How - To: Changing ATF and filter on a 1998 Saturn SL1 (ATF = Automatic/Transmission/Fluid)

[omarG19100]

@CCAAASSSCCAAAA I did this job yesterday. thank u for the quick response and for this video. I WOULDN'T OF ATTEMP THIS WITHOUT IT lol.

[omarG19100]

@CCAAASSSCCAAAA and before using did u do a flush on it or u jus dumped the old fluid and put in synthetic?

[CCAAASSSCCAAAA]

@omarG19100 just drained the old and replaced it with the new.

[omarG19100]

@CCAAASSSCCAAAA when u made the video cause i wanna switch to synthetic but i got the regular oil in there. i have 180,000 on mine lol. and is the fluid u used dex II, or III?

[omarG19100]

ACCAAASSSCCAAAA how many miles u think u had a this time?

[CCAAASSSCCAAAA]

@omarG19100 are you talking about right now or when I made the video? Rightnow I just broke over the 116000 mark.. When the video was made I have no Idea what the mileage was. I want to say around 105000.

[WMG2DUBS]

u meant to say flex pipe :P not CAT

[CCAAASSSCCAAAA]

@WMG2DUBS Yep.. You caught me ;)

[TheBigBlackOneFTW]

what did you use to cover the hole from the resinator?

[CCAAASSSCCAAAA]

@TheBigBlackOneFTW

I used a plastic bottle cap that was the right size. Then to seal it, I used some rubber cement and painted it black.

[omarG19100]

@CCAAASSSCCAAAA yo now tht i learned how to do things myself i saved like madd $, and thank god tht u and richpin064 is on youtube, and u have the same car which makes it even better. theres clips on brakes, oil change/tranny, water pump, and spark plugs which i did all of these jobs in the past two months. WHAT ELSE CAN 1 ASK 4? lol.

[CCAAASSSCCAAAA]

@omarG19100

Happy to help. And yes RICHPIN06 IS THE MAN !

[omarG19100]

Good video man. I jus had the fluid changed like 3months ago and I paid around $60 to have a mechanic do it. If i known it was this easy i cudda save madd dough. DAMN IT lol. But I might change to a more synthetic brand fluid so this helps alot.

[CCAAASSSCCAAAA]

@omarG19100

Dang, see that's where they get you. Make sure whenever you have to have some service on your car done search online first to see how easy.hard the job may be before shelling out the dough.

That's really what inspired me to learn. I remember the straw that broke the camel's back for me was when I got charged 400 dollars for a front brake job and my friend later told me I could have done it myself for 1/3 the price and for a better product too.

NEVER AGAIN! >=O lol.

[THEDAVENPORTPROJECT]

I was able to looen the filter from the top and drop it into a pan below but tricky

[Dosalt]

really have no idea why you had to pull that air filter out.

[CCAAASSSCCAAAA]

@Dosalt

Mainly to show the viewers where things are and to have more room to get around. As stated in the video, you CAN do this all from the bottom without having to remove anything..

Thanks for viewing. =)

[holderoflyte]

thanks a ton for the instructional, im doing the atf and filter on my 98 sl2 this afternoon along with the valve cover gaskets and plugs & wires!

[magreger]

Thanks for the video. It helped me change the fluid on my 97 saturn. Tip: Steady that camera up :)

[CCAAASSSCCAAAA]

Ha ha. Yeah I'm a little rusty when it comes to camera work which is a shame cause I used to film skateboarding all the time when I was younger with no problems. Thanks for the tip and I'm glad I was able to help you out.

[ballershanelle]

98 Sl2, 172k. changed trans oil with 5 qts. Val maxlife. New rad was needed so why the hell not change whats in reach. New hoses & Ordered 2 new cooler lines because connector ends/steel was corroded from salt. Now, will the tranny die?? STAY TUNED. Hope not because its my first change looked red/light brown. Anyone, add any lubeguard? thinking about doing so as an additive.

[HugoFuchs]

You're missing the round Magnet that sits in the filter. If it were there, it also needs to be cleaned before being installed into the new filter. Might want to get one from a bone-yard Saturn.

[CCAAASSSCCAAAA]

@HugoFuchs The magnet is only needed with a brand new car.The only purpose of the magnetized filters from the factory were to catch all the metal shavings found in the tranny during the break-in period of a NEW car.

After the first oil change you can discard the magnet. If you want the added protection of having a magnet to catch metal shards you can buy a magnetized drain plug and that should suffice with keeping metal from flowing around the transmission.

[wawwy10]

Can you change the filter from underneath. I just change my radiator and the filter box bolts were stripped and I could not remove it.

[CCAAASSSCCAAAA]

@wawwy10

Yes you can. I show how you could around the 3:05 mark. I just do it from the top because I have more room and it eliminates the possibility of the oil dripping on you. =)

[ezforus]

nice video, you like the pro, thanks for the video

[studpuppy69]

The air box on mine I just left the bolts off, it stays in there fine doesnt go anywhere. I also wrote ALL over the transmission filter the date I changed it and wrote TRANS filter on it, its not my car but it will prevent someone from thinking its the oil filter and changing it out. Finally, I just use the Valvoline Max Life Dexron III. First time I did a fluid change was at 70k in 2006, car now has 129k on its 3rd fluid/filter change.

[CCAAASSSCCAAAA]

1st I'd like to say, well done on having that old of a car and keeping the mileage that low.

2nd. I'd highly recommend changing the fluid seeing that there are probably a ton of metal shavings in there from the "break in" period..

I think its recommended every 50K. I change mine once a year or 20K whichever comes first. =)

[The88camaro]

I have a 1997 SL1 with 82,000 original miles. Would you recommend that i change the tranny fluid and filter cuz its never been changed before. It still has the Saturn fluid filter on it LOL

[CCAAASSSCCAAAA]

Yeah I did look around on the net and looked at many different parts stores for DEX III but came up empty handed. On the back of the DEX VI bottle it said that it was the replacement/compatible with the DEX III.

I also found some info from GM that talked about this. I'll add it to the description of the video.

So far though I haven't seen/heard any performance issues since I've performed this. I will keep everyone posted if I the car responding negatively to the new fluid.

HAPPY WRENCHING!

[jayguy173]

@CCAAASSSCCAAAA dex/merc is what most dexron 3 bottle say since its the top formulation in that catigory wich also works in dex1 and dex 2 vehicals. Dexron VI is lower viscosity to improve gas mileage and fully synthetic.

[CCAAASSSCCAAAA]

@jayguy173

Thanks for the FYI!

[ballershanelle]

val dex VI? thought this was not recommended for pre 05 or 06 gm cars. say backward capatable but dex 3 has been fazing out but its still out there. what are your thoughts...u have an older model car and the dex 6 may have additives which my eat at .......... have u really asked around beyond the sat. dealer

[vdub74super]

not a " CAT" that's the flex pipe

[CCAAASSSCCAAAA]

Good catch. For some reason I didn't even notice that till you said something. I'll add an annotation with the correction.

Thanks ! =)

[nowfree2004]

Great video. I am doing this today on my '98 SL-2, and found that you just posted this video. Good timing. Don't forget to clean the area where the filter was removed from before installing new filter. Thank you for posting...

[CCAAASSSCCAAAA]

Thanks.

Yeah I did clean everything down there. I just forgot to clean it. I ended up cleaning everything with carb/choke and brake cleaner.

II highly recommend using denture brush for cleaning stuff in the engine. It's double sided and the brushes are hard (they aren't metal though so they won't scratch stuff.

You can get them from the dollar store. Sorry if this is a double post. It says that there are 2 comments to this video but I only see one.

Hope things work out for you.