What is the life expectancy of an auto trans?

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My experience with auto tranny's is rather new because the last car I had was an 83 SAAB 900T with a 5 speed that lasted 14 yrs & 256,000+ miles with one clutch. Two of the previous cars were autos, but I didn't keep them very long.

The 98 Volvo V70 T5 I currently own is 13yrs old and has 177,000+ mi on the auto tranny. I use M1 syn. ATF and change it about every 55k mi. I don't let it ever get dark. I also regularly shift through D, L2, L1 to cycle the solenoids.
 
Depends on how you drive and what it is attached to. I don't expect any of mine to live past 100,000 except for maybe the Equniox.


The truck and the Buick are both modified and get hammered. Both have aftermarket coolers, the truck has a larger pan and the Buick has a bunch of upgrades. If I get a 100k out of an AT I am happy. The worst one was my Accord. 56k and boom!

You guys getting 200k, must drive EASY. How often do you see 4k or full throttle shifts?
 
I drive my cars hard as heck. I redline every chance I get.

I only drive the Caravan easy because it's so [censored] fragile, it's on the forth transmission like i mentioned earlier.
 
When they blow they blow, some don't make 100k some last 300k+.

I think 200k is a good run out of any auto trans.
 
Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Depends on how you drive and what it is attached to. I don't expect any of mine to live past 100,000 except for maybe the Equinox.


The truck and the Buick are both modified and get hammered. Both have aftermarket coolers, the truck has a larger pan and the Buick has a bunch of upgrades. If I get a 100k out of an AT I am happy. The worst one was my Accord. 56k and boom!

You guys getting 200k, must drive EASY. How often do you see 4k or full throttle shifts?

When I drove the LS400 to Vegas in summer 1994-2000, passing Death Valleys around noon with temperature hoovered above 110-120F at 100+ MPH going up steep hills is not an easy drive. Similar drives with my E430.
 
Originally Posted By: qdeezie
I've never had a trans to fail with proper maintenance. Maybe I'm just that lucky or syn atfs are just that good.


Me either. My first AT was in a 60 Dodge Sinaca. The only AT I have had that failed was a 200 in a 77Nova V8. The car only had 8K on it and the tranny self destructed, but was fixed under warranty.
 
Originally Posted By: ls1mike
You guys getting 200k, must drive EASY. How often do you see 4k or full throttle shifts?


I had a '97 Cadillac with the Northstar and drove it hard. Besides wanting to keep it exercised due to oil control ring issues in that engine, if you've ever driven a Northstar, you know the high-band power in that is addicting. I'd take it to 6500 rpm every day.

The original 4T80-E in it was doing fine when I sold it to my brother with about 160k miles on it, and it was still fine when he traded it for a new CTS with about 190k miles on it.

All on the ORIGINAL Dexron III fluid.
 
GM looks like they were able to make an overdrive transmission without too may problems. I know a few people that have had 4l60/700r4 failures ... but the vehicle had 300+k on it, never being maintained.

Chrysler and Ford autos have always scared me.

I bought my Cherokee with 93k on it, not even worried about the transmission. Right now I'm at 105k and it works just as well as it did in 2000 I"m sure. They are a stout transmission. I off road my cherokee, too ... I put on a pretty big cooler and drain and fill the trans pan (3 qts) every oil change. I expect the transmission to outlast the rest of the jeep.
 
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Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Depends on how you drive and what it is attached to. I don't expect any of mine to live past 100,000 except for maybe the Equniox.


The truck and the Buick are both modified and get hammered. Both have aftermarket coolers, the truck has a larger pan and the Buick has a bunch of upgrades. If I get a 100k out of an AT I am happy. The worst one was my Accord. 56k and boom!

You guys getting 200k, must drive EASY. How often do you see 4k or full throttle shifts?


I would be sticking with manual transmissions if you have that bad of a history..

