So what should I do? Stick with plan of a UOA on the trans fluid at 60k? I plan on keeping this truck untill its no longer worth driving. I think a trans fluid drain and fill is around 100-150 at the toyota dealer... Im starting to wonder if I should go ahead and change it.
Those with 150000 miles or more on A/T check in
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Previous car was a 1993 Chevy Cavalier traded at 150,000 miles with original 3 speed auto
transmission. No problems.
I have two 4L60E's that have gone over 150K. My 96 GMC truck has 154K, and my son's 96 Blazer has 179K.
212,000 1985 buick regal 3.8 liter, first change at 56,000 fluid was dark and pan was full of crud, no problem since then.
280k on 200r4 85 olds wagon.
every other oilchange i drained and refilled the pan.every other year i changed filter and cleaned magnet.never much to see in filter or pan.
just a bit of fine steel mud on magnet.
it died of tc failure that fouled the valve body with metal.magnet looked like a science project then.
stator support was badly worn too.splines almost gone.
every other oilchange i drained and refilled the pan.every other year i changed filter and cleaned magnet.never much to see in filter or pan.
just a bit of fine steel mud on magnet.
it died of tc failure that fouled the valve body with metal.magnet looked like a science project then.
stator support was badly worn too.splines almost gone.
My father's 73 4-cyl Mercedes with 325.000 miles, no rebuilds, still running good, 4-speed auto (I believe it's made by ZF), change fluid every 25k miles (drain TQ), change filter every 100k.
Tip: Reducing transmission temperature on cars with electric cooling fans without adding external oil cooler.
During summer stop-and-go city driving, with the electric cooling fan cycling on and off, the bottom of the radiator is over 200F and that is what your automatic transmission fluid can cool down to. Obviously the transmission temperature is a lot higher than that.
I hardwire the cooling fan to stay on all the time (with a dash switch) while in city traffic. This way the bottom of the radiator is now a lot cooler and the factory transmission cooler can do a better job in cooling the transmission.
No harm done if I forget the fan switch ON during highway driving, don't think it affects transmission temperature much there. Be carefull with the a/c cooling fan because it is ECU controlled and an easy way to fry an expensive ECU.
Tip: Reducing transmission temperature on cars with electric cooling fans without adding external oil cooler.
During summer stop-and-go city driving, with the electric cooling fan cycling on and off, the bottom of the radiator is over 200F and that is what your automatic transmission fluid can cool down to. Obviously the transmission temperature is a lot higher than that.
I hardwire the cooling fan to stay on all the time (with a dash switch) while in city traffic. This way the bottom of the radiator is now a lot cooler and the factory transmission cooler can do a better job in cooling the transmission.
No harm done if I forget the fan switch ON during highway driving, don't think it affects transmission temperature much there. Be carefull with the a/c cooling fan because it is ECU controlled and an easy way to fry an expensive ECU.
My beater is a '90 Honda Civic. It's just passed the 160k mark. These automatics are known to be weak and are hot items at the wreckers. Also it has no filter.
I've used Mobil 1 ATF changed at 30k intervals. At 100k it began to "slam shift", which is one of the signs it's deteriorating. I left it about 8 oz low after a change and slowly added LubeGard Platinum until it shifted properly. I made a note of how much it took and that's what I use now when I change the fluid.
60k later it seems to work fine - if anything it shifts better than new.
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My father had over 300,000 miles on his Chrysler minivan. I don't think he ever changed out the tranny fluid. He never accelerated hard, so the tanny never saw hard shifts. The tanny bit the dust at about 305,000.
My Dodge 93 Cummins truck has 313,000 miles, tranny rebuilt once. I don't allow the tranny to shift automatically when towing or on hills, so the tanny never sees any real stressful shifting. I change tranny fluid every two or three years or so. I dont' think I've ever used the same tranny fluid brand twice. Basically whatever is available at fluid change time.
My Dodge 93 Cummins truck has 313,000 miles, tranny rebuilt once. I don't allow the tranny to shift automatically when towing or on hills, so the tanny never sees any real stressful shifting. I change tranny fluid every two or three years or so. I dont' think I've ever used the same tranny fluid brand twice. Basically whatever is available at fluid change time.
Auto Tranny is definitely the limiting factor of modern car's useful life (without rebuild), other than road salt in some demographic area.
The last several years we see some new improvement that hopefully solve the tranny problem and make it a lifetime unit. One is CVT via planetary gear with 2 electric motor, like the Toyota's hybrid design. You have the 2 motor driving 2 of the 3 planetary gear to adjust the ratio and the last one providing power from the motor.
No more clutch, no more CVT belt, no more synchros to wear out. Just motor, wires, and solid state electronics to govern them (battery is another story). You can get infinite gear ratio and in theory, rid the throttle butterfly and use the CVT to limit the rpm and control the throttle that way, which reduce engine vacuum lost.
Doesn't it sounds awsome?
The last several years we see some new improvement that hopefully solve the tranny problem and make it a lifetime unit. One is CVT via planetary gear with 2 electric motor, like the Toyota's hybrid design. You have the 2 motor driving 2 of the 3 planetary gear to adjust the ratio and the last one providing power from the motor.
No more clutch, no more CVT belt, no more synchros to wear out. Just motor, wires, and solid state electronics to govern them (battery is another story). You can get infinite gear ratio and in theory, rid the throttle butterfly and use the CVT to limit the rpm and control the throttle that way, which reduce engine vacuum lost.
Doesn't it sounds awsome?
My 98 Chev k1500 with a 4L60E has gone 172k miles with no problems at all. Some light travel trailer towing for a very few of those miles.
ATF exchanged every 50k miles.
ATF exchanged every 50k miles.
It's a 4T65E. http://media.gm.com/division/2005_prodinfo/powertrain/ has more info.
Supposedly the 4T65E is being used by import tuners as a replacement for the factory transmission in Honda Preludes and the like because it can handle the power, but I can't find any more details about that.
It's the same trans in my 96 Century and It was one of the smoothest shifting AT's I ever drove, until I changed the factory fluid and filter at 100k. Now it FEELS like a tranny with 100k on it. The fluid's also a lot darker than what was in it before I drained it scared to death I tampered with some "magic" formula.
What kind of fluid did you put in it? It almost sounds like there's something wrong with the fluid you added..
Also, I don't know if GM was doing this in 96, but newer GM vehicle PCMs learn and store information about how the transmission is shifting, and so it might be a good idea to disconnect the car battery to erase this information after a transmission fluid change.
Im no were near those mile stones but my 2002 Tacoma V6 has 52K with redline D4, second tranny cooler and a remote tranny filter to make filter changes eaiser alond with a filter magnet to catch any metals. Im hoping with fluid and filter changes every year ill see some of those numbers. Great truck buy the way.
'86 Ford F-250HD 4x4 6.9L, owned since 24K miles (late '87). Now over 130K, a lot of it towing a 30 foot trailer with a cabover camper also mounted (up to 18,000 GCVWR). Recently have been towing 12-ton grain trailers with it. The C6 is still original and I change the oil at either 15K or 30K, depending on how hard it's been working. No special oil, just Ford fluid of whatever name brand I could get on sale. It has a trans temp gauge (never been up to 200 degrees, as had as I'e worked it) and an oil-to-air cooler. It also has a converter drain, making a PROPER service possible.
Jim
Jim
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