Crazy K Posted July 10, 2009 Report Share Posted July 10, 2009 General Motors in his infinite wisdom (yeah, the General probably hit his head in Vietnam) decided that our cars need no drain plugs on our transmissions. Every time I do a transmission a long laborious mess ensues. Hell, the 99 sierra pick-up that I borrow all the time had a drain plug but it's head striped rendering it un-removable. I don't intend to be lazy with this, I am not changing oil with it. I intend to use it to drain transmissions to prepare them for a pan drop, though I might drain loose drivetrain components that cannot be normally drained where they are stored. Not a short cut, but a ease of service device. There are metal ones: "Liquivac Topsider Multi-purpose Vacuum Pump" http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_390306_390306 aka "Airpower America Oil Changer Kit" http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product/Pr-p_Product.CATENTRY_ID:2004280/c-10101/Nty-1/p-2004280/Ntx-mode+matchallpartial/N-10101/tf-Browse/s-10101/Ntk-AllTextSearchGroup?Ntt=oil+pump then there plastic ones: http://www.drillspot.com/products/577849/airpower_america_2000_8qt_lg_oil_extractor Your thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SrMichi Posted July 10, 2009 Report Share Posted July 10, 2009 good idea I wish I know about this before I changed my filter and spilled a bunch of fluid on my uncles garage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted July 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2009 good idea I wish I know about this before I changed my filter and spilled a bunch of fluid on my uncles garage I completely forgot about dumping 2 gallons of tranny fluid in some guys garage in Akron, ohio... LMAO I spent hours cleaning that up, but the damage was done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted July 10, 2009 Report Share Posted July 10, 2009 for only $40 why the hell not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian P Posted July 10, 2009 Report Share Posted July 10, 2009 I'd be all over that! To hell with dropping the pan!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted July 10, 2009 Report Share Posted July 10, 2009 Good idea, Ken! Years ago I used to use a cheap hand siphon pump to do the same thing. It wouldn't reach into the tranny, so I duct-taped a small hose onto it. It was ghetto, but it worked. The ones you found look a lot better. Once I bought a powered pump from JC Shitney and it was a piece of crap that didn't work. Anyway, of the 2 you posted, I think the metal one will be more durable. Next time I might try my custom fuel siphoner made from a bad fuel pump, a plastic endcap, fitting, and vinyl clear tubing. Tranny fluid is a bit viscous, but the fuel pump is junk anyway so if it kills it, it kills it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted July 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2009 i actually tried a few other solution. I used two different vacuum pumps and a drill powered pump and nothing worked very well at all. I was able to siphon on tranny dry. period. the first vacuum i got was a tube vacuum from harbor freight, but it did not have a release valve meaning it did not expell air and merely pushed in back and forth... so no build up of pressure. the second was a brake line bleeder pump that didn;t want to develop enough vacuum. keep in kind I was siphoning through a modified bucket as a reservoir, and the fluid would not flow. I bought a drill powered pump from Menards Home Improvement Store, but it won't work unless primed, but i got the first tranny drained with it... and the pump vanes were rubber and have already worn out and broke. so time to try again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted July 10, 2009 Report Share Posted July 10, 2009 Do you have any half working fuel pumps laying around? I saved all the ones I pull if their motors still work. I made a nice electric siphon out of one for less than $5 in parts. They may not flow enough to work well in the car, but they work really fast as electric siphons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted July 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2009 nope. I tired that once too. all the pumps I had pulled that were weak but working were dead when i tried to use them... and I was trying to transfer fuel... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tornado_735 Posted July 11, 2009 Report Share Posted July 11, 2009 Make one out of a shop-vac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted July 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2009 Make one out of a shop-vac sounds like a recipe for a flame thrower! Tractor Supply Company had the plastic two gallon one in stock. so i bought that one. $39.99 without shipping. I would have had to pay $50+ with shipping and wait a week for the metal one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOT2B GM Posted July 11, 2009 Report Share Posted July 11, 2009 Why not drop the pan and drill a hole in the bottom, weld a drain bung in, reassemble. WIN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted July 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2009 Why not drop the pan and drill a hole in the bottom, weld a drain bung in, reassemble. WIN DO I HAVE A WELDER? no. and I would not add a drain plug unless it was recessed. catching the drainplug on a piece of debris and ripping it off = FTL! There is a family story floating where my uncle bottomed out my dad's dodge dart on a rock in the middle of some forgotten trail in the desert. His friend got out, looked, and quickly crawled beneath the car and held closed a weeping hole in the gas tank his finger, saying "#$*!^$!()@, Jim we going to die if we loose all our gas!!!!" they plugged it with chewing gum and a pencil and had to hightail it to town, where the added JBweld to the concoction. I never saw it but the car is supposed to have had a pencil sticking out of the gas tank for another 5 years.... till a new tank was installed... Also did you not see the post where I mention the truck whose drainplug rounded off? and I used a strong 6 point and a breaker bar too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1990lumina Posted July 11, 2009 Report Share Posted July 11, 2009 I think you're overreacting to creating a drain hole. How could a small bolt head actually snag something hard enough to rip it out? Import cars have had 12mm bolts in their trannies forever. You don't need to put in a massive 20mm bolt. Also it sounds like someone fucked up the drain bolt in that truck. That isn't a common thing to happen - just sounds like a case of someone being a retard and wrecking shit. When I drop my pan this fall I'm putting a drain bolt in the pan. That way I can just drain and fill the transmission every oil change like I do to my TSX. Fluid is $2-3/liter for me so an extra $10/oil change isn't significant. I'll still drop the pan and change the filter once in awhile but IMO clean fluid is more important then changing the filter each time - especially if I'm changing it often. One time I used a transfer pump to suck out the transmission on my Lumina. It was one of the styles that had two hoses (IN and OUT) so I could leave the 5 feet of hose down the dipstick tube the whole time and it transferred 4 liters(ish) in a few minutes. Similar to this. I bought it at Princess Auto and it lasted long enough to transfer the fluid out till it started leaking. Iswear you can spend $200 on one of those and it'll still leak lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted July 11, 2009 Report Share Posted July 11, 2009 I put a cheap bolt-on drain plug kit in my Cutlass back in the mid-90's. It's my DD and I haven't had a problem with the drain plug. It looks just like this one. http://www.amazon.com/B-80250-Automatic-Transmission-Universal/dp/B00029WR78 I may have had to replace the rubber O-ring on it around turn of the century, I don't really remember. They can't be that bad if it hasn't given me any problems in nearly 15yrs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted July 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2009 over-reacting? Naw. it will make servicing a tranny that much faster. if I could weld I would stick a small plug in, but it would be recessed. I've bought that same drainplug. decided I didn't like the quality and did not use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOT2B GM Posted July 11, 2009 Report Share Posted July 11, 2009 thats a clever little unit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted July 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2009 SUCCESS!!!! Pump works GREAT! Again, what I got was the 8 quart plastic unit you can get at Tractor Supply Company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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