Has anyone used one of those pumps that extracts motor oil from the dipstick to extract transmission fluid? It beats trying to take the engine splash guard off if it works?

 

It works, but of course, you never get that sludge that may have accumulated at the drain plug...in fact you don't get a full 4 liters out, because you cannot get to the bottom of the pan, but for doing a couple of quick 3 liter changes, especially when your floor jack is broken, it works.

 

Thanks Chas. Of course I wouldn't expect it to be as good as a true drain, but if done often enough, may be that could be good enough.

 

with the pump you are fighting gravity and any heavy particles will stay in the pan so all the particles will remix into your new fluid. IMO the best thing to do is do a proper drain and refill with a good fluid.

 

Not to mention that you can't really assess whether there are excess particles in the bottom--very important to see.