How-To Change The Fluids In Your Vehicle

I'm Chris Duke and today on Motorz we're talkin' all about fluids!


In today's episode I'm going to show you how to replace
all the major fluids inside your vehicle. But before we get started it's important
for you to be able to recognize the differences between each type of fluid
by its color and viscosity in case you have a leak or you see some spots underneath
your vehicle on your driveway. ATF or automatic transmission fluid
is red and has a thin consistency to it. Over here we have Royal
Purple gear oil and motor oil both are synthetics and colored purple
the gear oil has a thicker viscosity to it than the motor oil
and finally we have regular motor oil which has a light brown caramel color
to it and has a thicker viscosity than the synthetic
the major types of brake fluid are DOT 3, DOT 4 and DOT 5 with the
major difference being that DOT 5 is a silicone base. Now, it should be clear and you want make sure
that you don't get that on anything, especially your paint! Finally, we have our anti-freeze
which comes in a range of different colors, ours is a fluorescent green
the viscosity of our anti-freeze as well as our brake fluid is similar to a glass of
wine. As with all these fluids you want to check your owners manual to make sure
you get the right one for your vehicle, especially when it comes to brake fluid.
If you've got a 4x4 or a rear-wheel drive like our F-150
you need to check your gear oil on a regular basis. Now, Ford recommends you
change your gear oil every 150,000 miles unless it has been contaminated by water
or some other contaminants. Now you should check your owners manual to determine the
amount of fluid you need, and your maintenance guide to determine how often you
need to change your gear oil. You can use regular gear oil with a friction modifier for limited
slip rear ends or a synthetic oil like our Royal Purple which includes a friction
modifier. Now since we've upgraded our rear differential on our F150
to an aftermarket one from PML all we need to drain the fluid
is a 14mm socket. If you've got a stock differential cover you're going to need
to remove it. So refer to our previous gear swap episode on how to do that
You're also going to need a 3/8" drive ratchet to remove the fill plug and to drain
everything you're going to need a drain pan, some gloves, newspaper and some old rags
Before you drain your old fluid you want to loosen or remove your fill plug
because if you can't get that out, you can't put your new fluid in

Our drain plug for our
aftermarket PML cover is located down here on the bottom, all we need is a 14mm
socket to remove it. And by the way, this gear oil is pretty stinky


We're going to remove our fill
plug that's on the top of our PML cover but before we start adding in our new fluid
we also need to remove the fill plug that's on the front side of the differential
so we know when it's full

A good way to fill up the fluid in your rear differential is using one of these paper disposable
fast funnels. You just unfold it, stick it in, take the cap off your bottle
and pour it in.
Keep pouring in your new gear oil until it starts
to trickle out of this factory fill plug. Then just snug
it up with a 3/8" drive ratchet. You don't want to over tighten this!



We've already got PML's differential cover and today we're installing
their larger capacity transmission pan, which helps with the cooling now while we're
at it, we're going to install a new transmission filter as well as a gasket
Ford recommends you change your transmission fluid every 30,000 miles and the best
way to do that is to take a shop and have them completely flush your system
of that fluid. But today we're going to show you how to install this new transmission pan and to top it off
with Royal Purple's Max ATF transmission fluid which is safe to mix
with normal transmission fluid. For this installation you're going to need a large capacity
drip pan with a long funnel, a 3/8" ratchet with a short
extension, 14mm and 10mm sockets, as well as a 6mm
allen head driver, and it will go a lot faster if you have one of these speed wrenches
Before we can remove our stock transmission pan, we have to get all of that old fluid
out of there, so grab a 10mm socket with a short extension and loosen the
14 bolts that are around the transmission pan, we're going to loosen the ones that are in the front
here closest to engine a little bit more so the fluid drains out into our drip pan



There we go



Now, keeping this transmission pan as level as possible, we're going to remove this screw
so we just have one remaining and let all the fluid drain out before we get to that last
one.

