BG Tranny flush - yes or no

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Feb 19, 2013
Messages
1,863
Location
Prospect, KY
I have a 2001 Mercury Sable with the Duratec engine. I found transmission fluid under the car after longer trips. Short trips would not do it. Took it to a shop and they said the fluid was overheating and coming out the vent tube. They recommended a fluid flush using BG products. I went for the synthetic fluid as it should have better thermal and breakdown resistance. The car had about 65,000 miles on it then. They let me watch the flush through a clear tube and you could easily see when the new fluid replaced the old. Are the BG products good or should I replace it with another product?
 
What is BG fluid? Is it in an addtive? Are you able to do your own mechanical work?

I wouldn't do a power flush on the transmission, pull a line off and flush it that way (if you can do it yourself) with some mercon V.

The AX4N weren't the greatest transmission out there. I can't imagine the transmission overheating on longer trips if the torque converter clutch is functioning properly. Can you confirm that it is?
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
What is BG fluid? Is it in an addtive? Are you able to do your own mechanical work?

I wouldn't do a power flush on the transmission, pull a line off and flush it that way (if you can do it yourself) with some mercon V.

The AX4N weren't the greatest transmission out there. I can't imagine the transmission overheating on longer trips if the torque converter clutch is functioning properly. Can you confirm that it is?



What difference does it make inside the transmission if you flush it yourself via a cooling hose or as you say get a power flush?
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
What is BG fluid? Is it in an addtive?
"BG Universal Synthetic ATF is the superior choice to use in all passenger and commercial automatic transmissions. It meets or exceeds the performance criteria of many automatic transmission fluids including Mercedes Benz ATF, BMW, Ford Mercon® V, Mopar ATF+4™, Nissan Matic J/K, Allison C-4, Toyota Type T-IV and Toyota WS."

BG also sells assorted transmission additives and exchange machines.

http://www.bgprod.com/products/transmission.html
 
BG products are supposed to be quite good. There are differing opinions on flushes that have been talked about a lot lately.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: Miller88
What is BG fluid? Is it in an addtive? Are you able to do your own mechanical work?

I wouldn't do a power flush on the transmission, pull a line off and flush it that way (if you can do it yourself) with some mercon V.

The AX4N weren't the greatest transmission out there. I can't imagine the transmission overheating on longer trips if the torque converter clutch is functioning properly. Can you confirm that it is?



What difference does it make inside the transmission if you flush it yourself via a cooling hose or as you say get a power flush?


Power flushing pressurize places that shouldn't be pressurized.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Cujobob
BG products are supposed to be quite good. There are differing opinions on flushes that have been talked about a lot lately.


+1 I too have heard good things. I wouldnt use the "flush" chemicals but if they can evacuate and refill the fluid I would do that. Sounds like the fluid has not been taken care of so it might need more then just a pan drop. From there I would do pan drops every 30k
 
Originally Posted By: spk2000
I have a 2001 Mercury Sable with the Duratec engine. I found transmission fluid under the car after longer trips. Short trips would not do it. Took it to a shop and they said the fluid was overheating and coming out the vent tube. They recommended a fluid flush using BG products. I went for the synthetic fluid as it should have better thermal and breakdown resistance. The car had about 65,000 miles on it then. They let me watch the flush through a clear tube and you could easily see when the new fluid replaced the old. Are the BG products good or should I replace it with another product?


In many cases they use a BG cleaner before the flush, a BG labeled machine and a BG conditioner after the flush, but use the normal recommended ATF for the vehicle. I would find out exactly what ATF they used, and more than just BG ATF.

Keep in mind that some places that do a flush say the flush process will clean the filter and that is not really true.
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: Miller88
What is BG fluid? Is it in an addtive? Are you able to do your own mechanical work?

I wouldn't do a power flush on the transmission, pull a line off and flush it that way (if you can do it yourself) with some mercon V.

The AX4N weren't the greatest transmission out there. I can't imagine the transmission overheating on longer trips if the torque converter clutch is functioning properly. Can you confirm that it is?



What difference does it make inside the transmission if you flush it yourself via a cooling hose or as you say get a power flush?


Power flushing pressurize places that shouldn't be pressurized.


Point me to a "power flush" machine that presurizes places that should not be. A flush machine just takes the old ATF and supplies new ATF to the pan. The pump in the transmission does all the work to push ATF through the transmission.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald


Point me to a "power flush" machine that presurizes places that should not be. A flush machine just takes the old ATF and supplies new ATF to the pan. The pump in the transmission does all the work to push ATF through the transmission.


I think you described a "fluid exchange" there?

