Am I over doing it? (Trans fluid change)

[dnewton3]

4 quarts a year.. what, $40? Not even a tank of gas.

The real money flush is not servicing the trans.

First, we need to acknowledge that there are two things in play here:
- the needs of the equipment
- the human emotional condition

As far as the equipment goes, there is a law of diminishing returns going on here. Servicing the trans every 30k miles by doing a drain/fill with a decent lube is certainly good preventative maintenance. Servicing the trans every 5k miles is a complete and total waste of money and will show no tangible benefit whatsoever in terms of wear control. Maintaining equipment is good. Over-maintained equipment has never been proven to be "better" than a pragmatic alternative.

The OP has come here asking for advice. We owe him a dose of reality; let's not placate his OCD tendencies.

Overly frequent OCIs do NOT make for lower wear rates. They can, however, satiate OCD behavior.
As long as he can acknowledge that it's a complete and utter waste of money to change the fluid so often, that's on him.
But let's not lie to him and tell him it's a smart thing to do, because it's not.

 

[TheOilWizard]

First, we need to acknowledge that there are two things in play here:
- the needs of the equipment
- the human emotional condition

As far as the equipment goes, there is a law of diminishing returns going on here. Servicing the trans every 30k miles by doing a drain/fill with a decent lube is certainly good preventative maintenance. Servicing the trans every 5k miles is a complete and total waste of money and will show no tangible benefit whatsoever in terms of wear control. Maintaining equipment is good. Over-maintained equipment has never been proven to be "better" than a pragmatic alternative.

The OP has come here asking for advice. We owe him a dose of reality; let's not placate his OCD tendencies.

Overly frequent OCIs do NOT make for lower wear rates. They can, however, satiate OCD behavior.
As long as he can acknowledge that it's a complete and utter waste of money to change the fluid so often, that's on him.
But let's not lie to him and tell him it's a smart thing to do, because it's not.

I'm not saying it is a smart thing to do. In fact, I was clear in my first post that I thought it was excessive.

That being said, between spending $40 per year to maintain the trans or ignore it - the choice is clear. I do believe that ignoring the trans would indeed be the true "money flush".

 

[Tundragod]

Excessive. I got a bunch of Maxlife $1/qts from Tracter Supply. I do D&F every 3 yrs or >10k miles and I still think it is excessive.

 

[dnewton3]

I'm not saying it is a smart thing to do. In fact, I was clear in my first post that I thought it was excessive.

That being said, between spending $40 per year to maintain the trans or ignore it - the choice is clear. I do believe that ignoring the trans would indeed be the true "money flush".

Well, how do we define "ignore"?

He drives about 5k miles a year. If he "ignored" it for 6 years, he'd have 30k miles on it, which is what I recommend for the OCI. Even if he "ignored" it for 10 years and 50k miles, I seriously doubt there would be a fluid-related failure.

It is the BITOG way to over-maintain things. But to not do so (to not over-maintain) does not mean failure is imminent and assured. Let's be realistic; he can "ignore" this for a long time and he'd still be fine.

 

[TheOilWizard]

Well, how do we define "ignore"?

He drives about 5k miles a year. If he "ignored" it for 6 years, he'd have 30k miles on it, which is what I recommend for the OCI. Even if he "ignored" it for 10 years and 50k miles, I seriously doubt there would be a fluid-related failure.

It is the BITOG way to over-maintain things. But to not do so (to not over-maintain) does not mean failure is imminent and assured. Let's be realistic; he can "ignore" this for a long time and he'd still be fine.

By ignore, I mean failure to properly maintain, completely disregard, etc. What "properly maintain" means exactly can be debated as there are quite a few opinions on the subject.

 

[crashz]

If the OP is only driving 5k a year, this trans service is a task he can do while checking other times under the vehicle. He is also in a humid environment and only changing ~ 1/3 of the fluid volume. So to complete the full exchange of fluid, it will take ~3 years and 15k miles. with a suspected build up of moisture, don't think its crazy at all.

This rig is a show car and cruiser. So routine maintenance and regular polishing is probably cathartic.