Now with most of that fluid out of the transmission
pan we can remove our last bolt, just make sure you keep this level because there's still a lot of fluid
in the pan.
Then it comes down

Since we'll be installing a filter, lets go ahead and remove our old one

Install the new filter
and then wipe the area around where the gasket seats

But some blue loctitle on the threads of the bolts, and then install your new PML cover
tightening these bolts down in a criss-cross pattern 10-12 ft-lbs of torque
And then tighten the drain plug on the side down to 20 ft-lbs of torque




With our new PML transmission
pan installed all we need to do is remove the transmission dipstick
grab a long, clean, funnel and fill it up with new transmission fluid

Before checking your fluid level you want to fire up your engine and run it through each gear giving it
enough time to engage in gear, then leave it in park before you check it
Now check your owners manual, because it may differ
Now if you see one of these stoppers fall out when you
replace your transmission pan, don't worry just throw it out, it is put in there at the factory
We just got back from driving our F150 around for about 20 mins, that gave our transmission time
to heat up and get that fluid everywhere and it's a good idea
when you come back to check your level one more time to see if you need to top it off
we had to add a full quart when we got back. Our f150 with that higher capacity
PML cover, took a full 8 quarts. Now we're going to give our engine some more time
to cool off and when we come back from our break we're going to show how to change your motor oil
and the tools that you might need


the tools we're going use to change the oil on our F150 include an oil filter wrench
the type we're going to use is a cap wrench, all you need is a 3/8" drive ratchet to turn it
a 13mm wrench to remove that drain plug, a clean
funnel, we're going to be using these disposable fast funnels and a drain pan
to determine the type of oil., the frequency, and the amount that you need check your owners manual
or your scheduled maintenance guide. Now the difference between synthetic
and regular oil is that synthetic oil maintains a consistant viscosity
level when faced with extreme cold or heat temperatures regular
oil on the other hand will thicken up when cold or thin out when hot
synthetic oil is more expensive, too. Check your owners manual to determine
what kind and grade of oil you need for your vehicle.
To remove an oil filter there are many different options including this plier type
a universal filter wrench, which is handy because it auto adjusts to fit
an oil filter wrench, and an oil filter cap wrench
which comes in various sizes depending on your application. Then there's also
an adjustable swivel grip filter wrench which is what is traditionally used
and finally a multi-use strap wrench which pretty much fits everything
else. Before you drain your own oil go up into your engine compartment and loosen
your fill cap. We've got a 13mm wrench here to remove the fill plug
but since we've got this sway bar in the way it's going to make a huge mess if it comes right out here
so we're going to use one of these fast funnels to help redirect the oil
right into our drain pan.

After all of your oil is drained out, you want to check your drain
plug, you want to check the threads to make sure they're ok and you also want to check the gasket
to see if it needs to be replaced. Then torque it down 10-20ft-lbs
you definetely don't want to overtighten this though.




Before you put on your oil filter, you want to fill it up 1/2 to 3/4's with your
motor oil, so that when you start your engine it doesn't have to fill this all the with motor oil
before it gets into the engine. then make sure that this gasket came with your
old filter and before you put it on, put a thin layer of motor oil
on the top of this.



As soon as that gasket hits, you want to turn this about one full turn
With our new filter installed, we can fill it up with this synthetic 5w-20
from Royal Purple, using one of these disposable fast funnels

The alternative to draining fluids from your vehicle is to extract them using something like this
mighty vac fluid evacuator plus, all you've got to is insert the tubing and pump the fluid evacuator plus
to pump the fluid out. Once you're done you can take this whole unit down to your local auto parts
store to properly dispose of it, you might just want to give them a call first to make that they'll accept
it. There are many different types of antifreeze, the easiest type to get is one thats
compatible with all makes, models of cars and light trucks and any color
antifreeze. It's available concentrated or in a 50/50 pre-mix
now if we're to completely flush our F150 it would require it would require 5.7
gallons of 50/50 mix because of where we live, now if you live someplace
that gets really cold, you are going to want to go with a 70/30 mix of antifreeze
and water. Ford recommends we change our antifreeze every 100,000 miles
but you shoudl check your owners manual to see what it is for your specific vehicle
now lets pull our F150 back into the shop and take a look at this flush kit and
the coolant tester. To use the coolant tester
make sure your vehicles engine has cooled all the way down, remove the cap from the radiator
or, like, on our F150, our coolant reservoir
Put the tester down into the fluid and squeeze the bulb until the fluid reaches the level
indicator. Hold the tester level using the pointer up here at the very top
refer to the larger pointer to determine the condition of your coolant
our vehicle is protected from about -45F all the way up to
268. Instead of just draining the coolant from your radiator
if you want to flush your entire system, you're going to need to get a flush kit and all you need
to do is install one of these flushing tee's into your upper heater hose, a garden
hose to the other end, and flush it and refill it per the instructions that come with
the kit. Now try not to make a huge mess because antifreeze poisonous
Now if you're crusing along during the summer and you flip on your AC
and it's not cooling you like it used to, you may only need to add some refrigerant so head on
down to your local auto parts store and pick up a can of this, it's R-134A
and head on home, open up your hood, turn on your engine and your
max AC. You want to look for two service points, on your Mazda 6, we've got one
here and the low end right here. All we need to do is take this cap off and hook up
the refrigerant. Just put on some safety glasses and some gloves. The refrigerant
kit that we got, has an adjustable gauge face that makes it easier to find the correct
pressure for the current temperature.






