Should I Let a Sleeping Dog Lie?

[bmwtechguy]

Here's what I would do. Offer her to take your car one day when she is going to be out for a while. Then drop the pan, clean it and install a new filter. Then pour in some cheap Dex III and proceed to flush the entire tranny of that nasty fluid by taking your cooler line loose and running the engine/refill and do it till it runs red or you have drained/flushed the capacity of the whole unit. Then fill to level, install 6 oz of ARX and go 1000-1500 miles.

Be prepared to do this whole process again after the miles have accumulated, except this time use a better quality fluid and install an aux cooler with a Magnefine filter in series before it. Like I said, this is what I would do. I don't like paying for new or rebuilt transmissions. This process has never let me down when dealing with badly neglected units.

 

[sciphi]

I will get a hand pump from Wal-Mart, and if she wants to do something about it, will do exactly as she says with a quart at a time. That way she can only blame me for getting ATF everywhere when the hose detaches from the pump. Actually, if she pumps out a quart of fluid, even better. I have a suitable container and a transmission-filling funnel, but my last hand pump broke.

The transmission sees new fluid gradually, and I'm listening to her. Everybody wins.

Now if she will let me do it.

 

[Donald]

Even with a QT at a time, a Magnefine will help, it cannot hurt except for the $20.

 

[Donald]

You can also remove a cooler line and pump a QT out, then add a QT.

 

[Gary Allan]

I'm with bmwtechguy ...except be ultra careful not to get caught. LIE THROUGH YOUR TEETH.


..but don't tell us that. If you do, you'll get an avalanche of advice saying that entering into a relationship that's not built on trust ..and all the other stuff that complicates managing a mate.

Know where the high road is important ..and manage the rest of the garbage in the most practical manner possible ..hook..crook ..or otherwise.

 

[Cutehumor]

alot of old geezers believe in not changing the auto trans fluid for some reason. I don't know where this started.

 

[Gary Allan]

It usually starts like this. Someone grew up in an era like me ..where the auto-transmission was the last thing you had to worry about. Massive V8's ...massive hulk of a chassis ...no worries. Very reliable unless outright abused with a purpose. You then find someone who is experiencing issues due to lack of any care at all ..and you suggest that they change the fluid. The trans fails like it was going to anyway ..and then it's simple to connect the dots.

The new fluid caused the failure.

See how easy that was?

 

[sciphi]

LOL.

If only...

 

[Cutehumor]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
It usually starts like this. Someone grew up in an era like me ..where the auto-transmission was the last thing you had to worry about. Massive V8's ...massive hulk of a chassis ...no worries. Very reliable unless outright abused with a purpose. You then find someone who is experiencing issues due to lack of any care at all ..and you suggest that they change the fluid. The trans fails like it was going to anyway ..and then it's simple to connect the dots.

The new fluid caused the failure.

See how easy that was?


Thanks for relaying how an old geezer thinks

 

[kingrob]

Yeah, it's still the same line of thinking as "well, I changed the oil last month now my motor's blown. Better never change the oil again." Just like the guys that never wax their cars because "Once you start waxing, you have to do it all the time or your paint will be ruined".

 

[sciphi]

Now if only my fiancee will see this particular issue from my point of view!

Like I said, we'll end up doing it slowly and gradually, with twice the cost and way more frustration than it should be worth. At least it will be a togetherness sort of thing. Namely me together with her on this, and her together with her car for a while longer. Win-win situation!

 

[99]

I always change out old ATF without fear of losing the trans. I've changed out a lot of old ATF, the last one being a ~135K mile 87 GMC Jimmy (full size) with a 700R4 trans that appeared to have not had the pan touched since the truck left GM. I dropped the pan, cleaned the gunk out, changed the filter and filled up with fresh fluid and over a year of driving and countless snow plowing jobs later, the trans is functioning just fine. Leaving old fluid in is far worse than anything fresh fluid could ever possibly do.

 

[PT1]

Knock her out with chloroform and then do a complete flush while she is unconscious....

 

[sciphi]

Hmm, getting a pack or bottle of favorite libations, consuming quite a bit, then working on the car...It's been known to speed along irksome jobs before!