Welp, got the transmission fluid changed today

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But still changing your tranny fluid every 15000 miles is a little neurotic and does no real good over the recommended change interval.

You might as well change your oil every 500 miles seeing it would be practically the same principle when basing maintanence on your mind set.
 
Numerous Fords trannies like the FWD Taurus and famous CD4E family, Mazda's miserable FWD 6 and 626 trannies, old TH700's, Dodge/Eagle FWD ZF's......are just some of the well none "blow on demand" transmissions. I could go on and include some HondAcura units, Kia/Hyundai units.........which are beginning to get their own reputation.

And, get a job at a dealership or tranny shop. Many OEM trannies suck, have numerous TSBs, hardware/software updates, and seem to always be updated with each new year model release.

I personally don't care if you want to maintain your tranny or not. But, when it fails, just remember that I'll be laughing last.

IMO, its not neurotic when you've own some lemon transmissions that lasted 200k-300k miles with simple maintenance via an ATF drainplug, especially when there are so many people complaining about shift quality or problems with their transmissions.

Or, you can just do what this thread starter did, wait until its "screwy". I don't wait for "screwy" shifts to schedule my maintenance.
 
I've had good results with an Auto-Rx cleaning of the transmission for 1000 miles before the flush.

By the way, no "T" in Dexron®


Ken
 
The filter has no bypass, is a full flow filter, and is in use for a long time. What is the reasoning behind not changing it? A T-tec flush will still leave contaminents in the transmission, just like a pan drop. Why no just leave the oil filter on for a few oil changes, it's certainly easier that way right?

-T
 
T

Which one is better?

1. A t-tech exchange every 40k miles alternating with a full exchange and filter change at the next 40 k miles.

or

2. A full ATF exchange every 80k miles (since the T-tech flush is a "waste of money".

I think we get your point that the best method would be to change the filter every time. Having changed auto trans filters before, on different kinds of vehicles including the one that I maintain...I have noticed that there is never anything in these filters...and that generally speaking in my experience and in MY transmission I'm ok with doing it every second time.

Have you ever looked at these filters? They either look like a copper screen, or like what you might see in your forced-air furnace filter.

I only change them generally to have a look to see if there's any junk in them. There never has been...the last 5 or 6 times i've done it.

That's my reasoning. What's your experience?

I'm open to other views, but I'm just not that fussed about it. My 180k mile 4L60E isn't either.

I don't think a comparison between an oil filter and a trans filter adds much to the discussion. Open up a 6k mile oil filter and lay it beside a 40k mile trans filter and you'll know what I mean.
 
Jim I have NEVER chaned the filter on my tranny . though it does have a drain plug so I change the fluid much more often then most...I think the longest I have gone is 10,000 miles ..I on many occations have gone as little as 3000 miles..
I now do have a bypass filter on my tranny, so that does get changed twice a year...but I will never change the tranny screen , because as you said you have never found anything there anyway...though i do understand that some have a felt filter.and sometimes they get dirty..but not often!
 
quote:
Originally posted by BlazerLT:
But still changing your tranny fluid every 15000 miles is a little neurotic and does no real good over the recommended change interval.
SNIP
Click to expand...
Well, look at it this way...
Your engine, 95 times out of 100, will make it 250,000 miles without an internally lubricated part failing. So, factory OCIs seem to work pretty nicely there.
Your transmission, on the other hand, has what chance of making it to 250,000 miles without an internally lubricated part failing? 5 in 100? 25 in 100, tops?
I keep seeing guys on here saying that most tranny rebuilds seem to occur between 80,000 and 120,000 miles, and that if you make it past 120,000 you're lucky and will make it quite a few miles.
Being paranoid about your ATF seems reasonable to me. I happen to drive a 200 horsepower front-wheel-drive Ford product with a reputation for having low-mileage transmission failures. I've also posted an analysis [1] of my car's tranny fluid that shows it is basically spent, even though I changed it halfway between two factory reccomended ATF change intervals.

[1] http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=50;t=000022
 
Yes, but transmissions don't see the hot temperatures that an engine does. It does run warm, but nothing close to an engine.

I think a complete fluid and filter change every 30k is perfectly fine unless you are running always in the city.
 
