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HOW-TO: easy transmission drain & fill (6-speed Tiptronic 09G)

27K views 47 replies 14 participants last post by  Yogibearal 
#1 · (Edited)
I performed a drain & fill on my 2017 Passat @ 38,953 miles. I was planning on installing an auxiliary transmission cooler as well, but that will have to wait for another day.
My fluid was dark red, did not have a bad odor, but still darker than I would have liked. I will repeat the drain & fill at every oil change until I install the auxiliary cooler.

What you'll need:

If you have these items together when you do an oil change then you can expect it to take an extra 20 minutes maybe. The procedure is quite simple. I didn't monitor transmission fluid temperature when refilling because I was only putting back in what I measured that came out.


You will want your vehicle mostly level if you can since the drain plug is at the rear of the transmission. If you use ramps, then the procedure of reinstalling the drain plug after removing the refill tube and hose adapter will probably be more messy.




Place your drain pan. Using the 5mm allen wrench, remove the drain plug then the fill level tube (red thing).




Once it stops draining, transfer the old fluid to your garden sprayer so you can mark the level. I was expecting more to come out, but as you can see I ended up with about (2) quarts. (Edit: I don't feel that this step is necessary any longer. The factory fill seems to be almost 1/2 quart high, so once you pump in the new fluid let it run back out of the drain hole until it slows to a dribble. The service procedure says to bring the fluid up to 40°C, but I feel that is unnecessary given the factory overfill.)




Transfer the drained fluid from the garden sprayer into an oil bottle for recycling.
Pour the same amount of new fluid back into the garden sprayer and assemble the garden sprayer with about 5ft of clear vinyl tubing, the dip tube that comes with the sprayer, and an o-ring from the wand that you removed from the hose that came with the sprayer.


You'll end up with this.





Reinstall the transmission pan fill level tube (red thing).


Now put your fluid injection kit together, connect the hose adapter to the transmission pan drain hole, give the garden sprayer about 10 good pumps and watch the magic happen. All of the fluid will be injected in a couple of minutes.




I didn't capture the last step because it takes (2) hands. After your garden sprayer has injected all the of the new ATF, leaving everything assembled, unthread the hose adapter from the pan with one hand and install the drain plug with the other. You'll lose some ATF, but the amount is insignificant.

That's it! You just saved yourself HUNDREDS $$$ and can enjoy your sense of accomplishment.

Next time you do the procedure you'll have your fluid injector ready for use and can change the fluid in less time.

Also, don't use the fluid injector for any other task so you don't risk contamination.
 
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#28 ·
If a drain only gets 25% of the old fluid out, it means you have a 75/25 of old-to-new mixture. If you do it again, then you end up with a 56/44 old/new mixture (because you got 25% of the prior 75% old changed on the 2nd drain). Following this progression, the next time, you end up with 42/58, then 32/68 and after the 5th change you'd have a better than 25/75 old/new mixture.

I've not worked on VWs, but I am very experience with Mercedes-Benz vehicles and have done dozens of transmission services (including and some rebuild and mechanical work). On some of them, they have a torque converter drain and I can drain about 90% of the oil out. Without that, a pan drop gets slightly less than half. There is a procedure for doing a flush on those car where the cooling lines are disconnected, but I never bother as long as I do the changes every 40K. On a high-mileage car that has never been changed, I will do a pan-only drain and filter change, then wait a few thousand miles and do it again, which get over 70% new fluid in the system.

I have to replace the transmission pan on my kid's Passat because she hit some road debris and crushed it. It's not leaking, but I suspect the filter is mangled. As soon as the last part (the pan) comes in, I'll be tackling it.
 
#48 ·
FL - just did this today following your instructions at 60k miles. Should have done it at 40k.