I tow 5500lbs every other week in the summer and 3500lbs the weeks in between. I have an after market cooler and a remote ATF filter. Hardly easy use, you obviously drive the absolute urine out of your cars to see 4000rpm and full throttle shifts regularly. If I did that I would be speeding all the time but throwing money out the window on tickets isn't my thing though...
 
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Originally Posted By: ls1mike


You guys getting 200k, must drive EASY. How often do you see 4k or full throttle shifts?



All my vehicles see WOT runs all the time. They are built for it, unless the engine is modified it shouldn't exceed the HP that the drive train can handle.
 
Originally Posted By: ls1mike

You guys getting 200k, must drive EASY. How often do you see 4k or full throttle shifts?


How often does a cab or a police car (my Crown Vic was both) see 4k or full throttle shifts?

275k on that car.. transmission appears to be original. Typically a cab company won't replace the transmission when it fails, they just scrap the car for parts.
 
Originally Posted By: brianl703

How often does a cab or a police car (my Crown Vic was both) see 4k or full throttle shifts?

275k on that car.. transmission appears to be original. Typically a cab company won't replace the transmission when it fails, they just scrap the car for parts.


Yes most Panthers can go to 200K miles and longer if fluid is changed at reasonable intervals..I know of a few guys who bought P71 Police Interceptors and have over 200K on them with no issues with the tranny..All those did police duty till around 120K miles..My 99 Grand Marquis had zero issues with the tranny and I had over 200K miles on it when I was sold it..I miss that car.
 
Originally Posted By: CROWNVIC4LIFE
Originally Posted By: brianl703

How often does a cab or a police car (my Crown Vic was both) see 4k or full throttle shifts?

275k on that car.. transmission appears to be original. Typically a cab company won't replace the transmission when it fails, they just scrap the car for parts.


Yes most Panthers can go to 200K miles and longer if fluid is changed at reasonable intervals..I know of a few guys who bought P71 Police Interceptors and have over 200K on them with no issues with the tranny..All those did police duty till around 120K miles..My 99 Grand Marquis had zero issues with the tranny and I had over 200K miles on it when I was sold it..I miss that car.

The inceptor and other police models had different clutch packs and cooler, it was set up for that kind of duty. There were other revisions as well related to line pressure which helped to increase life span.
 
I think 200K should be doable with a transmission that doesn't have known design issues.

I sold my Explorer with 158K on the original transmission and it still shifted perfectly. I don't think the pan had ever been off. The previous owner bought it with just over 30K and had only done flushes every 50K or so. I have no doubt the transmission would have lasted over 200K miles, but the body and brake lines were not going to.

I used to be a strictly manual transmission guy because "automatics don't last," but after having two automatic trucks with a combined 267,000 miles and not a single transmission problem, I think they can be very reliable with regular maintenance and a half decent design. I'm a pretty "spirited" driver too, and both trucks have been used for towing.
 
My 96 Toyota RAV4 has 201K on it now. Whatever I get in addition to this is gravy.

I also agree with the maintenance, driving style and luck equation.
 
My Jeep is about to hit 119k miles on the original tranny, still shifts great. I run it pretty hard (WOT pretty much at least once a day when warmed up), but it has a big tranny cooler, and I'm good about changing the fluid regularly.

Being that I'm finishing up some engine upgrades (heads/cam), the tranny is getting a shift kit and slightly increased line pressure to help it cope with the extra power. As long as it makes it to 150k, I'm happy.
 
1996 RAV 4 has 201K on the tranny with one flush and two fluid changes.

My father had a 1987 Chevy pickup. He decided to get a remanufactured engine and tranny at 200K and sold it with 370K. He did oil changes religiously but does not believe in changing transmission fluid.

My friend's Toyota Camry has 240K without tranny work.

I spoke to a woman today who has over 220K on her minivan.

If I had to pick a number, I would bet most trannys could go over 200K if used for commuting without a load.
 
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