 

[CKN]

First, we need to acknowledge that there are two things in play here:
- the needs of the equipment
- the human emotional condition

As far as the equipment goes, there is a law of diminishing returns going on here. Servicing the trans every 30k miles by doing a drain/fill with a decent lube is certainly good preventative maintenance. Servicing the trans every 5k miles is a complete and total waste of money and will show no tangible benefit whatsoever in terms of wear control. Maintaining equipment is good. Over-maintained equipment has never been proven to be "better" than a pragmatic alternative.

The OP has come here asking for advice. We owe him a dose of reality; let's not placate his OCD tendencies.

Overly frequent OCIs do NOT make for lower wear rates. They can, however, satiate OCD behavior.
As long as he can acknowledge that it's a complete and utter waste of money to change the fluid so often, that's on him.
But let's not lie to him and tell him it's a smart thing to do, because it's not.

Gee......I'm usually the lone voice on this forum (on many subjects). Somebody agreeing with me might be more than my heart can handle.......

 

[Torrid]

Just exchanging 4 quarts yearly sounds much preferred to a full flush in my opinion. I'm not a fan of flushes. Basic changes are easy and I'd likely do the same if I had the same vehicle. It may be overkill and you could probably get away with this every 2-3 years, but I don't see anything wrong with this process.

 

[fofojoe]

I'll echo another comment here, I'd get a transmission cooler on it. The fluid change interval is definitely short, but hey if it makes you feel better.

I do a spill and fill 1-2 times a year on my old cars. Basically whenever it's convenient.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Gee......I'm usually the lone voice on this forum (on many subjects). Somebody agreeing with me might be more than my heart can handle.......

Get over yourself, Sally.

/s

 

[rijndael]

Keep doing it if you like to change it yourself. I do a drain and fill on my Honda quite often just because it's so easy to do.

Same. On my Odyssey I drain and fill it every other oil change. The shifting degrades pretty quickly if I don't.

 

[D1dad]

Change away. I change cvt fluid every spring. Nissan reprogrammed the cvts starting in 24 to run hotter. Apparently jatco figured out that condensation not being burnt off was more detrimental than running hot. Not sure yet how that’ll work in the end but dumping the fluid, or at least half every spring can’t be a bad thing. Wasteful? Maybe, but so is getting 4 UOAs to see how long one can run $80 worth of oil.

 

[OilStainedNapkin]

Way too often imo.

 

[barkingspider]

Do whatever makes you sleep better. Personally, I wouldn’t do it that often

 

[daniel327]

Heat kills ATF and transmissions. Fit a decent ATF cooler and you'll probably never need to change the ATF again:

 

[Kira]

^^See post #11.

A BITOG community commentary:
With all the people here who come from mechanical backgrounds (parents/grandparents who were mechanics, etc.), I've found it surprising how few mentions of external transmission coolers I've read.
I realize radiator coils have been around a while, but still, we have a lot of towers here.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

^^See post #11.

A BITOG community commentary:
With all the people here who come from mechanical backgrounds (parents/grandparents who were mechanics, etc.), I've found it surprising how few mentions of external transmission coolers I've read.
I realize radiator coils have been around a while, but still, we have a lot of towers here.

I still run them on stuff with an automatic transmission where I can!

Our Nissan with a CVT cannot have a cooler, unfortunately. There's a coolant-to-ATF exchanger on the transmission but no actual transmission lines to tap into. So I just change the fluid and filters as much as I can.

My Grand Marquis has a giant transmission cooler that isn't part of the radiator or condenser, however it's on a 180 degree thermostat. And when the thermostat fails it fails to bypass the transmission cooler. I plumbed in an external cooler on the car (the easiest I've ever done) and it definitely gets pretty warm so it's doing something!

My Jeep has a single transmission cooler now but I was running two coolers when I had 3.55 gears and big tires because the torque converter was doing so much - with the 4.88 gears I only need a single external cooler.

 

[BSeward]

The old saying "if it feels good, do it!" applies to me, except at 75 years old, "it" means stuff like overmaintining my car.
Ask me 60 years ago around 1965, you'd have gotten a different answer !