I was wondering if the transmission fluid could be changed at home. Has anyone tried or looked into it? Any reason to change the gasket on the differential? Do you have to fill the differential seperate? TIA


KMaren
2007 Entourage Limited

I changed the ATF in mine. It was very easy. Hyundai gives you a drain plug. I just drained and refilled, plan on doing that every 30k miles or so.

Some advice, the drain plug is directly above the frame. You can't use a socket wrench on it due to this, you will need a standard box end wrench. Also, the fluid will drain on the frame and make a mess, so be prepared!

Clean the magnet on the plug well. Also, there is no filter to replace, and no pan to drop. Be careful when refilling, as you need to do this through the dipstick tube, need to go VERY slow so the air pockets don't belch fluid back at you. I think it took approximately 5.5 quarts to refill mine properly.

I would recommend using only SPIII fluid available only at your Hyundai, Kia, and Mitsubishi dealers.

What differential? If you mean torque converter, then no, there is no separate drain plug.

Thank You. The lack of a filter surprises me. Do you plan on dropping the pan at all? Maybe to clean the sludge from the bottom of the pan?

At 60K or so have a trans fluid exchange done with the OEM (SPIII) fluid. This will keep it in the best condition possible. No additives/cleaners needed as the fluid contains plenty.

I have a 2001 van Hyuandi,My dad took it in for a clunking noise ,but walked out of there 450 .00$ lighter ,since he supposely drives the vehicle under a severe service the coolant and transmission needed a flush.So he got tooken in by the stealership.

for some odd reason they used a cleaner in the transmission,I cannot figure this one out.


side note ,we change the coolant every 2 yrs and trans fluid every year (give and take a few months)I was thinking I would have to do this near the 100,000 kms mark not 50,000.
hummm.

there is no filter on these models ,if you wanted to get to the screen ,you will have to take the trans out (the pan is actually vertical ) there is a drain plug on the botton ,you should be able to get most of the fluid out (not the converter) ,but its all better than nothing,I would stick with the OEM fluids ,

I was about to change my ATF and was glad to see this post. However, the plug on my 2007 Entourage isn't so much "directly above the frame" (may a little) as blocked by some designer-installed "nubs" (see picture) that can't serve any purpose except to force you to use a specific tool.

Can anyone confirm this is the drain plug before I make a mess of my transmission?
 2007_Entourage_Transmission_Fluid_Plug.jpg ( 45.31K ) Number of downloads: 35

That's not it.

You want to drain the "pan". It's a flat thing.

Sorry, I just saw this post. Yes, that is the transmission drain plug. There is no bottom "pan" on these transmissions. Those nubs can be cut off, they are aluminum and come off fairly easily. I was able to work around them though.

The nubs are there on many late model Hyundai trannies. Some owners just snap them off to get better access. Check the Santa Fe II forum for a recent thread on this same issue.

If you got a wrench that will fit as is, great.

Also, take some newspaper and make a trough under the drain plug the guide the fluid into a drain pan - instead of letting it drip all over the sub frame. I've had to do this for oil & filter changes on many cars. After you are done, just throw aways the newspaper.