Automotive tire Drinkware Cameras & optics Rim Automotive wheel system
old fluid

Food Liquid Window Drinkware Ingredient
new fluid

Even changing 2 liters, the shifting is noticably smoother and quicker. With the old fluid shifting was fine albeit a little laggy, but once in a while when reconnecting after coasting you could feel it wasn't as smooth getting back in gear. Now it just gets back in gear quickly and smoothly. Will do another drain fill at the next oil change since it's relatively pain free.
 
#31 ·
Yeah, there is actual equation, but it's easy enough to do on a calculator. Basically, each time you change, you get 25% (1/4) of the old fluid out. So after the first change, it's 75/25. The next change, you get 25% of that 75% out. 75/4 = 18.75% of old fluid, so now you have 25 + 18.75 new fluid, or 43.75% (rounded to 44%), so now it/s 56/44. The next change gets 56/4 (14%) more old fluid out, so 44+14 = 58, thus 42/58. You will never get to zero, but that's probably not important. Even if you were able to do a full drain of all fluid in the system, there would always be some left inside valves and passageways.
 
#47 · (Edited)
#7 · (Edited)
Having done this procedure a couple of times, I'm less concerned with how much fluid is drained.

I'd just start by pumping in 2 quarts then add 1/2 quart at a time. Once the fill level tube starts pouring new fluid back out, let it start dribbling then cap it.
The factory fill was over-filled, so I'm not even concerned about bringing the fluid up to 40°C.
 
#14 ·
I performed a drain & fill on my 2017 Passat @ 38,953 miles. I was planning on installing an auxiliary transmission cooler as well, but that will have to wait for another day.
My fluid was dark red, did not have a bad odor, but still darker than I would have liked. I will repeat the drain & fill at every oil change until I install the auxiliary cooler.

What you'll need:

If you have these items together when you do an oil change then you can expect it to take an extra 20 minutes maybe. The procedure is quite simple. I didn't monitor transmission fluid temperature when refilling because I was only putting back in what I measured that came out.


You will want your vehicle mostly level if you can since the drain plug is at the rear of the transmission. If you use ramps, then the procedure of reinstalling the drain plug after removing the refill tube and hose adapter will probably be more messy.




Place your drain pan. Using the 5mm allen wrench, remove the drain plug then the fill level tube (red thing).




Once it stops draining, transfer the old fluid to your garden sprayer so you can mark the level. I was expecting more to come out, but as you can see I ended up with about (2) quarts. (Edit: I don't feel that this step is necessary any longer. The factory fill seems to be almost 1/2 quart high, so once you pump in the new fluid let it run back out of the drain hole until it slows to a dribble. The service procedure says to bring the fluid up to 40°C, but I feel that is unnecessary given the factory overfill.)




Transfer the drained fluid from the garden sprayer into an oil bottle for recycling.
Pour the same amount of new fluid back into the garden sprayer and assemble the garden sprayer with about 5ft of clear vinyl tubing, the dip tube that comes with the sprayer, and an o-ring from the wand that you removed from the hose that came with the sprayer.


You'll end up with this.





Reinstall the transmission pan fill level tube (red thing).


Now put your fluid injection kit together, connect the hose adapter to the transmission pan drain hole, give the garden sprayer about 10 good pumps and watch the magic happen. All of the fluid will be injected in a couple of minutes.




I didn't capture the last step because it takes (2) hands. After your garden sprayer has injected all the of the new ATF, leaving everything assembled, unthread the hose adapter from the pan with one hand and install the drain plug with the other. You'll lose some ATF, but the amount is insignificant.

That's it! You just saved yourself HUNDREDS $$$ and can enjoy your sense of accomplishment.

Next time you do the procedure you'll have your fluid injector ready for use and can change the fluid in less time.

Also, don't use the fluid injector for any other task so you don't risk contamination.
great write up and I have a 17 passat also. I did this last night and am very glad I did. The fluid was black and stunk to high heaven. I used the fluid in your link and a transfer pump from harbor freight that cost about $4.50. Given that it is at 64k miles and black fluid was coming out as the new went in, I'll do this at 80k with a filter change. It shifts so much healthier now and I won't trust the dealership again.
 