I like the idea of that, with the hoses hooked up, every last drop of transmission fluid can be exchanged, and viewed though the tubes. With or without chemicals. (This as opposed to 3, 4, 5, 6 drain and fills where there will always be some, some of the old fluid, unless you started the car with the pan drain plug bolt off and waited to hear sputtering or something..)
 
They did add a cleaner and run the engine for 15 minutes if I recall right. Then they did use my pump to move the old fluid out and the new fluid in. It was then topped off with their additive package. I have put about 25,000 miles on with no further trouble but want to make sure it stays that way.
 
Originally Posted By: GearheadTool
Originally Posted By: Donald


Point me to a "power flush" machine that presurizes places that should not be. A flush machine just takes the old ATF and supplies new ATF to the pan. The pump in the transmission does all the work to push ATF through the transmission.


I think you described a "fluid exchange" there?

I like the idea of that, with the hoses hooked up, every last drop of transmission fluid can be exchanged, and viewed though the tubes. With or without chemicals. (This as opposed to 3, 4, 5, 6 drain and fills where there will always be some, some of the old fluid, unless you started the car with the pan drain plug bolt off and waited to hear sputtering or something..)


My point is that there is no such thing as a power flush or pressure flush. Its merely a fluid exchange using some machinery to automate the process and free up the mechanic for 20 minutes to do something else.

People might call it a power flush, but thats not a correct description.
 
Originally Posted By: spk2000
They did add a cleaner and run the engine for 15 minutes if I recall right. Then they did use my pump to move the old fluid out and the new fluid in. It was then topped off with their additive package. I have put about 25,000 miles on with no further trouble but want to make sure it stays that way.


They cannot use your pump to pull in new fluid. They have a pump that pushes new fluid through the return hose to your pan at the same rate old ATF is being pushed out. There is no suction on the return line.


Did they do anything with the filter? Assuming you car has more than a metal screen. The filter should be changed. Consider an inline Magnefine filter also. In addition to any internal filter.
 
Originally Posted By: GearheadTool
Originally Posted By: Donald


Point me to a "power flush" machine that presurizes places that should not be. A flush machine just takes the old ATF and supplies new ATF to the pan. The pump in the transmission does all the work to push ATF through the transmission.


I think you described a "fluid exchange" there?

I like the idea of that, with the hoses hooked up, every last drop of transmission fluid can be exchanged, and viewed though the tubes. With or without chemicals. (This as opposed to 3, 4, 5, 6 drain and fills where there will always be some, some of the old fluid, unless you started the car with the pan drain plug bolt off and waited to hear sputtering or something..)


+1 Thank you for clarifying that. That is what I meant. I think going forward I would just do pan drops with a quality fluid (maxlife is great considering the miles) and throw in a bottle of Lubeguard Red. They are a great combo
 
There was no filter change or pan dropped. The claim was that the cleaner and backflush on the filter would clean it off. I do recall that he told me that my car was doing the pumping so not real sure how he did that with their machine. They did disconnect the line from the radiator and he mentioned that some newer GM vehicle actually have a quick connect type of system that was even easier for him.
 
Your last comment sounds about right. I would not worry about it and this thread reminds me about mechanics and old wives tales that new ATF causes transmission failures.
 
Originally Posted By: dave1251
Your last comment sounds about right. I would not worry about it and this thread reminds me about mechanics and old wives tales that new ATF causes transmission failures.


The only thing is.. In my travels, I encounter a LOT and I mean a LOT of mechanics that say if car is past a certain age or mileage, "Dont touch the fluid." And I am pretty sure you know WHY they say "not to," if you put yourself in that line of thinking...

Not saying it's right or wrong, just that "it happens" and if they don't want to do it then the only way left is to figure out how to do it yourself.

I've had a car where I found the trnas cooler line, it was in an easy enough place to get to, and did it that way.

On the Volvo? Well...



A week later, special thanks to BITOG in the video:



Nice and smooth. No flushing.
 
A power flush machine has a connection for shop air. Honda forbids it. Our dealer continues to do it. Warranty could be denied. Think about that back flush cleaning the filter. Where do you think gravity takes that debris? Into the valve body and solenoids. If you exchange fluid regularly you will not have to pay more to try to catch up. We have enough problems keeping the electronics clean with the internal pump's normal operation without introducing 120psi and backwards at that. I just serviced an '11 Tacoma with 28K miles with Toyota WS fluid that had a shudder so bad you would think the transmission was history. It came back to life. These are sensitive electromechanical units. For marketing purposes the factory says service at 100K but owner wants to do it at 25K intervals now.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom