Putting drain plug kit in Auto Trans??

I just bought an B&M Auto Trans drain plug kit. I'm thinking of just
draining the tranny by using my dremel to drill a small hole where the
plug is going to go. Then I'll widen it out the the appropriate width
with a drill bit after removing the pan.

It appears that my 3.4L Pont. Grand Am has a filter that is smaller
than the circumference of the pan. Since the kit does protrude about
1/2:" into the pan I'm thinking of putting the hole in a part of the
pan not covered by the filter.

Anyone put one of these in? Have any advise?

Thanks

MB

wrote:

> Anyone put one of these in? Have any advise?
>

I've put a few of these in. My only advice is if your car sits low to
the ground is to put it in the SIDE of the transmission pan so that you
have better gound clearance. (I'm not talking about the tranny case,
but the vertical part of the pan) That way something lying on the road
will not knock it off.

> wrote in message
ups.com...
>I just bought an B&M Auto Trans drain plug kit. I'm thinking of just
> draining the tranny by using my dremel to drill a small hole where the
> plug is going to go. Then I'll widen it out the the appropriate width
> with a drill bit after removing the pan.
>
> It appears that my 3.4L Pont. Grand Am has a filter that is smaller
> than the circumference of the pan. Since the kit does protrude about
> 1/2:" into the pan I'm thinking of putting the hole in a part of the
> pan not covered by the filter.
>
> Anyone put one of these in? Have any advise?
>
> Thanks
>
> MB
>
Have you thought if you really need the kit? about how often
fluid/filter need changing? about how long you might keep the car? about
whether YOU or the NEW owner will benefit, even the very next time it is
serviced, from that expense--nice for him, I agree. Quite often, it
becomes the next owner.
Didn't answer your ??--sorry, but these questions may change your mind
as to the real need for the kit in the 1st place. HTH, s

> wrote in message
ups.com...

> Anyone put one of these in? Have any advise?
>
> Thanks
>
> MB

I have put them in. In my case, I coordinated the installation of the kit
with a regular tranny service.
Then it is easy to see where it would be best installed, in terms of
internal free space and best 'low
spot' for drainage. I don't like to drill, or even Dremel, with the pan in
place, just out of caution.

The one thing I didn't like too much about that particular kit was that it
had a Teflon washer associated
with it, and an internal nut. If you tighten the nut too much, Teflon tends
to creep. Too little, and the
plug does not lock in properly. If I ever used one like that again, I would
either forget the Teflon, and
braze the plug on the pan, or lock it some other way.

On my personal car a few years ago, I combined this drain plug installation
with installation of a
tranny oil cooler as well. (Yes, I was using the car hard, and wanting to
avoid trouble.) If you look at the
data of time to failure versus tranny oil temperature (which you can find on
the web), the cooler begins
to make sense.

Kruse > wrote in article
.com>...
>
> wrote:
>
> > Anyone put one of these in? Have any advise?
> >
>
> I've put a few of these in. My only advice is if your car sits low to
> the ground is to put it in the SIDE of the transmission pan so that you
> have better gound clearance. (I'm not talking about the tranny case,
> but the vertical part of the pan) That way something lying on the road
> will not knock it off.
>
>

Problem with that is.......

.......no matter how low you locate the plug on the side of the pan, it will
STILL leave a thin layer of fluid on the bottom of the pan.

It is that layer of fluid that usually contains the contaminants such as
dirt, sludge and clutch debris.

Put the plug at the lowest-possible point on the pan.

A quarter-inch isn't going to be the difference in bottoming out and
tearing the pan off.

A hit that is hard enough to do damage will do damage with or without the
plug sticking out there.

On Fri, 09 Jun 2006 09:34:05 -0500, "*" > wrote:

>
>
>Kruse > wrote in article
s.com>...
>>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > Anyone put one of these in? Have any advise?
>> >
>>
>> I've put a few of these in. My only advice is if your car sits low to
>> the ground is to put it in the SIDE of the transmission pan so that you
>> have better gound clearance. (I'm not talking about the tranny case,
>> but the vertical part of the pan) That way something lying on the road
>> will not knock it off.
>>
>>
>
>Problem with that is.......
>
>......no matter how low you locate the plug on the side of the pan, it will
>STILL leave a thin layer of fluid on the bottom of the pan.
>
>It is that layer of fluid that usually contains the contaminants such as
>dirt, sludge and clutch debris.
>
>Put the plug at the lowest-possible point on the pan.
>
>A quarter-inch isn't going to be the difference in bottoming out and
>tearing the pan off.
>
>A hit that is hard enough to do damage will do damage with or without the
>plug sticking out there.
>

I have this Exact Same Kit. Only I haven't installed it yet. If you
take the nut and teflon washer thickness into consideration, if you
mount this on the bottom of the trans sump, the fluid level will still
be the thickness of the washer and nut before it stops flowing out of
the drain. The thickness inside the sump as I measure it with my
vernier caliper is 0.4 inches.

So mounting it on the bottom still leaves almost 1/2 of ****e in the
sump.

If you mount it on the side, you can almost _halve_ that and get the
fluid level down to 0.27 inches. iow, 1/4 inch side mount vs. 1/2
inch vertical mount.

So, you've got it backwards.

I haven't installed mine yet because I have a suction pump for this
issue. Don't need it, but have it anyhow for I don't know why, except
first time I did a pan pull I got coated ( before I bought the suction
pump ).

Lg

"Lawrence Glickman" > wrote in message
> I haven't installed mine yet because I have a suction pump for this
> issue. Don't need it, but have it anyhow for I don't know why, except
> first time I did a pan pull I got coated ( before I bought the suction
> pump ).
>
> Lg

It can be a good addition for severe service, Lawrence. Think twice,
install once.

Even if you leave a little bit of tranny fluid in the bottom, you will have
drained
6-9 quarts of the old fluid out. Not a bad deal, for a few minutes work.

I used to drain my fluid fairly often, but only change the filter every
other time.

The last time I serviced our personal cars, I decided that I would install a
drain
plug because this is such a messy freaking job without it.

Be of good faith. Fear nothing.

* wrote:

> >
> > I've put a few of these in. My only advice is if your car sits low to
> > the ground is to put it in the SIDE of the transmission pan so that you
> > have better gound clearance. (I'm not talking about the tranny case,
> > but the vertical part of the pan) That way something lying on the road
> > will not knock it off.
> >
> >
>
> Problem with that is.......
>
> ......no matter how low you locate the plug on the side of the pan, it will
> STILL leave a thin layer of fluid on the bottom of the pan.
>

If you really follow that line of thinking, then you don't advocate
changing engine oil either, because there are about 1/2" of threads
that go up inside your engine's oil pan. I guess you can't have it all.
Actually, on my vehicles, I pull the tranny pan about every 25K miles
and change the filter. A few of my vehicles have severe service, so
every other engine oil change I drop the tranny plug and then add a few
quarts of ATF to refill it. These keeps the oil a little fresher
between filter changes, especially on my mom's Taurus, which has a
reputation for problems. (None yet)

On Fri, 09 Jun 2006 21:50:48 GMT, > wrote:

>
>"Lawrence Glickman" > wrote in message
>> I haven't installed mine yet because I have a suction pump for this
>> issue. Don't need it, but have it anyhow for I don't know why, except
>> first time I did a pan pull I got coated ( before I bought the suction
>> pump ).
>>
>> Lg
>
>It can be a good addition for severe service, Lawrence. Think twice,
>install once.
>
>Even if you leave a little bit of tranny fluid in the bottom, you will have
>drained
>6-9 quarts of the old fluid out. Not a bad deal, for a few minutes work.

True, but my vacuum pump will take all that out in a few minutes if I
just shove the hose down the filler tube until it hits the bottom of
the ATF sump. No need to even get under the vehicle.

>I used to drain my fluid fairly often, but only change the filter every
>other time.
>
>The last time I serviced our personal cars, I decided that I would install a
>drain
>plug because this is such a messy freaking job without it.

Messy alright, IF you do it the way *the book* tells you to. The
reason the factory doesn't put a drain there? Beats the heck out of
me. Nobody knows. I haven't a clue. Not even a wild guess.

>Be of good faith. Fear nothing.

Yes, good faith, but some apprehension when working on something new
to me for the first time. I suspect that is normal.

When I do a pan drop on my AX4N, chances are I'll braze the inside nut
to the pan when I find a good spot to it. I don't trust that Teflon
Washer to not split in half sooner or later. This means the pan
better be made out of STEEL, not aluminum, which would melt.

Lg

I was indeed concerned about that 1/2" or so that would be left inthe
bottom of the pan if the plug was mounted vertically.

LG are you talking about the same type suction pump as I once used to
drain the PS?
I had thought about that, but wasn't sure that I could get the tube to
the bottom of
the pan from the filler tube, or whether I had all the fluid from the
pan out.

The reason they don't include a drain plug is either cost, or they've
got a contract
w/ Jiffy Lube not to put one in . The same may be true for why they
don't
inlude a dip-stick to check the level. I'm still trying to figure out
a better way,
or a makeshift level check w/o having to get under the car while it's
running.

MB