YACT: Transmission Flush

[tRaptor]

I can't seem to find anything reliable, just people saying they get theirs done every 30k or so and then people that say never never do it cause it'll kill your transmission.

I know there are some car guys here, what are your opinions/experiences?

 

[JS80]

Is this a shens?

 

[tRaptor]

Originally posted by: JS80
Is this a shens?

WTF?

 

[tRaptor]

anyone?

 

[jlee]

If you have low miles or if the transmission has been flushed periodically, go for it. If you have lots of miles & the fluid hasn't been changed, you might not want to change it..it could be holding the tranny together.

 

[bmacd]

Originally posted by: CadetLee
If you have low miles or if the transmission has been flushed periodically, go for it. If you have lots of miles & the fluid hasn't been changed, you might not want to change it..it could be holding the tranny together.

/thread.

I've read on several different accounts the same thing that CadetLee just posted. If it weren't for the fact that I just had my tranny rebuilt a few thousand miles ago, I'd consider having it flushed.

-=bmacd=-

 

[acemcmac]

I had mine flushed at 70 and it completley changed the way the car ran. Definitley the right thing to do. The old fluid smelled burnt and had a pinkish-brownish color when its supposed to look ghostbusters2 pink.

 

[fbrdphreak]

I've never heard anyone say it'll kill your tranny. Depending on the car I might not want joe blow tuneup shop to do it tho.

Flush usually just hooks up a machine to inlet & outlet of tranny and runs fresh fluid through the entire thing, they're also supposed to have someone shifting gears to work the fluid through every part. Do this for a while and you get almost all new fluid. It can't hurt to do, dunno about every 30K tho. I might do it every 50-75K with regular tranny fluid changes in between, again depending on the car. A GM I had recommended tranny fluid change every 50K, so I would probly do a flush every 100K if you want to do that. However my Subbie recommends tranny fluid changes every 30K, so a flush every 60-90K would make more sense.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: CadetLee
If you have low miles or if the transmission has been flushed periodically, go for it. If you have lots of miles & the fluid hasn't been changed, you might not want to change it..it could be holding the tranny together.

Really? Link? Never heard anything like that...

 

[jlee]

http://www.myhonestmechanic.com/articles/transmission_slipping.shtml

If your vehicle has high mileage (> 80,000 miles) and the transmission has not been maintained, I would not recommend replacing the fluid and filter. The fluid that has been in the transmission all this time has become dirty and gritty. This gritty fluid is actually providing needed friction for the worn internal parts of the transmission.

Changing the fluid and replacing the filter would remove this friction that the internal transmission parts have become dependent on. If you have not been regularly maintaining the transmission throughout the life of the car, you might actually be doing more harm than good if you replace the transmission fluid at this point. For example, putting new clean slick transmission fluid in an older high mileage vehicle could cause the transmission to slip.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I changed my tranny fluid (what was in the resevoir) once and filter... I noticed that there were small metal shavings in the pan...there are actually magnets down there that catch the shavings....

It wouldn't hurt to change the fluid and filter and have it cleaned out really good at some point. I don't know what the milage should be, but you can probably add a lot to the number the manufacturer recommends... They usually want more business so they give you a very extreme estimate on when to get it serviced.

 

[Krazefinn]

A change is always good, those "friction particles" lol will only wear out the bearings and clutches. If your clutches are so shot they need sand too work, YOU NEED A NEW TRANNY!

First one at 12000 miles, cuz thats the majority of the wear. After that every 40K depends on conditions. heavy loads/race/towing more often, clean, light load, no dirty roads etc 50-60k. I also run synthetic trans fluid when available, and auxiliary cooler. Over a cetain temp, ATF burns out twice as fast every 10 degrees rise in operating temps.

Just like engine oil, first time new/rebuilt, AFTER 20 MINUTES. Then 500 miles, using regular pertroleum. Dont put synthetic until "broken in" as its lubricity is too high and may prevent the proper wear to break it in. Then every 5-7.5k depending on reccomendations using high efficeiency filter (very imp with high interval synthetic) and oil. Oh, btw, I routinely build my own morors and trans, and commonly put 300K + miles on them, or more.

 

[Sentinel]

Relative of mine had a car that stripped metal off the clutch and was floating around, told him he needed a new tranny. Said screw it, put the old fluid back in. Ran the car for another 100,000 miles til the engine died.

 

[Krazefinn]

I've had tranny shops bring me "my pan" with somebody elses parts in it...telling me I needed a multi-thousand dollar job. I know that sprag
A) was not from an old trans and
2) it would not come into pan in big piece or
III) it wouldnt drive like that. Same trhing, put in old fluid, changed myself, and drovwe 130k more.

But my point that if your tranny NEEDS sand in it to work, YOU NEED A NEW TRANNY!

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: Krazefinn
I've had tranny shops bring me "my pan" with somebody elses parts in it...telling me I needed a multi-thousand dollar job. I know that sprag
A) was not from an old trans and
2) it would not come into pan in big piece or
III) it wouldnt drive like that. Same trhing, put in old fluid, changed myself, and drovwe 130k more.

But my point that if your tranny NEEDS sand in it to work, YOU NEED A NEW TRANNY!

My point is that if your tranny works with sand in it, why bother fixing it until it breaks?

 

[Ramma2]

For an older car, don't flush, drop the pan. That way you're not mixing up bits of your trans and getting it where it's not supposed to go.

Messy job btw.

 

[jtvang125]

If it's bad for the transmission then why do the car manufacturers recommend replacing the fluid every xx,xxx miles or so?

 

[Heisenberg]

Originally posted by: jtvang125
If it's bad for the transmission then why do the car manufacturers recommend replacing the fluid every xx,xxx miles or so?

If you follow the service interval and do it every 30-40k miles then it's fine. If you don't change the fluid/filter for 100k, then you have problems with it.

Edit: Or yeah, read CadetLee's link.

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: jtvang125
If it's bad for the transmission then why do the car manufacturers recommend replacing the fluid every xx,xxx miles or so?

Read the link posted above.