2000 Impala ATF & PS

[Slick3914]

My Grandmother recently gave me her 2000 3.4 Impala with 88,500 miles, however it's only been driven 2,500 miles in 4 years. Has had new headgaskets, intake gaskets, water pump and a full tuneup in that time frame. Car runs well but I'm positive the trans fluid has never been serviced. Would doing a dipstick extraction and fill create any issues or would I be best to not to tinker with it? Don't really want to pull the pan since it's bone dry. Thinking of using Supertech High Mileage fluid

PS fluid looks like used motor oil so I've been extracting what fluid I can and refilling with Supertech PS fluid hoping to smooth out the steering a bit.

 

[Lubener]

Drop the pan so you can change the filter and clean the magnet. I would use Maxlife ATF.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

If the transmission shifts good and doesn't seem to have any problems, there is nothing wrong with changing the fluid or dropping the pan. But if you do pull the pan, replace it with an aftermarket pan that has a drain plug, which will make future ATF changes much easier

 

[Lubener]

Don't neglect that transmission. The 4T65E is weak to begin with and is not very forgiving. If you want them to last, you have to perform regular maintenance on it every 30-40k miles.

 

[pbm]

I would change it by dropping the pan, cleaning the inside of the pan and magnet (maybe add an additional magnet like I did on the 4T65E in my (sold) 2002 Buick Century.) I. would check local AA's for the 'CLEARANCE' Mobil 1 ATF or RP ATF. My Buick shifted excellent on M1.