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Replacing 91% of the old ATF in your auto transmission using the drain-refill method
This thread describes how I replaced 91% of the automatic transmission fluid in my 2012 Mini Cooper (base model, hardtop). The entire procedure detailed below can be completed in one day. I hope you find the information helpful.
A. Background Information
-Total ATF capacity of the Mini Cooper GA6F21WA automatic transmission = 5.96L (6.3 quarts)
B. Procedure for performing five sequential ATF drain-refill cycles using the ABN Manual ATF Filler System ($76 on Amazon)
1) Mark locations where tires and 4 jack stands will be located on garage floor. Pull car out of garage and position the 4 jack stands in their marked locations on garage floor. Use 8-foot I-beam level to level tops of all 4 jack stands. In my garage, adding 3/4” thick wood blocks on top of the two rear jack stands made all 4 jack stands level (right to left & front to rear).
2) Put transmission in PARK; set parking brake; and block rear wheels.
3) Raise car on the 4 leveled jack stands.
4) Remove front left wheel and place clean tray below the two ATF drain plugs.
5) Starting with a cold transmission, use a 10mm hex socket to remove the differential drain plug (18mm threads) and a 1/2” T30 socket to remove the inspection/transmission pan drain plug (10 mm threads). Let ATF drain into tray.
6) Gently remove plastic overflow tube from inspection hole using 5mm hex socket. Let remaining ATF drain into tray.
7) When ATF flow from both drain holes reaches a slow drip, reinstall the differential drain plug (20 ft‑lbs) and gently reinstall by hand the overflow tube in inspection hole using 5mm hex socket.
8) Use 1-gallon plastic jug with volume markings to measure volume of ATF collected in tray.
9) Use a funnel to add a slightly greater volume of new ATF to the ABN pump container than was drained from transmission. For my 2012 Mini Cooper, the volume of old ATF drained from and new ATF added to the transmission for each drain-refill cycle is shown in the first table above.
10) Screw gently by hand the plastic ATF105 adapter (included with ABN Manual ATF Filler System) into the inspection hole threads normally occupied by the 10mm inspection drain plug. The depth to which the ATF105 adapter is screwed into the inspection hole should be less than or equal to the length of the 10mm drain plug threads.
11) Turn the shut-off valve (included with ABN Manual ATF Filler System) to the closed position and carefully couple it to the ATF105 adapter screwed into the inspection hole. Pump the ABN handle up and down to pressurize the container to 10-15 psi and then open the shut-off valve to allow ATF to flow into transmission. As the container pressure drops below 10 psi, continue pumping the handle as needed to maintain 10 psi, which is adequate to move all ATF in the container to the transmission in ~5 minutes. When container is emptied, quickly close the ABN shut-off valve to prevent overflow ATF in the transmission pan from returning to the fill hose of the ABN container.
12) Start engine and let it idle. Press brake pedal and slowly move gear selector from P to D and D to P multiple times to maximize mixing of new and old ATF inside the transmission. Return gear selector to P and release brake pedal.
13) As engine continues to idle, closely monitor the ATF temperature in the transmission. For this purpose, I used Veepeak OBDCheck BLE ($25-$30 on Amazon) together with the Car Scanner app for iPhone ($7 app).
14) For drain-refill #1 to #4, continue to slowly move gear selector from P to D and D to P with the engine idling until the ATF temperature reaches ~103F (midpoint of ATF leveling range of 95F-113F, see step 15). At this point, turn engine off and repeat steps 5 to 14 until all 5 drain-refills are completed. Only at the end of drain-refill #5 do you proceed to step 15, which sets the ATF level to the service manual specification.
15) Set correct ATF level in transmission at end of ATF drain-refill #5. After completing steps 5-13 for ATF drain-refill #5,monitor the ATF temperature until it is near but does not exceed 95F and then quickly uncouple the ATF105 adapter from the ABN shut off valve and unscrew the adapter from the inspection hole to maximize ATF drainage. At least initially you should see a steady stream of overflow ATF from the opened adapter and inspection hole into the tray. At or before the ATF temperature rises to the maximum of 113F, the ATF flow should slow from a stream to a dribble. At this moment, quickly reinstall the 10mm drain plug with its crush washer into the inspection hole (20 ft‑lbs).
16) Reinstall left front wheel and torque the wheel bolts (103 ft-lb). Remove jack stands and lower car. Enjoy your happier transmission.
17) Repeat this procedure every 50K miles.
Last edited by Maybe, maybe not; 04-12-2024 at 07:08 PM.
04-12-2024, 05:01 PM
