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.
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:
- VW compatible automatic transmission fluid (I bought a case of this because it works on all of my current vehicles)
- M10 x 1.0 hose adapter ($9 on ebay)
- oil drain pan ($1 @ Dollar Tree)
- 1-gallon garden sprayer ($5 @ Wal-mart)
- 1/4" ID x 3/8" OD clear vinyl tubing ($3.25 @ Home Depot)
- 5mm allen wrench
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.