Change fluid or not?

[Vilan]

Car is a 94 Geo Metro, manual. About 176,000 km on odometer. As far as I know it still has the factory transmission fluid in it... at least I haven't changed it since I bought it in 2001.

My maintenance schedule has some contradictory advice (bolded by me):

"For manual transaxles, fluid doesn't normally require changing. Check the fluid level in the transaxle every time the engine oil is changed. See your owner's manual. Before checking the fluid level, check the transaxle case for leaks. If a leak is found, repair it. Replace the transaxle fluid every 20,000 km (12,000 mi) or 12 months under severe conditions. Under normal conditions, replace the fluid every 50,000 km (30,000 mi)."

So which is it? Never needs changing, or every 50,000 km?

I'm not having any problems shifting so I'll probably leave it alone until I do. But it's been bugging me for a while now.

 

[Chispas]

"Click & Clack" (Tom and Ray) may have covered
this...

If I'm correct, their advice was 30,000 miles
for normal schedule...

 

[racer12306]

30000 miles was a typical gm auto trans service interval. most people that dont really get in to their cars will probably never change the fluid, while those that are into cars wouldnt let a fluid go that long. really as long as the trans hasnt been abused and there isnt any water in there then it should be fine. but it never hurts to change the fluid every now and again. so maybe one day if you feel like it then go ahead and change it.

 

[Kestas]

A long time ago, in my pre-BITOG days, I had an Omni where I wanted to change the transaxle fluid. It didn't have a drain plug and I couldn't figure out how to change the fluid. It was in there for 165K before I sold the car and had no problems.

I hope your Geo has a drain plug.

 

[racer12306]

if your omni had the same trans as my shadow did then you needed to pull off the side cover. off with the tire and its right there. i believe the fill plug was in that side cover too.

 

[JTK]

Any time i've ever seen a problem with a hi mileage MT, it was where the owner didn't address a leak and ran it low on oil. That seems to be the fate of most. No leaks they outlast the car. Being a BITOG'er, I'd prolly try to dump and fill a MT at ~50Kmi.

Joel

 

[Kestas]

Racer, my Onmi shop manual said to drain the transaxle fluid by opening the differential (lowest point). To open the differential I needed to remove it from the mount, which did not look safe to do at the time. There was no drain plug. I simply gave up.

 

[mechtech]

Changing it every 2 years is a good idea.

 

[Tosh]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chispas:
"Click & Clack" (Tom and Ray) may have covered
this...

If I'm correct, their advice was 30,000 miles
for normal schedule...

---

Tom and Ray are entertainers (at best) and are batting just over .500 from pointing out bleeding obvious generalities to people too lazy to research issues for themselves. Their relationship advice is spot on, though.

Vilan: If it's easy to drain, then do it for peace of mind and sense of accomplishment. Otherwise, don't bother.

 

[alreadygone]

That far "Up Nawth", I think I'd replace with a synthetic, just because cold shifting is SO much better.

Bob