0utlier

Hey,

I was at my local European car mechanic (it's small town) as I wanted to get all the fluids changed / tune up on my 90 s4 automatic. I have the receipts since 2000 but I don't see anything about transmission, PSD, or radiator work.

The guy said if I didn't know when the transmission fluid was last changed, and it's possible it's been MANY MANY years and MANY MANY miles it would probably be better not to change the fluid at all. He said he's seen several transmissions, that missed regular maintenance, die shortly after a trans flush. He said something about shavings getting caught back up in the transmission or something like that. This doesn't sound right to me.

The car drives great now, and I've had no problems in the 6 months I've had it. I just want to get all caught up with regular maintenance and have a baseline for future reference. Thank you for your time.

blown 87

Does the fluid smell burnt?

I have heard this tale many times over.

At our shop we are on our third transmission
flush machine and have never had one go bad from a flush.

I am sure that it has happened at some point, but I have never had a mechanic that has had that happen to them or that knows any one first hand that it has happened to.

From what I can gather from the tools guys (Snap-On, Macto and Mac) Is that on a few of the early chevy transmissions that we on there way out that it could happen and did.

The tool guys could not tell me of any of there clients that had had it happen to them.

I always tell folks that want a transmission flush of the possibilty of that, mainly because I am not going to buy somebody a transmission that is worn out because I just did a flush on it.

That being said, I am sure of this, a transmission will last a lot longer if you change the fluid every 20,000-30,000 miles.

On my own cars, I will change it when I first get the car regardless of the condition of the fluid and then on schedule after that or when ever it starts to discolor or smell.

Greg N

Loaded

Old Chryslers Torqueflite are the worst... if you have one that works then leave it alone

morganabowen

I've had two 928s, and both have had the tranny flushed and the filter changed, and both seemed to run better

Fogey1

blown 87 wrote:
... From what I can gather from the tools guys (Snap-On, Macto and Mac) Is that on a few of the early chevy transmissions that we on there way out that it could happen and did. ...


Greg,

In '02, I had the trans flushed in my "95 Caprice cop car and lost a gear within a month, so I guess I'm a data point. The car had 120K plus on it but had been flawless until then.

I wasn't impressed with the lube shop monkey that did it, but by then it was too late.

I know I wish I'd just had it emptied and refilled twice within a week.

I'd welcome any comment/expansion you might care to make. The fluid on the Lexus smells fine, but it's not cherry red anymore, sort of dusty rose and less transparent.

SharkSkin

I'd say change the fluid. If it's done right, e.g. pull the pan, clean it up replace filter & drain torque converter in the process, you should be fine. If your reference to flushing implies putting anything other than trans fluid in there, I'd say DON'T.

Fogey1

Thanks Dave,

The flush on the Caprice was done with a machine and trans fluid. Other stuff, eewww!

dr bob

More than a few "flushes" are donw without changing the filter or pulling the pan. It makes some sense that crud and debris in the pan might get pulled up. Syuff that's stuck in the filter might get pulled through.

If you are concerned about doing a machine flush, consider doing the normal drain, pull and clean the pan, new filter, refill method. There's nothing in the normal procedure that would cause you to foul a servo or valve, since you are not doing anything that the trans doesn't do normally. It just does it with clean fluid now.

heinrich

I agree with your mechanic.

If you replace the fluids, evil little purple aliens will invade your left earlobe and cause the Western Nations to rise against the Karborian Belt and create an interstellar war this sector hasn't even dreamt of.

What a load ... change the bloody fluid

Scott M.

Never do just a trans flush...

Always do it the correct way: drop the pan, replace the filter, remove valve body and spray thoroughtly with cleaner, reinstall.

Those fly-by-night Jiffy lube monkeys are the reason for these rumors. You can't expect to stick a hose down the fill tube and suck out all of H's purple aliens, now can you?

heinrich

LOL I've never heard of replacing fluid without pulling the pan

Scott M.

That is how all the major chain stores change trans and diff. fluids.


To me, that's OK for differentials where there is no filter to change, but not an automatic trans.

GUMBALL

I have owned mine ('85) for 10 years now. When I lived in the snow belt, it got put away each winter, and I have had the trans fluid changed every spring when it came out of hibernation. I have never had a problem whatsoever.

Just my two cents.....

jyoon

i did some research on this while fixing dad's bmw tranny. the guys at the bmw forum said to change the fluid and filter, but definitley do not have it "flushed". that causes too many particles to go back into circulation which is no good. i tend to agree with that.

blown 87

I think that overall you will get a much longer life out of your transmission by doing regular flushes on it.

The machines that most shops use simply hook into the cooler lines and you run the car until the fluid coming out is the same color as the fluid going in as what is coming out, usually 3-5 gallons on one that is burnt a little.

Most shops will not even offer to change the filter before they do a flush, I recomend doing a filter change also.

They have the macine hooked up to it and at that point it is very easy to drain the fluid out of the trans with the machine, so it does not make a huge mess when you drop the pan.
On transmission additives, the only thing we will use is a product made by BG called ATC+ automatic tranmission conditioner, I use it in all of my cars. YRMV

On your Lexus, I would change it before it gets to bad.