Transmission fluid change/flush

[Atty]

Got my oil changed yesterday and they looked at my transmission fluid, I guess its supposed to be pink/redish, well mine is very black.

They do a Transmission flush/change/whatever for $99.95. Wondering if thats a good price, can I do it myself? Shop around? Do I REALLY need to do it?

108k '99 Camry. Got it at 86k from my Mom, guess this bit of maintenance slipped.

 

[Howard]

Drain and fill. Repeat for a total of 3 times.

 

[thescreensavers]

Many people would advise not to change your transmission fluid at all, after 80k.

 

[Atty]

Many people would advise not to change your transmission fluid at all, after 80k.

Why is that?

 

[NutBucket]

It can cause more harm that good if the fluid has never been changed.

There are many schools of thought and its hard to say which is best. Personally, I believe in the school that said just keep the fluid topped off at this point.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

That's not a bad price OP. The dealer did a free flush on my (presumbly never before changed/flushed) 98 Cavvy when I got it with ~77k miles in 2006. Just did another when I changed the spark plugs earlier this year at ~105k miles.

Been running absolutely fine and shifts better.

 

[Bad Dude]

It can cause more harm that good if the fluid has never been changed.

There are many schools of thought and its hard to say which is best. Personally, I believe in the school that said just keep the fluid topped off at this point.

Stop going to that school. They train car killers. For good maintenance, it need a drain a fill every 30k or latest 40k miles. You can do this yourself. Unless there's something wrong with your transmission performance, DO NOT FLUSH with forceful machine.

Drain and fill 3 times and drive at least 1000 miles in between drain and fill.

The same thing with the power steering, no one ever service it. Like everything else, it needs service. 50k is best to do it. Otherwise your rack will clog up with dirt and leak prematurely.

 

[Pacfanweb]

It's a good price. Get it flushed.

Whatever damage that might have been done by not having it changed for 80k miles is already done. All that will happen by NOT changing the fluid is more damage.

Flush it. In your case, you might want to change the filter, or screen, too.

All a flush is, is a machine that hooks up to your transmission lines, and exchanges the fluid....there is no "back flush" or any of the crap you hear about it....you pump the old fluid out while the tranny sucks new fluid in.

This gets ALL of the old fluid out of the tranny, which a drain/refill can never do. And it doesn't "pressurize" the trans...it uses the tranny's own internal pump.

 

[HarryLui]

Why changed the fluid? You can change transmission later!

 

[desy]

finally, pac gives complete accurate advice

 

[thomsbrain]

Some manufacturers (Honda, for instance) are very adamant about NOT flushing the transmission, period. A single drain and fill as needed is the recommended maintenance.

 

[desy]

Honda uses different transmisions
an exception

"Choosing the right fluid is not really negotiable in an automatic. Import ATF is different from most domestic fluids because of the type of gears, and friction surfaces used. Thicker oils or the wrong viscosity ATF can cause a clutch to drag on release or slip when applied, destroying them in short order. ATF used by transmissions with planetary gear sets will usually foam up when it hits rotating parts, but this lubrication is needed for a Honda transmission, as it uses individual gears, so the oil needed in that transmission will need to be thicker, and have additives to prevent foaming."

 

[obamanation]

Stop going to that school. They train car killers. For good maintenance, it need a drain a fill every 30k or latest 40k miles. You can do this yourself. Unless there's something wrong with your transmission performance, DO NOT FLUSH with forceful machine.

Drain and fill 3 times and drive at least 1000 miles in between drain and fill.

The same thing with the power steering, no one ever service it. Like everything else, it needs service. 50k is best to do it. Otherwise your rack will clog up with dirt and leak prematurely.

I think the guy was confused or you're confused, or we're all confused.. The rule is, if the transmission fluid has never been replaced and the transmission is an automatic and has like 150K miles on it, don't replace it because it could fall apart. Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't replace the transmission fluid, it just means that if you've gone past the point of no return, there is no return. Even though Toyota claims you don't need to change the fluid on their transmissions anymore, I'd still do it especially if the fluid looks contaminated.. Just because it isn't in the service schedule, doesn't mean it's not a good idea especially if you plan on using the car well beyond 100K miles (which is pretty much Toyota considers "EOL"). (You can see this as indicated by the Service Schedule in the Owner's Manual). If the car companies actually cared about people using their vehicles for 30 years, 1 million miles, they won't have fluids that "last the life of the car" because that would be ridiculous.