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or visit the Partz page at our website, www.motorz.tv/partz
Letterz, brought to you by E3 Spark Plugs, born to burn
Hey guys, welcome to letters as always I want to remind you check us at facebook.com/motorztv
follow us at twitter.com/motorz. Now
facebook is the place to be, we've got contests going on there all the time we're giving away free tools
from the Sears Blue Tool Crew and we've got behind the scenes photos and videos
from when we're shooting. So please check us out. Now at our website, Motorz.tv
we've got a store and we just added these, they're really cool, I'm pretty
excited about it anyway, up at the top is says "I'd rather be watching.. " down at the bottom it says
Motorz TV, they're really cheap pick up a couple, just head on over to our website.
Now our first letter comes from Jordan Todd who writes:
I'm wanting to open up own shop with one of my mates and just start out small and then work on bigger things
Can you tell me where to get some cheap gear to start off
and we really like your show. [Chris] Well thanks, Jordan. The best thing to do
is head on over to your local Sears store, of course, we get all of our stuff
there and as you can see they have everything that
you need. So just visit your local Sears store or head on over to their
website at sears.com/tools
Now Brian writes: Chris I have a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee
I have some rust damage and dents and dings. I was wondering if in any coming episodes
you were going to do some body work? I have already the Mothers headlight restoration kit on my
headlights and I love it. Keep up the great show. Go Motorz!
All right Bryan, here's the deal the headlight restoration kit is a good start, but yeah
if you've got any dents and dings on your vehicle we haven't covered that yet on the show
but we will at some point. As you probably know we have got our Chevy 350 engine that we're
going to be rebuilding in this upcoming 5th season and after we're done
rebuilding that, we've got to put it a vehicle, so we're thinking of an old Chevy truck
that is beat up a little bit so that we can do some body work on it and show
you guys what to do. Now Rueben writes and says: Hey Chris,
First let me tell you that your show is one of the best if not the best show i have ever seen
about car projects. My questions are, are all of the project cars your, and if not,
do you think the new 5.0 Mustang will show up on your show soon?
Thanks and may the horsepower be with you! [Yoda impersonation] Mmmm Chris thanks
Rueben for comments good [Chris] All the projects cars are either my own
or friends, sometimes we go out and we find vehicles that we need
for a specific installation, but for the most part they're project vehicles that
we own, the staff of the show. Now as far as the 5.0 Mustang
well, we haven't had one of those yet on the show but I'm eager to work on one
So just keep on watching, we'll probably hit it sooner or later. Now
Now Art writes he says: I just started watching your show a couple of weeks ago
Awesome info! Two thumbs up! I own a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500
How similar would it be to install an electric fan like you did on your F150?
Have you noticed a significant increase in MPG?
[Chris] Well Art, we did that in Season 3, episode 4 which you've obviously already seen
and it should be similar on your Dodge, you've basically got to take that huge fan
off the front of your motors and once you do it's going to free up quite a bit of horsepower
now as far as the most bang for your buck that I've ever personally experienced
on an upgrades, just bolt-on upgrades for my vehicles
has been the electric fan. I've noticed a significant increase in MPG
and just that seat of your pants horsepower feeling when you hit the pedal
Now Michael writes: Hey Chris, I just got done watching the nitrous oxide
episode and I loved it! I'm going to start watching your show and I'm going
to start at Season1. The thing I want to know is are y'all ever going to do anything to Honda
Civics. All I see on your show are Fords..
I've got a 2000 Honda Civic EX that I would love to fix up but I don't know what do do. I just want more
power! [Chris] Well, Michael, you've only got 60 more episodes to watch man, but
thanks for doing that. We have featured a Honda Civic in the past
on our E3 Spark Plugs episode, so keep on watching
and we will work on some imports, and tuners. They're fun, too, right?
Anyway I want to thank Michael and everybody else for sending in your letter to the show
all you guys get free E3 spark plugs for your ride
and if you want to learn more about E3's technology or to find out if they're avaialble if they're available
for your vehicle, just head on over to e3sparkplugs.com
Changing the fluids in your own vehicle can be a bit messy but can also save you
quite a bit on money, and help keep your ride running smoothly. Now for more information on
all the tools we used on todays episode, from the Sears Blue Tool Crew, head on
over to our website, www.motorz.tv. We'll catch you next week on Motorz!