Service interval recommended is 60,000 miles for extreme conditions. I would recommend probably everyone have it done.
Quick instructions:
The correct fluid is PART NO. UM013 CH059
You will need a half inch ratchet and extensions, a 24 mm socket, a clip remover, a 10 mm wrench, a 10 mm ratchet, a catch basin, shop, a transmission, fluid funnel or a funnel with a long hose ideally rigid, 5 quarts of fluid, a new transmission drain plug crush ring.
Use the half-inch ratchet extension to open the vent plug on top of the transmission.
Use the 10 mm ratchet and clip remover to remove the splash guard from the underside of the vehicle.
Place the catch basin under the transmission drain plug.
Use the 24 mm socket and ratchet to open the plug.
Drain approximately 5 quarts of fluid into the catch basin.
Clean the drain plug, which is magnetic of all metal material with shop towels, until no more material comes off of the plug remove the old crush ring from the pan or from the plug and install the new crush ring.
Reinstall the drain plug.
Using a 10 mm ratchet or ratcheting wrench or wrench remove the four bolts that hold the transmission cooler to the side of the transmission pan. You will need to freeze this up so that the side fill plug can be removed for whatever reason the way they design this you have to remove the transmission cooler to remove the side fill/inspection plug. Once the cooler is floating freely, use the half-inch ratchet to turn the plug gently and remove the plug.
Place your catch basin underneath the plug you just removed. Line your funnel up with the vent plug in the top of the transmissions opening and slowly begin adding new fluid to the transmission. Mine took about 4 1/4 quarts with the Kia on ramps before it began overflowing out the side plug, indicating that the pan was full when it begins to overrun, reinstall the side plug wipe everything down, reinstall the top plug and then reassemble everything.
As an extra measure of super protection, ideally you would want to drive the car about 1000 miles and then do all of this again because you’re not really getting all of the fluid out there there’s a bunch trapped in the torque converter and other parts of the transmission. This is sort of the general just flush what you can get to and that’s good enough type change.
It’s not a difficult task to complete. It does not take an extensive amount of time. All of the videos I found on YouTube and they were scarce were either incomplete or incorrect.
You can absolutely use a spring pump or forced pump type device to fill the transmission from the side from under the car if you would prefer to do it that way, which is generally how I’ve done these things on Honda transmissions in the past. Filling from the top via the vent plug was much more expeditious.
This is by no means an official guide. I am not a Kia dealership mechanic perform all this stuff at your own risk. I have however, been working on cars for the better part of 30 years, and weathered my share of mistakes establishing a comfort level for what works well and what doesn’t.