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#21 ·
great write up and I have a 17 passat also. I did this last night and am very glad I did. The fluid was black and stunk to high heaven. I used the fluid in your link and a transfer pump from harbor freight that cost about $4.50. Given that it is at 64k miles and black fluid was coming out as the new went in, I'll do this at 80k with a filter change. It shifts so much healthier now and I won't trust the dealership again.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#23 ·
Honestly, why would you use any fluid that is not OEM VW fluid? The transmission is thousands of dollars to replace. Why risk that for a few dollars savings? Yes, the VW ATF fluid is expensive but 4 liters will cover it for 40,000 miles. Seems silly to pinch pennies on fluid.
 
#24 ·
Having performed this procedure 5-6 times, I would never wait 40k miles between services. A drain/fill only renders about 25% of the fluid.

You can use whatever brand fluid makes you sleep better, but VW G055540A2 is rebranded Pentosin. I'm happy with Havoline; lots of people are happy with T-WS fluid. AISIN is the transmission manufacturer, so use their fluid if you like.

 
#26 · (Edited)
Have any of you all ever thought doing more drain and refills to get 75% to near 100% new transmission fluid in the transmission? Meaning repeat the drains 2-4 times?
And if so how many miles would a person have to drive to know that after each procedure the new fluid has mixed throughout the transmission?
In other words as you say "A drain/fill only renders about 25% of the fluid." So 1st time 25%, 2nd time 50%, 3rd time 75%, 4th time close 100% New transmission fluid now in the transmission.
Or is that really is not necessary?

In the case below this person doing a change on a Volvo doesn't have to go out and drive it to get each fill and drain to mix throughly because the fluid is going in the top of transmission and mixing throughout the transmission:
 
#27 ·
Have any of you all ever thought doing more drain and refills to get 75% to near 100% new transmission fluid in the transmission? Meaning repeat the drains 2-4 times?
I've considered this, but thought it unnecessary since I started performing this service around 40k miles. Had I waited longer, then the fluid would have probably been too far gone to not replace most of it.

And if so how many miles would a person have to drive to know that after each procedure the new fluid has mixed throughout the transmission?
I would expect the fluid to be fully mixed soon after driving. But going through the trouble of driving on ramps and removing the underbody cover doesn't make it quick enough for me to repeat the same day. 🤨 Then again, a short drive around the block wouldn't require the cover to be reinstalled either.
 
#29 · (Edited)
Well all makes sense FL and thanks again for the info.
When you say, "since I started performing this service around 40k miles. Had I waited longer, then the fluid would have probably been too far gone to not replace most of it."
I see what you mean.
In my case I got a high mileage used vehicle with no idea of service records so I might do more changes.
 
#30 · (Edited)
rudeney, I know what u mean about the Torque converter on some MB's. I have a '92 MB 300E I did that trans. fluid change on.

That's really interesting on:
"If a drain only gets 25% of the old fluid out, it means you have a 75/25 of old-to-new mixture. If you do it again, then you end up with a 56/44 old/new mixture (because you got 25% of the prior 75% old changed on the 2nd drain). Following this progression, the next time, you end up with 42/58, then 32/68 and after the 5th change you'd have a better than 25/75 old/new mixture."
Is there a equation of figuring those ratios?
 
#34 ·
Regarding: "connect the hose adapter to the transmission pan drain hole".
I ordered a M10 x 1.0 hose adapter but mine does not screw into the fill hole correctly. It is too samll even though it says its a M10 x 1.0 Wonder what size one should really have to screw into that whole correctly?
A T50 hex removed the fill plug, so wonder what adaptor size would actually screw into that hole?
:confused: Maybe they sent you the wrong one. It's definitely M10 x 1.0
This is comparable to factory service tool VAS 6262/2 -
EDIT: BTW, you don't have vehicle info shown. Are you sure you have 09G automatic?
 
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