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Does anyone know how many miles it takes to warm up the fluid. I have heard that it take about 20 miles of driving to get the temp. up to where it should be when checked warm... Am I correct with this theory...

nah....won't take that long. a few miles 5 or so should do it....probably even less.

Hmm, 5 miles? I checked it the other day after driving it 5 miles, and it didn't feel hot at all, or even all that warm. I know after 20 miles the fluid is warm, because that is how many miles I go when I check the hot side of the dip stick.

i just put in a temp guage for the atf. i to thought it would heat up like engine coolant, but no. it takes at least a good 30 mins of normal traffic driving to get up to temp, according to the guage around 160-180*f.
then when you are at highway speed (110km/h in oz) it runs at about half the temp

Yeah, the ATF cooler doesn't have a thermostat, so it can stay cold. It does exchange heat with the engine coolant in the radiator, but depending on how hot your engine gets it may not get much heat there.

Something not related, I have also been told that it is a good thing to change the engine oil after driving roughly 20 miles, this gets the oil nice and hot, and loosens the junk up before draining the oil.

all you're going to get by running the car 20 miles and changing the oil is a burnt hand.

I usually warm the car up by just lettign it idle for 5 min or so before i change the oil.

MK

Josh, are you saying the oil drains just as well when cold as when hot? I've read many times over that the oil should be at least warm to make sure it drains quickly and pulls as much particulate matter out with it as possible.

I've never gotten oil on my hands when removing the drain plug on a Subaru. The filter's a different issue, though, but that can be resolved by stabbing the bottom with a screwdriver first to allow the oil to drain out.

Oh, and I definitely recommend the Fumoto valve. Oil changes now require no tools and even fewer minutes.

I've never burned my hands by getting the oil nice and hot, but I also wear latex gloves which help some.

However I have burned my arms by getting the ATF nice and hot before changing it on my Mercedes, which is a whole other story.

New Question, is it ok to slightly overfill these transmissions, I can't get the fluid level just right, and it keeps going slightly over the full mark...

I will run my engine a little to warm the oil up, but I don't get it scalding hot.

My mechanic seems to think its OK. I had overfilled mine a fair amount...and didn't have time to deal with it, was leaving on a trip, etc, so I brought it by my mechanic for something else, and asked him to check it and fix it, but he said it was fine. Still kinda worries me though.
Micum

vrg3: Where can the Fumoto valve be purchased? Sounds like a time-saver.

http://www.fumotovalve.com/

I'm sure there's cheaper places though

Yeah, I got mine from fumotovalve.com. They were really nice and helpful.

I don't even know where else you can buy it. There is a product from Fram called "SureDrain" which is similar I think, but I'd trust Fumoto over Fram. If I remember correctly, Subaru actually gave the Fumoto valve "OEM replacement" status or something.

F105 is the appropriate valve. F105N has a nipple on it for attaching a hose, but it hangs a little lower.

thawa and vrg3: Thanks for the info!

np