my tranny oil leak:

Pan looks almost new, with just a little residue on the magnets. This is very good news for a 136,000 mile tranny.



With it so new looking, I thought it might have been serviced or replaced recently, but... Pan gasket is brittle, so it hasn't been changed in a long time, which I'm 98% sure is my culprit for the leak.



Padre