ATF fluid UOA worth it?

[OiledMustangGT]

1998 jeep cherokee
auto asin-warner AW-4
run hard offroad. flooring it up steep inclines, to slam it into gear while the car is still moving in the opposite direction... etc,

my trans doen not seem to transfer power back to the wheels as it used to. i dont know the total miles on the trans as it was swapped in at 110-120, approx 60k according to owner but who knows. the car has 140k now, so the trans probably close to 80k on it

i dont have a single brand of fluid in there, it is a mix, just use whatever i have at the time when drain/refill the pan. it is all Dex III though

what do you think? will a UOA tell me anything useful if i dont know what brand Dex III and i only drain via the pan which is approx 1/2 the fluid

[ June 11, 2006, 11:21 PM: Message edited by: OiledMustangGT ]

 

[unDummy]

Other then telling you to change the ATF and that it is wearing out, NOPE!

Put that UOA money toward more frequent fluid changes, filtering, extra ATF cooling.....

 

[sky jumper]

only worth it if you plan to change something when you get the bad news back (different fluid, more frequent changes, driving habits, etc). if you plan to keep beating on it then just have fun until it dies.

 

[Ken2]

At this point, do an auto-rx 1000 mile cleaning of the transmission, then flush and renew the fluid.

UOA of ATF is a big money saver when you don't know if the fluid needs to be flushed or not. The cost of an analysis is much less than the cost of an unneeded flush.


Ken

 

[OiledMustangGT]

sent the sample in anyway. if it is really bad i will probably start sourcing an new trans from the junkyard

 

[02StangGT4Foam]

You used DEXIII? Isn't that tranny supposed to use ATF+3 or +4? Just wondering.

 

[OiledMustangGT]

aw4 is made by asin warner, thankfully a non chrysler/dodge/crap transmission. it was originally spec'd for DexII

chrysler/dodge transmissions use ATF3/4

i had a 42re in my grand cherokee, which lasted about 120k and started spitting out brass thrust washers at about 90k

 

[MN Driver]

New gaskets and sealers are known to cause high numbers of silicon along with dirt but I don't feel that there would be dirt in the ATF without high wear so if it was my transmission I wouldn't even consider the value as the RTV and any replacement gaskets would bring that number up without causing additional wear.

 

[OiledMustangGT]

got results back. looked pretty good everything below normal. will post results this afternoon.

silicone was a little high? i used RTV gasket maker (rated for trans fluid) on the trans pan, would this cause high silicone numbers?

 

[OiledMustangGT]

results posted here
http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=50;t=000066;p=1#000000