changing atf in a high milage car

[DARKSCOPE001]

Hello all this is my first post so please forgive. Ok so heres the deal I have to replace the drivers side cv joint on a 1999 hyundai elauntra. the car was given to me by my mom (im verry thankfull for this fact because I cant afford a new car on my current income and im a full time college student) But here is my delima. The car has 130k miles on it and as far as I know it has never had a atf change. but there are no transmission problems, but as far as I know when i pull the cv and seal it will drain out so now would probably be a good time to go ahead and drop the pan and fill with new. Bad idea? IDK ive hered horror stories about chaning atf so late into a transmissions life. Also I was thinking about running either ams or wolfshead synthetic because It is sold where I work and I can get it at a pretty fair price. But it is a universal atf not sp-III What do you guys think? Any oppinions?

THANKS GUYS
Sean Scott

 

[blue94]

Welcome to BITOG.

It doesn't sound like you have much of a choice. You're going to have to replace that fluid. Would it have been better to have had it changed a few times in its life? Sure. But there's nothing that can be done about that now. If you're really worried, you could try to change it out in small increments over time if it's still drivable with what's left of the current cv joint. That might slowly dissolve any crud rather than release and big globs all at once I suppose. Personally, I would just do it and not worry. If you didn't change it, it would certainly fail at some point and again, it doesn't sound like you have a choice.

I'm not familiar with ams, unless you mean Amsoil which is terrific and would be the first choice. Wolfshead would be just fine as well but probably not as stout as Amsoil. Sp-III is an old spec anyway so both would perform fine I would think.

 

[jorton]

Good questions. Hope to hear answers from mechanics.

 

[DARKSCOPE001]

yes sorry I do mean amsoil lol. I work at a general store (anyone out in central or northern ohio will know of us. The Andersons) Im working there untill I finish my degree in college (aviation mechanics. anyone ele a A&P here?) anyways as far as I know the car has never had its atf changed which makes me cringe. My mom thinks that because its over 100,000 its "DOOMED TO BLOW" I personaly Think its all about how you take care of it but thats just me. sure the engine has a little blow by. but other than that everything else is ok no shifting problems no lack of power or anything. But To answer your other question we also cary wolfs head. If this will suffice or be just fine i would rather do it seeing as it comes in at about 4 dollars and change as opposed to the 10 dollars we charge for it work for amsoil. thanks for the welcome I look forward to beeing a memeber of this forum.

Thanks again
Sean Scott

 

[blue94]

If it's shifting well and the current fluid looks okay, there's no reason to think its "doomed to blow" based on the mileage alone. If it truly is "doomed to blow", it will blow no matter what you do and it will certainly go if you do nothing. Unfortunately for you, if you change the fluid, and it blows, your mom will blame you even though it's not really your fault because was going to go anyway.

There was a post on this not too long ago about how people don't change ATF until it looks bad and then once it does, they're scared to change because they think it's too late. The moral is, just change the darn fluid.

Explain to your mom that if it's gona go, it's gona go. Then change it. In all likelihood, you'll be buying it more time rather than hastening its demise. If it's currently shifting well, it may actually have a lot of life ahead of it with proper care.

 

[DARKSCOPE001]

awesome. So any preferance of wolfs head vs. amsoil? just let me know guys. Thanks and yea i know the fluid needs changed i want this car to last me my last few quarters of school and on untill I can get on my feet but I know that if its gona go its gona go. There is not much I can do about it. But I deffinately dont think that a atf change would hurt it. The fluid is a reddish brown color (probably worn) Anyways Im leaning towards ams but dang that [censored] is gona cost me like 40 bucks when its all said and done but I would like to give this transmission the best I can.

THANKS GUYS
Sean Scott

 

[Steve S]

Change the oil and filter if something is going to happen it will whether the oil is changed or not and syn oil isn't needed. Hasn't been for the first 130,000 miles. You would be better off changing the oil on a regular basis. Make sure the sealing surfaces are good.

 

[DARKSCOPE001]

oh its not so much that I want to run syn (I do but its not the cost thats making my marketing decision) Its just that my local hyundai dealer wants 9 dollars a quart for the sp-III. The way i see it is why pay that much for sp-III when I can afford a most likely better or equivelent ATF for the same price or less. I get a 10% discount so the ams would roll in at a hair over 9bux the wolfs head would be slightly more expensive than motor oil. what do you guys think tho? I would rather dump my money into AMSoil personaly than hyundai

THANKS GUYS
Sean Scott

 

[blue94]

You get what you pay for and I think most folks will tell you that Amsoil is going to be the better fluid - it's what I have in my cars. However, I haven't read anything bad about Wolfshead and the general consensus seems to be that it's a perfectly fine brand (though it's not as widely available or used.) Given that you're a student, cash is tight, and at $4/qt, you can get 2.5 flushes with the Wolfshead for the same cost as one Amsoil flush, just use the Wolfshead. It'll be just fine and your car won't know the difference.

 

[Steve S]

Amsoil is a excellent product but are you going flush out the torque convertor to get most of the old oil out?

 

[DARKSCOPE001]

awesome that what i was hoping I didnt think there would be a huge difference (noticable that is) between the two. Personaly I like the idea of using wolfshead now and possibly doing an early flush (when I have some extra cash in my pocket) and either dumping in more wolfs head or some amsoil. thanks guys I gota go to work here pretty soon so Ill just drop by and pick up a few quarts of wolfshead for the time beeing. what do you guys think? perhaps 4 or 5 quarts?

THANKS GUYS
Sean Scott

 

[DARKSCOPE001]

Originally Posted By: Steve S
Amsoil is a excellent product but are you going flush out the torque convertor to get most of the old oil out?
Forgive me for being mechanicly dumb. But how can I flush the tourqe converter as well? ive seen some videos of guys taking the heat exhanger line and letting fluid dump overboard into a container untill it runs clear but other than that i was just going to do a drop and fill (probably with filter change) and fill it back up with wolfshead or ams. Btw on another board people have been saying "DO NOT USE UNIVERSAL!" Can anyone attest for me before I dump wolfshead into the mix?

THANKS GUYS
Sean Scott

 

[mechtech2]

You will get some oil out of the seal job, but not much. And even this can be attenuated by how the car is jacked up.
What people are afraid of is loosening chunks and stuff with a forced flush. I'd go ahead and take the pan off and clean it, and give it a new filter and fluid. If you want, install a drain plug to allow easy further changing. Remember that a drain and fill is only about 1/2 fresh fluid. This is when the plug would come in handy - you drive the car a bit after your change, and then drain and fill again. do this a few times for an almost complete fluid change. Real easy then.
Maybe you have a drain on there already - that would be nice!

 

[DARKSCOPE001]

ok cool the car is equiped with a drain plug on the trans pan yey! but I just want to know. is it ok to use this "universal transmission fluid"? all the guys on elauntra club say dont use it because my transmission will surely blow up and die. while ive been lurking through posts here on BITOG and have heard many cases of people having great sucsess with univeral atf, Mostly amsoil but If I do remember right one guy put the wolfshead in a car identical to mine. If anyone can get back to me I would appreciate it

THANKS
Sean Scott

 

[caravanmike]

as long as it is highly friction modified fluid it will work! (most all universals are) that is all sp III is.

their is alot of sucess on this very forum using multi vehicle atf's in hyundai's! mike

 

[jcwit]

You could shop for SPIII fluid at KIA dealers, last time I bought a case it was $6 something a qt., also Mitso dealers carry SPIII. You're out of warrenty so in actually I'd use Amsoil tho.

 

[caravanmike]

most people around here use one of four fluids in a hyundai auto,
they are hyundai sp III, castrol import, maxlife merc dex multi vehicle atf (red bottle), or amsoil. mike

 

[DARKSCOPE001]

Ok guys I picked up 3 quarts of wolfshead "universal synthetic" from work. Holy [censored] does this [censored] stink. Is the reason they call it wolfs head oil is because they rub the bottle down with [censored] before It gets to the consumer because my god the bottls stink and the oil itself doesent smell much better. But This is what I figured i would do. Just use this oil to replenish what comes out during the cv change. Then next paycheck grab up a filter and gasket. and a few more quarts. drain it, drop the pan, change the filter, and refil. Then possibly next oil change (engine) or some time shortly in the future just drain the oil, and refil. If I have my facts straight this should just about restore the atf to a satisfactory condition. What do you guys think?

THANKS
Sean Scott

 

[caravanmike]

all sounds good we use wolf's head synthetic at my work and have never had a problem!

you might want to check your application, i know of an 04 santa fe (in the family), the trans filter is only accessable in a rebuild and it does not have a bottom pan. we just drain and fill it once a year. mike

 

[DARKSCOPE001]

AFAIK the trans has a drain bolt. I know it has a pan on the underside of the transmission So we will find out here in a bit I suppose. But worst case scenario i will only be able to put in fresh fluid. Which I would think would be better than running dirty fluid and dirty filter

THANKS
Sean Scott