I bought some Pennzoil synthetic atf in preparation for doing a partial fluid change. Now I've read on another forum (for Pontiac GP's, which is the car in question) that I shouldn't use synthetic as it causes clutch slippage and premature clutch wear. So... any truth to this? Should I exchange for a regular atf? The car has 30K miles.
synthetic atf too slippery?
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Sounds bogus to me, but what do I know...
It should have all the correct friction modifiers in it already, which makes the perfect slip/stick combination in transmissions, right?
Interesting, in a recent search in the same topic. It's said that Amsoil was "too slippery" in alot of Ford's transmission it produced TC shutter. I've read here in this forum that a renowned transmission rebuilder said "Schaeffer's 204s was the best oil he seen".
No, shudder isn't caused by fluid too slippery. If the fluid is not friction modified enough, you will have shudder. If the fluid is overly friction modified, you might have slippage.
If anyone has slippage with a fluid, the 1st thing to do is to reset the ECU/TCM and/or leave the battery disconnected overnight.
I've never seen the so-called fluid caused slippage with Mobil 1 or other synthetic ATF.
If anyone has slippage with a fluid, the 1st thing to do is to reset the ECU/TCM and/or leave the battery disconnected overnight.
I've never seen the so-called fluid caused slippage with Mobil 1 or other synthetic ATF.
There is simply no truth to this. Just another "myth". I have heard of people with transmission issues change to synthetic oil and the problems didn't get any better (imagine that?) - but as to what the people where describing they really confused slippage and shuddering....and in fact they had mechanical/pressure problems, not fluid choice problems.
Undummy's suggestion is well taken. Try the easy stuff first!
Undummy's suggestion is well taken. Try the easy stuff first!
major manuf. top quality ATF's are rigorously lab tested to meet car manuf auto transmission fluid specs which include specific FM range requirements....
does anyone really think Exxon/Mobil or Chevron are going to cheat and skimp on lab testing and fluid certification to save a few cents when a manuf decertification press release could kill $$$millions$$$ of $$$ of their business?
Headline from Detroit "Mobil 1 ATF destroys GM auto transmissions"
Not going to happen baby
Whether small botique oil/fluid companies have the engineering/lab staff proficiency is another question
does anyone really think Exxon/Mobil or Chevron are going to cheat and skimp on lab testing and fluid certification to save a few cents when a manuf decertification press release could kill $$$millions$$$ of $$$ of their business?
Headline from Detroit "Mobil 1 ATF destroys GM auto transmissions"
Not going to happen baby
Whether small botique oil/fluid companies have the engineering/lab staff proficiency is another question
When I changed my DC minivan from factory ATF+3 to Amsoil Universal, and retrained the transmission computer, it slipped so bad I had to flush it all out and put ATF+3 back in. In the morning, I could reverse fine, but could barely pull forwards out of the driveway. After it was warmed up it was better, but still slipped a little. That was approx. 100K miles back and the transmission is still running fine, now on ATF+4 for the last 15K miles.
If you put in fluid that is not an exact match to the factory spec fluid, and a universal fluid is unlikely to be an exact match, bad things can happen. Doesn't matter if it's synthetic or not.
Most seem to do fine with these universal fluids - but it's not a sure thing and I'm super cautious now.
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