I just accomplished a transmission filter change on my 02 Silverado.
Safety first, get the vehicle up in the air and set it on jack stands. If you use ramps make sure you chock the back wheels. I used my scissor lift.
Tools I used for the job:
15mm socket for drain plug – torque=13 ft lbs
13mm socket for pan bolts – torque=8 ft lbs
3 inch and 6 inch extensions
T40 torx for shift linkage bracket – 2 screws
One Wix 58847 deep pan transmission filter which includes a pan gasket and new internal seal, filter kit is available at your local auto parts store of choice
10mm quarter inch socket, heat shield removal and drive shaft ujoint bolts
Needle nose pliers
Small regular screw driver
13/16" quarter drive socket- to install new seal
Drain the fluid from the transmission pan. If you do not have a drain plug then you will have to take all the bolt out except for one in each corner. Then loosen one end so that the bolts are about half way out, then move to the other end and loosen the bolts so that it lets the pan tip down and let the fluid pour out of the pan.
Next remove the heat shield on the passenger side of the vehicle using a 10 mm 1/4" socket.
Next mark the front driveshaft ujoint bolts with chalk and remove the bolts so you can slide the front drive shaft out of the way. This makes it easier to get to the torx bolts that hold the shift lever.
Now you can get to the torx bolts easier. If you are lucky they will break free. My front bolt did, I wasn't so lucky on the back bolt, it stripped out and I had to get a chisle out and was able to break it free that way. Not very fun since there is not much room up there. Just remember to get as much downward pressure on the torx bolt and keep it as straight as you can to keep from stripping it out.
I replaced both torx bolts with regular hex head bolts. They are M8x1.25 thread size. I use a lock washer as well. It will make for easier removal next time in another 9 years.
Once the bracket was out of the way I was able to get the pan off.
I then removed the old filter, be careful because there is a good bit of fluid still left inside it and it will try to drain down you arms.
Make sure your drain pan is handy to put it into.
Next it was time to remove the old seal that is up inside the transmission. This seal is used to seal the neck of the filter to the transmission as well as keep in in place. The seal didn't want to just pull out by hooking on it with my seal removal tool. So I did the next best thing. I used as small regular screw driver and carefully bent the metal part of the seal inward. One it was bent in far enough I was able to get a pair of safety wire pliers on it and pull it out. Just be careful not to nick up the aluminum housing of the transmission.
I then was able to clean up the pan. As you can see it didn't look bad at all and the magnet just had a very small amount of metal fuz on it. Not bad for having 89k miles on it and the fluid had 79k miles on it as well.
Next clean the pan up really well with brake cleaner or Carb cleaner. I used Super Tech carb cleaner, this stuff is the bomb!
I have a nice stash of it. I then blew out the pan with compressed air to get any lint out from my rags.
I then installed the new seal that came with the filter up into the transmission. I used a 13/16" socket placed backward on a quarter inch extension to tap the seal back up into the transmission.
Now it was time to install the new filter. Here you can see that I placed the new one on the right to match it up with the old one on the left.
Just push the new filter back up into the transmission until it seats against the valve body. Then install the new pan gasket that was included in the filter kit and install the pan back onto the transmission. Stagger torque the pan bolts, going from one end to the other working in a clock wise or counter clock wise motion until all the bolts are torqued to 8lbft or 96lbin. I used my inch pound torque wrench. At such a low foot lb torque the inch pound was more accurate for me.
Once that is done, make sure you torque the drain plug to 13lbft or 156lbin.
Install the shift cable bracket bolts and tighten the best you can in that PITA small area.
Install the heat shield snug using the 10mm socket.
Line up your marks on the front drive shaft Ujoint bolts and tighten them down snug as well.
Double check everything one more time and that is it.
Now lower the vehicle, add 4 and a half qts of fluid, start it up and with the vehicle level and idling in park check your fluid.
The fluid should be in the cold range on the transmission dip stick.
When I was finished I had just at a half a quart left of five qts of AFT fluid.
Don't forget to look under and make sure there isn't any leaks. Now take the vehicle out for a drive. It will take at least 5 to 10 miles of driving to get it up to operating temp. I ran mine out on the interstate for 10 miles and then came back and checked the fluid at operating temp. I had to add about a quarter more of the half quart to get it to read in the hash marks on the dip stick.
