Get some SeaFoam Trans Tune. Put that in there now, Drive it for a while, say 50-100 miles. This will loosen and dissolve any varnish and other stuff in there. Then drain it, put the pan back on, and refill with the old filter. Drive around for about 10-15 minutes like this, I would say around town is best...get it all mixed up.
Then bring it home and dump again, watch out, its SUPER hot. Now take out the filter, just pull straight down from the neck of it, twisting a little wont hurt, just don't push it any way it doesn't want to go, that would break it off inside and then it kinda gets annoying.
Now install the new filter, clean the pan and magnet out, nice and clean. Then take the new gasket and apply that to the pan. You might need some petroleum jelly to keep it in place as it has probably been curled up in the box. Now torque all bolts gradually, in a criss cross pattern, to about 14 lb-ft. Now reinstall the fluid in the transmission, start the car and you're done! Make sure to check for leaks.

Parts/Tools needed:
1 Torque Wrench
1 Jar Petrolleum Jelly
1 Ratchet w/Socket
12 qts Dexron transmission fluid (6 per each refill)
1 bottle of SeaFoam TransTune
1 ProKing Transmission Kit (this one is recommended because it comes with a rubber gaskets and not just a cork one)

*edit* sorry about the offtopic don, i was typing this when you were typing yours.

The fluid is a light brown / red combination sort of. It'* hard to describe.

I'll probably end up dumping the pan to change the filter. I bought car stands to work under the car yesterday. How long should flushing the system take?

We'll find out on saturday morning how much changing the fuel filter will have an effect on starting the car in the morning since it'* being changed tomorrow.

You might want to soak the fittings of that fuel filter in PB Blaster before even ATTEMPTING to move it. If you're not careful, you'll twist the whole line. Its quite strong so probably not going to happen, but if they're rusty it will.

Oh, I tried that already. It still wouldn't budge. I'm having a mechanic replace it otherwise I would've had it done yesterday. I didn't want to break anything that would cause a lot more problems.


FYI: The oil is good in the car. It has been changed every 3k. I'll end up changing the transmission fluid around the. I want to focus on making the car start better first. Once it'* running, it runs great.

It seems like it was much harder to start this morning. It cranked for much longer than it did yesterday morning. I'll look into renting a fuel pressure gauge.

I got the new fuel filter installed now. It took a couple seconds of cranking for it to run. We'll see in the morning how well it starts.

Can someone tell me how to use the a fuel pressure tester to see if the fuel pressure is actually dropping significantly overnight?

There may be some instructions that come with the gauge.

If not, I think the basic idea is to put the gauge on the fuel rail fitting (looks like a big tire valve), start the car, make sure the running pressure is okay, shut off the car, and watch and see if it holds it'* pressure. It should hold at the same pressure until the next time it'* started. If not, then you probably have a faulty pressure regulator. You could even leave the gauge on overnight, or while you're at work. Probably have to leave the hood up though...

Thanks. Is there a place I can rent one of them? I don't have the cash on me right now to buy one.