oil loss or gain

I'm definitely unhappy with how complicated it is to service modern automatic transmissions. I'm lucky my 2016 even has a drain plug and fill port in non idiotic locations.
Totally ridiculous and all to steer it to the dealerships …
I’ll have to deal with that on the Rubicon at some point. Son just bought a gorgeous 2018 Cadillac XT5 … read up on that AsinWarner … similar headaches …
At least our Tahoe is old school and I added a drain plug already 🧐
 
Totally ridiculous and all to steer it to the dealerships …
I’ll have to deal with that on the Rubicon at some point. Son just bought a gorgeous 2018 Cadillac XT5 … read up on that AsinWarner … similar headaches …
At least our Tahoe is old school and I added a drain plug already 🧐
Well, I get not having a dipstick on sealed transmissions, the idea is that whatever oxygen is in the air inside quickly gets used up during the initial fill oxidizing, leaving mainly inert nitrogen. This definitely makes it so fully synthetic fluid can last a "lifetime" (or about 100k miles) and it's not a big deal because transmission fluid doesn't burn off like oil and really shouldn't leak, simply measuring the amount drained and adding that much back in is easy enough.

Not having a drain plug or easy to access fill port on the other hand is completely unnecessary for this.
 
Well, I get not having a dipstick on sealed transmissions, the idea is that whatever oxygen is in the air inside quickly gets used up during the initial fill oxidizing, leaving mainly inert nitrogen. This definitely makes it so fully synthetic fluid can last a "lifetime" (or about 100k miles) and it's not a big deal because transmission fluid doesn't burn off like oil and really shouldn't leak, simply measuring the amount drained and adding that much back in is easy enough.

Not having a drain plug or easy to access fill port on the other hand is completely unnecessary for this.
Sure … but even FCA and ZF are not on the same page … and what ZF says is pretty much what many have used for a service interval for years …
Gives rise to the question: do they have the same objectives or not ?
 
Well, I get not having a dipstick on sealed transmissions, the idea is that whatever oxygen is in the air inside quickly gets used up during the initial fill oxidizing, leaving mainly inert nitrogen. This definitely makes it so fully synthetic fluid can last a "lifetime" (or about 100k miles) and it's not a big deal because transmission fluid doesn't burn off like oil and really shouldn't leak, simply measuring the amount drained and adding that much back in is easy enough.
Transmissions also have some method of venting the case so the oxygen is always being replenished.
 
Sure … but even FCA and ZF are not on the same page … and what ZF says is pretty much what many have used for a service interval for years …
Gives rise to the question: do they have the same objectives or not ?
ZF are engineers that make transmissions, FCA just has to CYA long enough to get the thing through the warranty period, beyond that they don't care.
 
Even the check fluid method is:
side plug out ... add some fluid … get it hot to xxxF - let it reject some fluid … install plug
(not exact - point is it’s open plug method …)
Question: does the dealership check the level on a new unit or not ?
 
Sure … but even FCA and ZF are not on the same page … and what ZF says is pretty much what many have used for a service interval for years …
Gives rise to the question: do they have the same objectives or not ?
No, but that doesn't change the fact most people will never even bother to have their transmission fluid changed and the idea of removing the dipstick is it's one less entry point for contaminants. Doesn't mean it's a good thing, people really should be changing atf frequently just like they do oil, but I know way too many people who are lucky they even get around to having an oil change done on time. I'd say 80% of people just get in their car and drive it, if it quits driving correctly then and only then do they even get it checked out. Unfortunately this is who the manufacturers are designing for. People want low maintenance vehicles so manufacturers, for better or worse, do everything they can to make their cars seem as low maintenance as possible.
 
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