Jacking Up Car to Change Transmission Fluid

Video Transcript

"In this step, we're going to talk about the proper jacking procedure for raising the front of our vehicle up to gain access to the bolts in the transmission pan. We're also going to talk about placement of our jack stands and setting the vehicle down onto those for safety. You're going to want to pay particular attention to where you place your floor jack. You're not going to want to place it on the bottom of the radiator core support or any front end components that may be bent or damaged by the weight of the vehicle as you jack it up. What you're going to want to look for is a very solid piece of the engine cradle or sub frame. You're never going to want to jack it up by the oil pan. I'm on a nice piece of sub frame right now. I'm going to go ahead and begin jacking the vehicle. That should be high enough. Now I'm going to slip underneath and place my jack stands on a similar sturdy component. As you can see, I have a very strong piece of structure here. These are the tie down hooks when they ship the vehicle on the truck. That's going to indicate a very sturdy component in this pinch weld. I'm going to adjust jack stands up to make contact with it right there. I'm going to set my other jack stand in the same component on the other side of the vehicle. Once you have your jack stands set, you can release the tension on your floor jack and allow the vehicle to settle on the jack stands. Your vehicle may want to roll slightly as you let it down, so let it down very slowly and make sure your jack stands stay in alignment. Once you assure that your floor jack stands are seated, you can go ahead and release the rest of the pressure very easily right there. That is the proper way to jack up and support a front-wheel drive vehicle."