TIA
My 97 Chevy Lumina has 208,000 miles. The filter was changed at around 20,000 miles then nothing except for very rare addition of fluid.
It works perfectly.
My late father in law was a transmission mechanic. He said if nothing is wrong, don’t bother
Full drain and flush. The body itself of the trans holds only about 3-5 quarts of fluid, while the torque converter holds more. Replacing only half the fluid is a waste of time and money, because as soon as you start the vehicle, you have nothing but dirty fluid, even with a new filter.
A fluids (trans, differentials, power steering, brake, t-case, etc.) change is a very good idea every 5 years or so, as vehicles last for many more miles now than they did in the old days, and while oil doesn’t wear out, it does get contaminated and the detergents and additives do end up being used up.
JMHO, YMMV.
It is almost impossible to just drain and refill and then put on a new gasket and get a 100% seal and have all of the screws perfectly re-inserted. Best to do a flush and refill. Stay away from ever removing and replacing the gasket.
Depends on the tranny ,, old tranny’s had big clearances and no electronic components ,, I’d flush and fill those..
Newer transmissions have electronic actuators and much tighter fitting parts... They are difficult to flush... Best advice is not to abuse them.. overheated fluid will cause deposits and make plungers and actuators to stick. I have resolved serious problems with 4 newer auto’s with autorx.com ,, a very slow acting and safe cleaner that dissolves varnishes. A Taurus with 150k that broke completely out of gear in U-Turns (1st gear , high load) , a Mercedes that was very slow to shift until it warmed up and the fluid thinned.. a GM 4L30 that took ages to change from forward to reverse... and a Honds Civic with 400k+ miles that was simply screwing up in multiple ways... if it’s a sticking, gummed up issue and not failed parts autorx.com will usually fix it.
If it is broken parts .. good luck , most transmission shops are pretty spotty on their quality ,, I’d almost prefer a junkyard transmission to a rebuilt.
Through very expensive experience, I now have the Transmissions maintained to BG specs, with a flush and new fluids every 36,000 miles.
The book said they were sealed for life.
NEVER buy a Nissan with a CVT ... avoid CVT’s in general...
Just flushed and replaced filter with amsoil. Noticeable difference in shifting in my 8 speed GMC Sierra. I switch everything to amsoil even rear end and four wheel.
I’ve had good luck with backflushing the trans fluid through the cooler lines. To me it’s reasonable to clean the entire system this way as opposed to dropping the pan and changing the filter and fluid in the pan only. I had a 67 Camaro with a Turbo 350 that died. My brother in law gave me a Turbo 400 that had set in his shop for 35 years so I put a new filter in it, installed it in the car where it immediately began hesitating shift points. Took in in for a back flush and it ran perfectly after that. Also had a Buick that began to give trouble despite routine fluid/filter replacement. Had it backflushed and fixed the problem. Dropping the pan fluid/filter replacement works most of the time but backflushing should be considered if the cheaper method doesn’t work.
Don’t flush. I’ve heard of too many transmission going haywire because of it, including my daughters 1985 F150.
The seals and other parts cannot take it, especially if there are additives in the flush that wreck the seals. There is some sludge and dirt in the seals/bearing/bushing areas that become dislodged and do not make it out of the transmission or get trapped in the filter. They will ruin bushings and valves.
Just do a simple oil and filter change.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
While on the subject of flushing, I worked for a lunatic once that grew up flushing engines with a quart of diesel before the oil change. For engines of the pre 1970’s era, maybe that’s OK.
But this jerk did it to brand new Honda’s that used 0W20 which is like water to begin with. A modern engine capable of 200,000 miles or better between overhauls cannot take that kind of abuse. I suggest that modern transmissions with the newer special fluids should be treated similar. Just follow the manufacturers recommendations only.
Pressure systems are for vehicles that have no drainplug in the torque converter.
leaving fluid in the converter can bite you in the ass down the line. Otherwise Do whatever the factory recommends.
I have cleared 300k on two GM trucks with NOTHING done to transmissions. Just checked the levels occasionally.
Several important pieces of information missing.
1) Is it a Chrysler product? If so, how many tens of thousands of miles does it have on it?
2) If it is not a Chrysler product, how many hundreds of thousands of miles does it have on it?
Hmmm, I have bought at least 8 3/4 ton Chevy Silverado Trucks, every last one went over 250,000 without ever Touching the transmission. or anything else but regular maintenance, brakes at 150,000, oil change,...
My mechanic wouldn’t do a pressure flush on mine because I hadn’t had it done at 30k miles. He said if it wasn’t done then doing it later (130k) it was recommended against because it could cause more harm than good
Cars is running fine
There is no combustion within a transmission. The obvious stated, the only soiling of the fluid will occur from wear of the clutches. However, what happens in t-fluid is the same thing which occurs in the engine (aside from combustion byproduct degradation):
Heat degradation of the additives which give the fluid its protective properties.
That stated, reducing the additive content by diluting old fluid with new fluid is just dumb. Flushing is not an “added service”:
It is the ONLY RECOMMENDED SERVICE for transmissions with a torque converter.
Intervals, of course, will vary depending on type of driving & climate. Hotter ambient temps make for higher operating temps, as does lack of auxiliary coolers. Towing slashes the life of t-fluid and it should be replaced based on inspection of the fluid itself even after one hard haul up a pass, all things considered.
Failure to monitor t-fluid condition and/or replace it annually are the greatest causes of transmission failure second only to abusive use (towing, hard driving, etc.).
Btw, fluid color is not necessarily an indicator that the fluid is Ok, harkening back to my comment about annual replacement for low-use vehicles. However, fluid color is definitely an indicator going the other way (replace/bad).
.02
Note: This is collated from multiple conversations with a now-deceased Conservative independent transmission shop owner with over 30 years experience at the time. He flushed every tranny with a service and sent people packing who didn’t want to spend the extra $$ for the fluid & extra time. fwiw
I had a (used) BMW 7-series and when it got to 150,000 miles I had the transmission serviced. It developed a transmission problem within a month or two. From now on, if it ain’t broke, I ain’t fixin’ it.
I have not had the transmission flushed or drained. I leave it alone.
My old 1992 Honda Accord would get stuck in gear sometimes. The fix was to pull the fuse that ran the computer that ran the transmission. Basically you reboot the computer. Known issue but I bet the dealership and transmission shops never mentioned it to their victims er... customers.
If you hear a ticking noise in any honda you may think you just need the valves adjusted but you may find the camshaft needing replacing due to wear and not because of oil but bad manufacturing. I read up on my honda and found it goes on for many years before and after 2003 which is my honda accord and in other countries too. I saw one post about someone in Norway having the issue.
My cars will only have their transmissions serviced by dealers with solid reputations....and then only as necessary - not 'as recommended" by the service shops.
drop the pan, change the filter and magnet, clean the pan thoroughly and reinstall. Add new fluid. the old fluid in the torque converter will pass through the filter and magnet. easy peasy.... i do this in my garage