If your dropping the pan to clean the dipstick, just pull the dipstick out to clean it.
If your replacing the dipstick tube due to rust holes, then lower the tranny.

dropping the pan will accomplish nothing, except to knock the rust free and it might get stuck in a tranny valve, then you are looking at a rebuild. I highly recommend leaving the tranny pan in place unless you ae doinga fluid swap, and then install a drain plug so you dont have to open the tranny up again. The only dirt in the tranny is created by the tranny, unless you open it up. It only takes a piece of grit the size of a grain of rice to fry your tranny.

No I didn't remove the wiring harness. Carefull how hard you force your hand between the engine and firewall. Those are the main wires to the engine, also the spark plug wires, and equally important are the vacumm hoses. All of them are in the way, break or crack any of them and its a pain in the **** to fix, worse the the dipstick tube. Your best bet is to lower the tranny and use 3' of extensions and a wobble socket to get that bolt free.

Now you know why they charge $181.

 

I ended up using some pipe cleaners I got from Harbor Freight for $6.99. They worked perfectly, I tied a piece of 12 gauge wire and pulled it through about 10 times along with several blasts of engine cleaner (the trans pan was already dropped). Then I passed a couple strips of ripped up old t-shirts to squeegy it and then a final blast of brake cleaner. I shined a flashlight down the tube and its very clean and dry.

I noticed on the old dipstick that the rubber seal does not compress when the handle is locked down. That probably explains how moisture built up in inside. The new dip stick I got has a very tight seal when the handle is locked down. Hopefully this tube won't rust up again.



Now I have the pan back on with a new filter and gasket. I'm going to fill it up and then do I fluid swap. I am going to have the trans line that dumps into the top of the radiator go into a bucket and then simultaneously I will be filling it at the sump. That way I should be able to change out almost all of the fluid.

 

The fluid swap turned out to be a disaster. I had an adapter hooked up to the tube not thinking that the fluid would be blowing through the radiator outlet that the tube fits into - it puked fluid everywhere. I can still successfully do this but I must hookup a drain tube to the actual output on the radiator and set the return tube aside. Then, simultaneously fill the trans through the dipstick tube.

 

well well well, just pulled mine out of storage and it is low on coolant and the trans dipstick is rusty...........

does the tube rust too?

soooo, has anyone found a replacement that won't rust. i have NEVER seen one rust in my other vehicles, GM.


I guess I'll pull the intake, and replace the DEXCRAP(cool) with green

the caddy dealer in denver drained the Dexcool from my 95 caddy and replaced it with green. no problems, except a water pump seal, 145,000 miles.

 

Sorry to wake up the sleeping bear but there is a TSB on this. You have to buy a new trans dipstick that has a re-designed seal. Read my post above on how I cleaned the rust out of the tube.

 

what is a TSB?

 

Technical Service Bulletin; a notice from the manufacturer that explains and provides a solution for a problem. Some are covered under warranty, most are not. They are basically just information updates (i.e. "replace part A1 with revision A2 due to improper wear" etc.)

 

Sorry to bring up a 2 month old tread, but would you the GM part number to this new dipstick with Re-designed seal on it? and does it fit my 1995 truck?

 

I can't remember as it has been a while. Go to your dealer with your VIN in-hand and ask them for a replacement part. The one you should receive will be an updated version as I doubt that they have old ones sitting around from 15 years ago.

 

well i want to get the part numbers and buy it elsewhere for cheaper than the dealer....

just curious, what year is your truck that you replaced the dipstick and tube on? also did the new parts come in an AC Delco bag?