I’ve heard that during an atf change, you should drain and fill about 3 times and cycle the transmission (conventional automatic) in between to get the old fluid out of the torque converter and other parts of the transmission. On Reddit I’m reading mixed opinions on this. Anyway I don’t recall Scotty ever saying to do this; from what I remember, just drain and fill once. What’s the proper procedure?
Have you seen our FAQ and Scotty's videos about it?
I’ve heard that during an atf change, you should drain and fill about 3 times and cycle the transmission
You don't need to do it three times. You will never drain out every drop, and you'll just waste money dropping new fluid. But you absolutely need to follow the service manual procedure to the letter. This usually involves shifting into each lever position and pausing a few seconds for each fluid circuit to fill up with fluid. Maybe even a few times. You also need to drive the vehicle around, allowing it to progress through all gears. That includes highway speed. Then check the fluid level again, and top it up if needed. Keep checking for a few days after. The valve body is like a little Minotaur's labyrinth, with a hundred little passages which need to fluid in them. Not following the procedure can result in unexpected transmission behavior and possibly even damage.
Do this every 50-60k and the transmission will last as long as it can.
