sedona atf flush

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I have a 2005 kia sedona 3.5 eng.. Dealer said i need a atf flush,because the fluid is very dark & dirty looking. The van has only 30k miles on it.Any advice on this?
 
I had an 04 do the cooler line flush with an SPIII compatible fluid. Transmission cooler is on the driver side in front of the radiator when you pop the hood if I remember correctly. Watch out for for the burp when adding fluid. Or you can do a couple drain and fills, you don't get a ton out with each drain though.
 
John,

I'm very familiar with Kia/Hyundai vehicles. 30K and it being dark is normal. I wouldn't do the flush, I would have them drain the pan and refill it. These transmission are known to darken the fluid in this short span of miles. Use only a Diamond SP-III fluid, as using anything else will destroy the transmission!

cheers3.gif


Steve
 
Originally Posted By: StevieC
John,

I'm very familiar with Kia/Hyundai vehicles. 30K and it being dark is normal. I wouldn't do the flush, I would have them drain the pan and refill it. These transmission are known to darken the fluid in this short span of miles. Use only a Diamond SP-III fluid, as using anything else will destroy the transmission!

cheers3.gif


Steve


I did this with my wife's Sonata at 30k miles and I was surprised how clean the fluid looked afterward, still looks clean at 40k miles.

John
 
Originally Posted By: StevieC

Use only a Diamond SP-III fluid, as using anything else will destroy the transmission!


I'll repectfully disagree. I've been using amsoil ATF for the last 30k miles. I would not push SPIII beyond 30k miles at most. Have you seen the shearing my little Rio gave factory SPIII?
 
Originally Posted By: TaterandNoodles
Originally Posted By: StevieC

Use only a Diamond SP-III fluid, as using anything else will destroy the transmission!


I'll repectfully disagree. I've been using amsoil ATF for the last 30k miles.


Exactly. There's plenty of reports out there where aftermarket ATFs work flawlessly in these transaxles.

Joel
 
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Look in the owners manual for the severe service interval.

IMO, unless there are upgrades, it should be flushed every 30k, especially if you want the vehicle to last longer then the car payments or warranty.

You don't require SPIII. But, as with any newer transmission, any fluid brand change requires a TAPs reset.
 
Originally Posted By: TaterandNoodles
Originally Posted By: StevieC

Use only a Diamond SP-III fluid, as using anything else will destroy the transmission!


I'll repectfully disagree. I've been using amsoil ATF for the last 30k miles. I would not push SPIII beyond 30k miles at most. Have you seen the shearing my little Rio gave factory SPIII?
I didn't mean Hyundai only fluid, as this is not what I said. I said "A Diamond SPIII fluid". Much different than "Dealer fluid only" as you are implying. If you read any of the threads I have posted in I have always raved about Amsoil ATF working great in my Hyundai transmission that requires SPIII fluid.
smirk2.gif
Please read my post in full next time. I was stating the importance of using a fluid that is SPIII rated and not Mercon etc. which will destroy the transmission.
 
Originally Posted By: artificialist
I have never seen factory Hyundai ATF stay clean for more than 30,000 miles.

Buy Amsoil and flush the transmission.
In some trannies it will and some won't. I did one change at 50K KM (31K Miles) with OEM fluid and it was still nice and cherry red! I think it has to do with that my transmission is equipped with an auxiliary cooler because it's an SUV.
 
I used Renewable Lubricants in a recent ATF flush of my '03 KIA Sedona (3.5L), at 50K miles. It shifts as good as or better than ever before. I had already done a series of through-the-dipstick pull and refill, to the tune of about 5 quarts, between 30K and 50K, and when we bought the van at 15K we had the dealer do a flush with OEM fluid. I used Maxlife ATF when I did it myself. The Maxlife was fine, better than OEM it seemed by how it shifted, but the RLI seems better yet.
 
Originally Posted By: Jon
I used Renewable Lubricants in a recent ATF flush of my '03 KIA Sedona (3.5L), at 50K miles. It shifts as good as or better than ever before. I had already done a series of through-the-dipstick pull and refill, to the tune of about 5 quarts, between 30K and 50K, and when we bought the van at 15K we had the dealer do a flush with OEM fluid. I used Maxlife ATF when I did it myself. The Maxlife was fine, better than OEM it seemed by how it shifted, but the RLI seems better yet.



According to their website it is not SP-III rated. You could be doing damage to your transmission.

I would e-mail them to ask if it does meet the specification.

Good to know it hasn't done any harm yet.
 
The additive makes must be making an ATF additive package that meets the SPIII needs...Both Amsoil and Schaeffer have it listed as one of their recommended applications. I'd use a "recommended" fluid from any ATF maker I trust.

Blackstone will test the ATF for $22.50...other labs will test it as well. This is cheaper than guessing when the fluid is due for a change.
 
I use a Universal Synthetic that complies with the SP-III.

One of the things we do when changing out real dark fluids is let the fluid exchanger pump out the old stuff, drop the pan, clean the accessible parts and filter, re-assemble and put the machine back to work. Gets the best of both worlds.

And the time between changes depends a lot on the way the car is driven. 30,000 miles of highway is easy. 20,000 miles of city or mountains is usually too much. In a typical month we will do about 100 transmissions, mostly way over due.
 
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