Well my AW71 (Asian Warner) that was in my 87 Volvo turbo had 30K transmission services up to 260K. It never was flushed just a pan drop filter replaced and new fluid added. I pulled it and swapped in a manual transmission. The Volvo Tech that bought it off me has at least put another 80K miles on it and it is still running fine. The only transmission that I have ever saw bite the dust early on a regular basis was the ones Chrysler put in their mini vans in the eighties through the mid nineties. I know 4 people that owned them and only one still had the original transmission in the vehicle after 4 years.
Although the new Volvo S80's seem to have a pretty good appetite for their transmissions.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Jim 5:
Have you ever looked at these filters? They either look like a copper screen, or like what you might see in your forced-air furnace filter.
Click to expand...
I have the Wix filter for the GM 4T40/4T45E transmission here, and the media looks like a dense fiberglass mesh. I can't see through it at all.

If I had to compare it to a forced-air furnace filter, it'd definitely be one of those $5+ each "micron" filters, not one of those 50cent fiberglass mesh filters.
 
I guess I've been pretty lucky with my 4L60E in my K1500.

It has shown no signs of problems. Although, that truck has the towing package (3.73 gears and a trans and oil cooler), but never did much towing. It's also had careful maintenance at factory severe service intervals.

I suspect a trans like that spending 99.5% of it's miles totally unloaded didn't have to work too hard. I could just be lucky, but on the chev truck boards I used to follow, I didn't see too many auto trans failures. In fact, my family always runs our vehicles out to about 150k miles, and nobody ever had a transmission failure. Just followed severe service intervals.

Those 80's and 90's dodge minivans had weak transmissions, and so did the explorers..which would generally fail at around 120k miles like clock-work.

My wife's 2003 Acura TL has a weak trans as well. It requires a fluid exchange every 25k miles. Acura extended the warranty on the trans to 120k miles. Hopefully if it blows up, it does so before 120k.. But, the only time it works hard is when I'm behind the wheel and my wife isn't in the car...this happens about once a month, so it'll get off easy as well.
 
Here's the answer (for the most part) to the Chrysler trans problems. Guess what? It's the fluid, stupid! NEW fluid, that is.

http://www.allpar.com/fix/trans.html

Personally, I'm rather averse to pan dropping, but do take the time to do it at least once or twice in the lifetime of a vehicle I own, mostly for the purpose of getting that 1st batch of new goo out and installing a drain bolt.

After that I'll plumb in and external full flow filter with something like a permacool filter adapter or Magnefine in line with the cooler. Then just change that along with the fluid at about a (heresy!) 30-50k mile interval. Never found anything in the internal filter, never saw nasty fluid come out and never had a trans go bad on me (knock on wood).
 
OBTW, I meant "stupid" in the rhetorical sense - not directed at the last poster!
grin.gif
 
Some AT's have pretty good filters. Some AT's have screens. I have a '95 mitsu and the tranny only has a screen. Plus it is very difficult to remove the pan because there is a structural crossmember that needs to be removed in order to remove the pan. Mitsu recommends tranny fluid changes every 30k. They do not have a service interval on the filter/screen. The factory manual says to flush the fluid at the AT cooler connections by running the engine and topping up until the fluid runs clean. The pan has a drain plug that drains about half the fluid.

I drained and topped up at 45k, had a dealer flush at 90k and drained and topped up at 145k. The 145k fluid was a nice bright red. I am at 155k and the fluid looks great. Plus I tow a trailer quite a bit and the tranny works like it was new.

In short, I now think a flush is a waste of effort, and risky on old tranny's. I plan on doing a drain and top up on my new cars at about 20-30k intervals. My .02
 
quote:
Originally posted by T-Keith:
The filter has no bypass, is a full flow filter, and is in use for a long time. What is the reasoning behind not changing it? A T-tec flush will still leave contaminents in the transmission, just like a pan drop. Why no just leave the oil filter on for a few oil changes, it's certainly easier that way right?

-T
Click to expand...
LOL, you really like to exaggerate things don't you. the filter is on the intake of the transmission and will take anything out before it goes into the transmission.

You thinking that dropping the pan and filter is easy for everyone sounds like you make it out to be an easy job.

The filter was changed 10k ago and it lasted 70k before that so if you think when I swap in a T-Tec fluid change that the filter is all of a sudden plugged you have another thing coming.

And comparing this to a oil filter change is just plain idiotic and you know that.
 
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