ATF Fluid change 146 K miles ?

[slowGT]

I hate the fluid flushes on any atx, but I would say it is a terrible idea on a high mileage car. A few friends and family members have insisted on them even against my advice and they all had issues shortly after the flush. One jeep grand cherokee had 72K miles at the time, the explorer had less than a 100k, and I don't remember what the friend had.

 

My two cents is to swap out the fluid in the pan (which sounds like it is 3 or 4 quarts). Give it a little bit of time to mix in and verify that the trans still shift okay. I have no idea if these cars with atx's even have a filter in the pan.

 

I was able to do this on a ford taurus that was acting up a little bit when shifting. I swapped out the fluid in the pan and then did the same thing 15K miles later. The car always shifted good.

 

I am currently fighting with an automatic maxima trans. I have kept up on the fluids and the filter is only a stainless steel screen mesh. I believe the problem I have is with the solenoids, as all the internals and valve body looks good.

[Roche]

I just did a drain and fill on mine and now it bumps. It either helps or it doesn't IMO

[sko]

5EAT with 82k on the clock. Drain and fill every 25k. Easy with the car on ramps. 3.74 qts. About $28 each time, plus the crush washer which is not the same as the oil drain plug ('08). My fluid is always hot pink and never smells burnt. Great piece of mind.

 

Soooo... presuming you only drain ~3quarts each time you drain and fill, after 4 of these, then after ~4 of these drain and changes (12 quarts new), you'll still have 30% of the original oil present. If I did my little math equation crap right.

 

I did the math with 3 quarts, but with 4 it would likely be closer to 20-25% original oil.

 

Which actually sounds pretty good, not really flushing out the "buildup" that holds the engine together, but still getting fresh fluid in there with better thermal properties and less particles.

 

So, ima try this with my 05 153k beast and see how it goes.

[MAP]

Just thought Id give a liitle feedback on my experience on this. I bought my gt with 69k miles on it. When i bought it i checked the engine oil but forgot to check the trans fluid. The car ran and shifted fine. The next weekend i check the trans fluid and was shocked to see that it was a dark red bordering on brown. It had me more than a bit worried. Since the car ran fine I decided to get as much of the fluid out as possible by doing several drain and fills. The closest compatible stuff that i could find at the time was Castrol Import ATF fluid. I drained the pan, filled it with new fluid, ran the engine and cycled through the gears. Did this 3 to 4 times. I also changed out that filter thats behind the battery. Shortly after that I decided to add an auxiliary oil cooler as well. I did that for several reasons. I had never seen a car that had a warning light showing the trans is too hot, couldnt believe how dark the fluid was at 69k and know that keeping the fluid cooler will extend life of the transmission. Since this vehicle has that warning light I concluded that maybe the transmission fluid cooling is marginal. 33k miles later and the fluid is still bright red and car shifts fine. Not sure what the previous owner did to get the fluid that dark.

 

Its close to time for another fluid change. Ill probably use the stuff from the dealer just to see if I notice any difference.