That is it.
Safety first, get the vehicle up in the air and set it on jack stands. If you use ramps make sure you chock the back wheels. I used my scissor lift.
Tools I used for the job:
15mm socket for drain plug – torque=13 ft lbs
13mm socket for pan bolts – torque=8 ft lbs
3 inch and 6 inch extensions
T40 torx for shift linkage bracket – 2 screws
One Wix 58847 deep pan transmission filter which includes a pan gasket and new internal seal, filter kit is available at your local auto parts store of choice
10mm quarter inch socket, heat shield removal and drive shaft ujoint bolts
Needle nose pliers
Small regular screw driver
13/16" quarter drive socket- to install new seal
Drain the fluid from the transmission pan. If you do not have a drain plug then you will have to take all the bolt out except for one in each corner. Then loosen one end so that the bolts are about half way out, then move to the other end and loosen the bolts so that it lets the pan tip down and let the fluid pour out of the pan.
Next remove the heat shield on the passenger side of the vehicle using a 10 mm 1/4" socket.
Next mark the front driveshaft ujoint bolts with chalk and remove the bolts so you can slide the front drive shaft out of the way. This makes it easier to get to the torx bolts that hold the shift lever.
Now you can get to the torx bolts easier. If you are lucky they will break free. My front bolt did, I wasn't so lucky on the back bolt, it stripped out and I had to get a chisle out and was able to break it free that way. Not very fun since there is not much room up there. Just remember to get as much downward pressure on the torx bolt and keep it as straight as you can to keep from stripping it out.
I replaced both torx bolts with regular hex head bolts. They are M8x1.25 thread size. I use a lock washer as well. It will make for easier removal next time in another 9 years.
Once the bracket was out of the way I was able to get the pan off.
I then removed the old filter, be careful because there is a good bit of fluid still left inside it and it will try to drain down you arms.
Make sure your drain pan is handy to put it into.
Next it was time to remove the old seal that is up inside the transmission. This seal is used to seal the neck of the filter to the transmission as well as keep in in place. The seal didn't want to just pull out by hooking on it with my seal removal tool. So I did the next best thing. I used as small regular screw driver and carefully bent the metal part of the seal inward. One it was bent in far enough I was able to get a pair of safety wire pliers on it and pull it out. Just be careful not to nick up the aluminum housing of the transmission.
I then was able to clean up the pan. As you can see it didn't look bad at all and the magnet just had a very small amount of metal fuz on it. Not bad for having 89k miles on it and the fluid had 79k miles on it as well.
Next clean the pan up really well with brake cleaner or Carb cleaner. I used Super Tech carb cleaner, this stuff is the bomb!
I have a nice stash of it. I then blew out the pan with compressed air to get any lint out from my rags.
I then installed the new seal that came with the filter up into the transmission. I used a 13/16" socket placed backward on a quarter inch extension to tap the seal back up into the transmission.
Now it was time to install the new filter. Here you can see that I placed the new one on the right to match it up with the old one on the left.
Just push the new filter back up into the transmission until it seats against the valve body. Then install the new pan gasket that was included in the filter kit and install the pan back onto the transmission. Stagger torque the pan bolts, going from one end to the other working in a clock wise or counter clock wise motion until all the bolts are torqued to 8lbft or 96lbin. I used my inch pound torque wrench. At such a low foot lb torque the inch pound was more accurate for me.
Once that is done, make sure you torque the drain plug to 13lbft or 156lbin.
Install the shift cable bracket bolts and tighten the best you can in that PITA small area.
Install the heat shield snug using the 10mm socket.
Line up your marks on the front drive shaft Ujoint bolts and tighten them down snug as well.
Double check everything one more time and that is it.
Now lower the vehicle, add 4 and a half qts of fluid, start it up and with the vehicle level and idling in park check your fluid.
The fluid should be in the cold range on the transmission dip stick.
When I was finished I had just at a half a quart left of five qts of AFT fluid.
Don't forget to look under and make sure there isn't any leaks. Now take the vehicle out for a drive. It will take at least 5 to 10 miles of driving to get it up to operating temp. I ran mine out on the interstate for 10 miles and then came back and checked the fluid at operating temp. I had to add about a quarter more of the half quart to get it to read in the hash marks on the dip stick.
That is it.
Last edited:
