How do I flush the trans lines/ cooler without an air compressor?

[Evans Ward]

Need to flush out my transmission lines and oil cooler since I will be putting the newly rebuilt trans back in the car. My plan is to use Amsoil universal ATF so I need to flush out all the old Type F fluid from the hard trans lines/ cooler. Problem is, I don't own an air compressor. How can I or how do I go about flushing the lines and cooler without a compressor? I'm thinking of possibly rigging an apparatus to either the leaf blower or shop vac on blow possibly to one of the lines with a catch can on the other. Anyone have any good ideas or been down this road before? I think manually blowing on one of the lines is out of the question! Thanks for any and all help fellas!

 

[Jerryl]

Need to flush out my transmission lines and oil cooler since I will be putting the newly rebuilt trans back in the car. My plan is to use Amsoil universal ATF so I need to flush out all the old Type F fluid from the hard trans lines/ cooler. Problem is, I don't own an air compressor. How can I or how do I go about flushing the lines and cooler without a compressor? I'm thinking of possibly rigging an apparatus to either the leaf blower or shop vac on blow possibly to one of the lines with a catch can on the other. Anyone have any good ideas or been down this road before? I think manually blowing on one of the lines is out of the question! Thanks for any and all help fellas!

Some parts stores sell a special pressurized can of Trans line cleaner. (I do not know what it is called) It is about $15/can last time I checked. That way, you can blow out the lines and connect them back up.

 

[Rodney87GN]

I've never done it myself but I've thought of using some kind of manual lube pump like the ones for diff oil. Or maybe a Mityvac vacuum pump used for bleeding brakes. I'm doing a trans swap soon so I also need a way to flush the lines without a compressor.

 

[Rodney87GN]

Some parts stores sell a special pressurized can of Trans line cleaner. (I do not know what it is called) It is about $15/can last time I checked. That way, you can blow out the lines and connect them back up.

I didn't know such a product existed....that sounds like a way better option then.

 

[Evans Ward]

Thanks for the replies! I did find one of those aerosol products that will do it but will try and find it locally to save time and shipping. We have an auto trans part place so will try them.

Does anyone know the sizes of the lines on our cars/ trans? I'm hoping to be able to fit at the lines there at trans to flush.

 

[TexasT]

I don't know a car guy that couldn't find some other uses for an air compressor. I bought a nice little SpeedAir hot dog for $200 or so at Grainger and hook it up to two old tanks when I need more volume. I've seen very small ones at wallyworld for $69. Once you have one you'll wonder why you didn't buy it sooner.

The $15 part house pressure thing sounds good too, but if you need a few cans to get the job done the compressor be gins to look good.

 

[ITSAV6]

Evans,don't trust that everything will flush out! Get an aux trans filter and install after the coolers so it filters before the fluid goes back in ur new trans!

 

[Jerryl]

I don't know a car guy that couldn't find some other uses for an air compressor. I bought a nice little SpeedAir hot dog for $200 or so at Grainger and hook it up to two old tanks when I need more volume. I've seen very small ones at wallyworld for $69. Once you have one you'll wonder why you didn't buy it sooner.

The $15 part house pressure thing sounds good too, but if you need a few cans to get the job done the compressor be gins to look good.

Here is what I did when I cleaned my lines.
I used the can of cleaner first. It has the female threads and bolts right up to the lines. You would be surpised how much comes out of the can/lines. THAN, I used the Air compressor :biggrin:

If there was "crud" in the lines/oil, I would have replaced them, but, I used a coffee filter when I blew the oil out to see if there were any particles in it. (This was 2 transmissions ago)

Air compressors are like cell phones: Once you have you, you wonder how you lived without one all these years! I got one of the contractor units, 1.5HP, 4.5CFM@90. I used it for cleaning parts, running air tools, etc etc. PSI ....... just wish I would have gotten a bigger unit.

 

[INEEDAGN]

The absolute best thing you can do here is yank the radiator and aux cooler if applicable, and take them to a trans shop that has a heated cooler flusher and have them clean them out for you. At our shop we charge like $25 to do a carry in rad. and aux cooler. Our local salvage yards won't even warranty a used trans anymore unless the purchaser has a receipt from us that the cooler was flushed. The spray can stuff doesn't get it all. Trust me on this, a new trans is expensive so do it right the first time. The lines can stay in the car if you blow the old fluid out. You can do the lines with a can of brake clean and a rubber tip from a blow gun to seal the straw. Just finish with air (your lungs can finish the job but don't inhale, LOL) and give it some time to evaporate the brake clean.

Even if you do decide to use the spray can stuff you absolutely must blow the residue from the solvent out thoroughly. It would probably kill your trans faster than the debris.

hope this helps.

bob

 

[chopped39]

Use aftermaket trans cooler and bypass radiator all together. you are not going to flush everything out of cooler. when i worked at auto kool systems any trans shop that sent us radiator wanted new cooler installed in radiator. i guess it doesn't take much to destroy trans. just clean out trans lines with brake clean. the coffey filter thing works good

 

[alec296]

get a low pressure electric fuelpump and force fresh trans fluid into it
thats what we do at the shop

 

[drive805]

air tank

i have an air tank to fill tries for my quad when i go riding i just sprayed cleaner in adn used the air tank my fiend used a can of air that he got from radioshack i don't know how well it worked but that is what he did