# AF40-6 transmission fluid change my experience



## raffmanlt (Oct 4, 2014)

This is the aisin warner auto transmission in the cruze diesel. It irritates me that manufacturers are trying so hard to make it where only they can service our cars. This is certainly true here.

I have the shop manuals like dealership has, so my first attempt I followed their directions. On second attempt after understanding more about it and where everything is located I found a simplified way of doing this. However, first and foremost the first attempt was a failure because I was unable to warm up the car . I followed the procedures except the fact that it was cold. It turns out that they are serious about it having to be at a specific temperature!!! Refilling it cold basically leaves you two quarts short which caused the transmission to slip. I was afraid My transmission was going to be ruined before I could get back from test drive. I am planning to start another thread with pics, tool sizes, torque specs and easier way to do than shop manual mentioned. This is a summary of important things to know.

First: I have seen articles that said the drain plugs and fill plug were various torx sizes. Example T40 for small drain plug and T45 for fill plug. I found the T50 a better fit on fill plug. However none of them are torx they are actually metric sized hex. While a torx bit will go into it and work if its not too tight. I suspect it would strip head if much force was needed. Indeed I did see on other websites like Saab which uses the same transmission that some people had indeed stripped the head of the plugs. I discovered that a Torx bit will fit into a hex bolt but a hex bit will not fit into a Torx Bolt . The small plug (fluid check valve) inside the other drain bolt uses an H5. The larger drain plug which is called a fluid overflow tube uses an M12. The oil fill plug uses an M8.

2nd: I used the service manual recommended AC Delco aw1 fluid bought from a dealership. This is outrageously priced I think it was $39 a quart. This time that is what I used. Next time I will use something else. I saw on one website where a guy claimed our transmission is also called other names through other manufacturers that use it. He claimed Ford has a fluid specifically for this transmission that is only $8 a quart. I also saw the article on this website that mention using Amsoil which was cheaper.

3rd: the shop manual said to take loose a number of things that weren't necessary and led to the mistake I made. First it said to remove the battery compartment box and the transmission controller and the transmission shift lever. In actuality that means removing the battery which meant I had to unhook all the wires and also removing the ECM so I unhooked the wires from it and unhook the transmission control module as they said to. Also remove the glow plug module and unhook wires from it which led to extreme major problems because it didn't seat back correctly. Then the directions said to hook up your scan tool and warm the transmission to 70 to 80 degrees C and then to drain it specifically a certain way and to refill it with it at that temperature. Since I couldn't start mine without putting it all back together I did it cold which I mentioned cause some problems cause it showed full when it wasn't. In reality all I had to do besides removing the plastic undercover thing was to move the ECM out of the way and release a clip on the shift cable lift it out and move it over and then access the plug with an extension. Left battery and modules and transmission control module xcetera all hooked up. Now I was able to hook up my bi-directional scan tool and follow their directions with a much better results. I assume if you didn't have a scan tool that just warming it up from driving it would probably suffice but definitely don't do it cold like I did.

It was made much easier since I had a vehicle lift however I don't get around so well so it was still pretty frustrating the way they have it designed and you're up top pouring a little bit and then having to go down bottom to see if it's running out and then pore in a little more and the high dollar fluid you don't want to lose it if you don't have to. A helper would make this easy. In my case I added an additional one and a half to 2 quarts to the full level .Add that to the 2 Courts I had already put in and that's how much mine took your results May Vary.

My final complaint is that the way this is designed it requires losing fluid unnecessarily since you have to let it run out until it becomes a drip how stupid is that.


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## boraz (Aug 29, 2013)

yeah all that farting around would have been avoided had you read the stuff posted here.


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## Williz (May 13, 2020)

Does it have an overflow hole on the side of the transmission???


raffmanlt said:


> This is the aisin warner auto transmission in the cruze diesel. It irritates me that manufacturers are trying so hard to make it where only they can service our cars. This is certainly true here.
> 
> I have the shop manuals like dealership has, so my first attempt I followed their directions. On second attempt after understanding more about it and where everything is located I found a simplified of doing this. However, first and foremost the first attempt was a failure because I was unable to warm up the car . I followed the procedures except the fact that it was cold. It turns out that they are serious about it having to be at a specific temperature!!! Refilling it cold basically leaves you two quarts short which caused the transmission to slip. I was afraid My transmission was going to be ruined before I could get back from test drive. I am planning to start another thread with pics, tool sizes, torque specs and easier way to do than shop manual mentioned. This is a summary of important things to know.
> 
> ...


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## boraz (Aug 29, 2013)

no, lol


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Nope - the check plug is on the _bottom_ of the transmission. In the middle of the drain plug.


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## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

Williz said:


> Does it have an overflow hole on the side of the transmission???


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