I don’t remember drain plugs in the cars I worked on '72-'76, but then I probably just remember the pain it was dropping the pan on those without drain plugs.
The logic of no drain plug…
comes from the older vehicles needing the filter changed at that time anyway. Essentially forcing you to notice, by virtue of having removed the pan to empty the fluid that…
.if you’re even thinking about changing the fluid, you dang well better be changing the filter now too !
A drain plug would leave far too many filters unchanged !
ken
Here’s something funny, about Ford
The Ford Focuses in our fleet don’t have a trans pan drain plug, but there’s naturally a filter in there
To make things even more troublesome, Ford’s idea of a trans pan gasket is sealant
At specified intervals, Ford expects you to go to the trouble of replacing the fluid, but not yet replacing the filter. That would be at the next service interval.
Can you imagine removing the pan, making at least a little bit of a mess, cleaning off the old sealant, cleaning the pan, etc., and then NOT replacing the filter . . . ?
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@Tester, that was a little joke about JL. Apparently very little!
No drain plug also makes it pretty tough when one is doing a fluid/filter change for someone who is sitting in the waiting room and in a hurry to get gone.
No matter how careful the juggling act some hot fluid usually manages to saturate everything in sight.
I too would love to see the return of drain plugs and dipsticks. I would also love to see the filter moved to the outside of the transmission in a spin-on configuration like the engine oil filter. I for one would change the filter and fluid far more often. Oh well - dream on - it will never happen.
Buy a Subaru. They have had spin-on trans filters for years. The early Saturn S series did as well.
I wish they would bring them all back, repackable wheel bearings, grease fittings, petcocks on the radiator, engine block, and gas tank and drain plugs on the transmission and torque converter plus a transmission dipstick. While we are at it how about hill holder and vacuum assisted shift lever like our 41 Studebaker had.
The whole fluid exchange process on cars hasn’t advanced since they first started making them IMO. For something that HAS to be done on a fairly frequent basis, it remains a PITA to perform. I was ticked off when I discovered that my 2012 Ody has the oil filter right above a chassis gusset. They went so far as to stamp holes in the gusset so that the oil, that will inevitably run down this part, attempts to drain through it. NICE. I always wanted something that would drip on my garage floor or driveway for a day after servicing it. The least they could have done would be to affix another piece of material (plastic even!) over it to act as a funnel rather than allow the oil to get into the seams of the structure. Naturally, I fabricated my own but it’s ridiculous that I had to…
oldtimer
Why’d you have to bring up the missing radiator petcocks . . . !
On a positive note, I did a transmission fluid and filter service on a GMC truck today. The truck had a 4L80E transmission WITH a drain plug. When it came time to remove the pan, since I had already drained it, I made almost no mess. And I have to praise GM in regards to the pan gasket. I really like those reusable gaskets. They’re far superior to the aftermarket cork, paper, or rubber gaskets, in my opinion, anyways.
Don’t forget that not having a drain plug on the transmission means one less thing for a Quickie oil change place to screw up.
+1 for @oblivion . I wonder how big of a check that the “Quickie oil change” establishments get each month for driving up the aftermarket replacement drain plug market? Come to think of it…they drive up the market for all types of vehicle repairs. I know they are responsible for destroying a lot of engines and transmissions not to mention everything else they get their totally unprofessional hands on.
The real radiator petcocks have been long gone for years, but they went with those stupid plastic ones. Nearly impossible to reach and subject to breaking off the fins. A lot easier just to pull the hose off and let the fluid drop in a pan all at once.
I had a plastic petcock shatter in my hands when I went to drain the radiator. I got lucky and found a steel bolt with a washer to use as a plug. Now, I don’t touch it and just pull the lower hose.
Missleman. I stand corrected on the 50s drain plugs.
Another question… Why not have an external filter like your oil filter? This would make transmission service all that much easier. I was recently working on some heavy equipment (hydraulic lines) and the filter is just a spin on type. The owner had no idea when it was changed so I did this along with the new lines and fluid.
An external filter can be installed in the transmission cooler line quite cheaply. A Hayden 2106 filter adapter easily installs onto most any car or truck. I found them advertised on many sites for about $20. I probably have 6 in my junk pile still unopened that cost less than $3 long ago. I bought them by the dozen to install on commercial trucks and used them on fuel transfer pumps and a parts washer. An FL-1A or equivalent filter fits it.
Some heavy duty allison automatic transmissions have an external spin-on filter
But they still have an internal filter. So, it’s actually not less work
I dug out my filter adapters and they are labeled TransDapt 1028
Just to get my story straight.
An FL-1A filter or similar filter seems to add a significant level of filtering to the transmission.