Ok, I used the info here and from loads of videos to service my 845RE in my 3.6L Ram yesterday at 81,100 miles. I'm looking to pick some brains (especially
@Wild one ) with regards to my experience. Couple of things to note first...
1. I used this PPE Pan with an advertised 2 quarts additional capacity
2. I Have Bilstein 5100s at 2.1" on the truck (raising the front stock rake to level the truck)
I had to raise the truck nearly 12" in the rear to get the transmission pan rail almost level (I ran out of height on the floor jack and the bubble was about a 1/4 -1/5 off level). Not alarming as I see his as a result of the front being raised an additional 2" over stock height. I drained the truck from stone cold, sat overnight at least 16 hours in my workshop and was never started before draining. The expected amount of transmission Fluid came out at a little over the 5qt mark in my drain pan (if I had to guess I'd say 5 1/2qts).
On to filling, following the procedures on the green card and keeping in mind I'm using a pan that holds an additional two quarts, I was able to fill the transmission with nearly 9 quarts of fluid. 4 ounces were left over in the 9th quart after emptying all of the bottles into one to get a better idea of how much was used (the bottom of each quart had fluid left that the pump didn't reach. There were also times during the prefill (before engine start) and the running fill (with engine started) that if I didn't have the barbed end of the pump in and angled just right fluid would come out during pumping from splashing off an interior transmission part (I believe this amount was negligible though maybe 1/2quart of waste total throughout the service). The temperature at engine start was 77 degrees for the transmission.
Prior to service, I didn't really have any problems with the transmission other than if I started the truck and immediately shifted into gear to go it would take a while for things to spin up and start moving the truck forward out of the garage from a cold start (maybe 5-10 seconds, is this the torque convertor filling?). In addition, over the past 10 years of ownership I would experience hard downshifts from 8-7 or 7-6 at highway speeds only if the vehicle was driven for a long time (2-3+ hours).
I took the vehicle on a test drive yesterday after service and everything shifts smooth. No difference from before service. This morning I wanted to see what it acted like driving immediately after startup and it started moving quickly at idle with no hesitation (but I had to back out when normally I'm pulling forward so I'll get a better comparison tomorrow). I expected my temperatures to be lower with the PPE pan but at 81 degrees for the initial drive the temperatures reached 194 and at 61 degrees today the temperature was about 188 (prior to the change my temperatures would run anywhere from 185-195 under normal driving no load).
My only real concern and question for everyone is: is the amount of fluid it took to get the fluid to run out of the fill port with the truck leveled? I was between temps when I filled the almost 9qts and buttoned her up, when I got up and around to the other side of the truck to turn off the temps was 125, but I believe I was already done before it reached that temperature and was just slow in turning it off (temp get warm pretty quick on this). Is it possible to drain the expected 5qts from the stock pan and still have been running low on transmission fluid this whole time (possibly explaining the time it took to get power from the engine to the wheels on a cold start)? If it was low, I wonder if this could also explain the rough shifting on longer drives at highway speeds and flooring it to pass (sometimes).
Here are some pictures from my service for reference, do these magnets seem like they have an excessive amount of material on them for 81,100 miles and no prior service to the transmission?
View attachment 542417View attachment 542418View attachment 542419View attachment 542420View attachment 542421