Honda doesn't use transmissions with planetary gears as oppsed to EVERY other car manufacturer cause they didn't want to pay the licensing.
They are the exception he talking about a Camry

The only Automatic Honda Transmission that doesn't have planetary gears is the Hondamatic which they no longer make as it was basically a 2-speed transmission (two forward, one reverse).

 

[NutBucket]

Stop going to that school. They train car killers. For good maintenance, it need a drain a fill every 30k or latest 40k miles. You can do this yourself. Unless there's something wrong with your transmission performance, DO NOT FLUSH with forceful machine.

Drain and fill 3 times and drive at least 1000 miles in between drain and fill.

This is also why my family and I haven't had a car with an automatic transmission in over 30 years I'm considering getting one in the "beater" but it really just depends on what I find.

 

[Atty]

So...do I have them flush it or what? So much arguing to get a real answer.

It has been changed before, it is filthy black fluid, so do I have them do it?

 

[HeXen]

if its black, you have more problems than a fluid change. I went to a mechanics school and had a transmission rebuild classes, but i never heard of fluid turning black. at least that was never discussed. usually the fluid gets light colored over time, newer transmissions never really need a change, some auto companies recommend you dont.

sounds like its getting way hotter than normal or everything is getting so worn all the particles make it look black but i'd say its excessive heat.
but yeah, get the change though i'd bet your tranny is on its way out.

 

[Pacfanweb]

So...do I have them flush it or what? So much arguing to get a real answer.

It has been changed before, it is filthy black fluid, so do I have them do it?

Yes, flush it. Or have it changed the old-fashioned way. Either way, get the fluid changed.


And yes, fluid will turn black if it's left in there long enough.....it absolutely does NOT get "lighter" as it ages.....unless you can show me a transmission that has white material that would wear off its clutches and make the fluid 'lighter' in color.

Oh, and that was great info from someone a few posts back about Honda not recommending flushes for their transmissions......if we were talking about a Honda.

 

[HarryLui]

So...do I have them flush it or what? So much arguing to get a real answer.

It has been changed before, it is filthy black fluid, so do I have them do it?

Change the fluid. Unless you want to change the transmission sooner rather than later.


Speaking from someone that has 210k on his original automatic Saturn transmission that gets serviced every 30k.

 

[thescreensavers]

^ Yes thats good, but OP has not changed his fluid in 108k miles if the old fluid is keeping everything sealed and working, the new fluid with fresh detergents will clean it out and could render the tranny useless. Why do you think tranny shops wont touch the fluid after 80k, they do not want to be held liable.

OP if you do get it done, make sure if something does go wrong the shop can be held liable imo.

Also make sure they actually do the work, it happens all the time when they will charge you tell you its done but they did not touch it.

 

[HarryLui]

You know, with all the car's experiences I have and all the old cars forums I visits, not once, I have read that changing the fluid harm the transmission from the people that actually did their own fluid change, even if they bought the car used with unknown history.

But what do I know, the newest car I have is a 94... with 300k, I only put 10k on it.

 

[thescreensavers]

The problem is not changing the fluid as you are suppose to do that. But its not changing it for over 90k+ miles is the problem.

 

[HarryLui]

Do you have any specific examples that shows changing fluid on a 100k+ transmission cause the transmission to fail shortly?

 

[Gibson486]

There are two types of flushes. One is simply dropping the pan and letting the fluid flow , the other is doing the actual flush where they drop the pan, let it flow and put it in drove to cycle the old fluid out.. Either way, they are both called flushes. The former is the cheap way to do it and no reputable dealer would it that way.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Do you have any specific examples that shows changing fluid on a 100k+ transmission cause the transmission to fail shortly?

No, nobody does...at least not enough to make these claims of 'failure after fluid change at high mileage' valid.

I can tell you that I've personally changed fluid on, and seen changed, hundreds and hundreds of 60k+ cars and never seen one come back anytime soon enough after that we thought the fluid replacement caused the problem.

COULD it happen? Sure, I guess....but if your trans fluid hasn't been changed for 100k, how do you know it wasn't going to fail soon, anyway? The one thing you DO know is, the life of that trans is already greatly reduced, and the longer you go on that old fluid, the shorter the life is going to get.....think of it as a candle burning on both ends.

 

[AMCRambler]

Definitely get it done. There's also a filter in the pan usually that should be changed at some point too. Check your owners manual and see when they recommend replacing that. If the shop is going to do the flush, it might be worth asking them what it would cost to have them do the filter while they've got the transmission drained.