How to Check and Fill Fluids 2002-08 Dodge Ram 5-7L

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Checking your fluids on a regular basis, usually 2 to 3 times between oil changes, is a critical and often overlooked part of proper vehicle maintenance. Keeping your fluids topped off and in good condition will help with the longevity of all your parts. Keep your vehicle running better longer.

Open your hood and locate your fluid reservoirs. You have brake fluid, oil, oil dipstick, power steering fluid reservoir, washer fluid reservoir, coolant expansion tank, radiator cap, and your automatic transmission dipstick.

Open the reservoir for your brake fluid. Inspect the condition of the fluid. It should look like green tea. Any kind of milkiness or dark discolorations are signs of contamination from water and other sources. Anything in that condition, you're going to want to flush out.

Ensure that the master cylinder is at least above the minimum line. As your brake pads wear out, this fluid level will drop below max. Perfectly normal. That fluid needs to fill in the void left behind the brake caliber pistons as the pads wear out and the pistons move out farther. Only top off your fluid after you've replaced all your brake pads.

When the engine has been sitting for at least a few seconds after running, remove your dipstick, wipe the oil off. Reinstall it all the way into the tube. Be careful if it feels like it's resisting not to bend it. You want to ensure that your fluid is inside of these hash marks here. The top of the hash marks indicate that your engine oil is full. Half way in between is going to be down half a quart, like you see here with our motor. At the line will be down a quart. Anything below the bottom mark is going to be more than a quart.

Start by adding the quart and see where it falls on the dipstick. If your fluid level is inside of the hash marks, simply reinstall your dipstick, otherwise you'll remove the cap and add the appropriate amount of oil.

Remove the cap on the power steering reservoir. These can get pretty cloudy. Difficult to see in. Put a flashlight into the opening. It's a lot easier to see that dark line is our fluid level. You can read our minimum and maximum lines. Looks like we need to top ours off a little bit. Put a clean funnel into the opening on your reservoir, refill the fluid, approved ATF plus four automatic transmission fluid. Once the fluid level is full, remove the funnel, reinstall your cap.

Remove the cap on your washer fluid reservoir. Fill to capacity. Reinstall your cap. Your coolant overflow tank is located on the back of the radiator. Fills from the top here. Make sure the coolant is between the top full line and the minimum line at the bottom. There's no need to remove the radiator cap as long as your expansion tank has coolant in it, your radiator should as well. No need to remove it unless this reservoir is completely empty. If you do need to take it off for any reason, make sure that the vehicle has cooled down completely and there's no pressure left in the system. Push down and rotate the cap half a turn. That allows any system pressure to bleed off without letting the cap come off. Another turn. Remove your cap. Reinstall. Two firm clicks clockwise.

In order to check your transmission fluid properly, you'll have to start the vehicle. Let it get up to operating temperature. With the engine running and the transmission in park, clear your dipstick, reinstall, and check your fluid level. Make sure the fluid level is between the cold and hot marks, depending on the temperature. We've just gotten our vehicle running and up to operating temp. We're just above the cold mark. That's fine.

After running the vehicle for a while, driving around and letting the transmission get up to temp, should be up to the hot side. Your levels all right. Reinstall the dipstick. You're good to go. If you're transmission fluid is low, install a skinny funnel into the dipstick tube and refill your fluid from there.

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