[protovack]

This walk-through is for 2016 and up Camaro with either the 2.0T LTG or 3.6L LGX engine and the Tremec 3160 manual transmission.

I didn't see a specific post for this, so I figured I'd make one after doing this in my garage today. My goal for this thread is to put all the information in once place, so that anyone who wants to change their manual transmission fluid can do it, even without prior experience. I didn't take pictures but its pretty self-explanatory once you go through the steps. Nothing is difficult to find and this can be done in your garage. Everything you need to know is here. If anyone wants to add a picture of the rear part of the transmission where the fill and drain bolts are, that would be awesome. I might do it at some point. But you can find them without pictures very easily.

Indications for changing your fluid: the Camaro manual maintenance schedule under "normal use" does not specify changing the manual transmission fluid before 150,000 miles. However for "severe" use it does recommend changing it every 45,000 miles. Also, there are many anecdotal reports of improved shifting performance using after-market fluids.

FLUID: DEXRON VI automatic transmission fluid, ACDelco 10-9395 or equivalent (the SS w/ Tremec 6060 uses manual transmission fluid, the 3160 uses ATF).

FLUID CAPACITY: 2.7 liters (reference: Tremec 3160 specifications PDF, see attached below)

TOOLS REQUIRED:
- Fluid Pump for Gallon Bottles (pictured below--make sure you get the one for GALLON bottles not quart, as ATF is nearly always bought in larger jugs. Tip: buy a quart size one too, you'll need it for the rear differential fluid. Also consider buying two in case one fails)
- 3/8" drive ratchet
- Oil pan
- blue loctite or equivalent
- newspaper and shop rags/towels

PROCEDURE:
Make sure your transmission is in neutral, with the parking brake on.

Jack your car in the front, preferably using bolt-on lift pads in the approved location. These should be mounted at the very forward-most aspect of the pinch weld, with enough room behind them to place a jack stand. This thread is not an exhaustive discussion of how to jack your car, please see other threads for that. Jack the car at least until the front wheels are off the ground, the higher the better for accessing the transmission.

Oil pan goes under the rear-most part of the transmission. Put a bunch of newspaper down to soak up the ATF that will inevitably spill.

Locate the drain and fill bolts at the rear-most aspect. They are both visible from below and will have an orange-red thread sealer compound on them. The drain bolt actually says "drain" above it. The fill bolt is several inches above that and looks exactly the same. They both feature a square, 3/8" drive ratchet head.

Using your 3/8" drive ratchet, loosen the fill bolt (the top one) until it loosens by hand. You may hear some gas escaping, like a hissing sound, this is normal. Remove the bolt and set aside.

Move on to the drain bolt. Make sure your oil pan is in position and be aware that the fluid drains much faster than engine oil. When you feel the bolt is almost out, turn away and do not have your face near the oil pan or bolt. There is usually a splash! Allow the fluid to drain completely.

Take the two bolts out from under the car and set them on your workbench for inspection. There may be some crumbling thread sealer on them, and other deposits. You can use a stiff toothbrush to clean them as best you can, but they don't have to be perfect. You do not have to remove the OEM thread sealer from the entire bolt, but IMO you should clean at least the first 2-3 threads to where there isn't anything on them and they look clean.

Now put some medium blue threadlocker on the end of the threads. I'm not sure what the OEM orange stuff is, if someone figures it out please post in this thread. But, blue loctite should be entirely sufficient for this.

Back under the car, clean off the ports as best you can and replace the drain bolt. The best torque spec I could find for this was on a mustang site and it said 21 lb/ft, which seems low to me. My bolt was marked with blue ink and I turned it back to line up with the factory marking and it felt like more than 21 lb/ft but not a whole lot more. Since this isn't a load bearing bolt, and is not subject to very extreme temperatures, it doesn't matter that much, but try to get it to roughly the same torque as it had coming off.

Get your ATF fluid and attach your transfer pump, slide it under the car and position it in a convenient place so you can operate the pump (the higher the car is jacked, the easier this is).

Place the transfer pump tube in the upper fill hole (there should be plenty of room). Begin pumping. I didn't count but it's going to take a few hundred pumps to get to 2.7 liters. You don't need to know for sure because when its full, fluid will begin to leak out of the filling hole. At that point it is full. I measured my fluid before and after, and with the fluid just at level of the fill hole, it was almost exactly 2.7 liters.

Replace the upper fill bolt.

That's it! Well, except for cleaning all that wonderful smelling ATF off your garage floor.

[boo_blaster]

Great info

Here's a picture of the drain and fill bolts. Like OP said, the fluid comes out with a lot of force, so prepare to be splashed

[wintertopdown]

I just hit 70k. Should I perform this?

[wookwook]

Hey THANKS for this... would love to see more of the process in detail but its good anyways.

[protovack]

Originally Posted by wintertopdown

I just hit 70k. Should I perform this?

You certainly dont need to. If you drive hard and at high rpms, id say yes.