Change ATF based on age or distance ZF 4HP22
- Thread starter Bluestream
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Hi all,
I'd do a "condition based" assessment - is there signs of water in the fluid? Then change it or it smells wrong. I've had 10 year-old tranny fluid and engine oil with low mileage on a sunday driver and the tests came back with low contamination and a TBN of 4.2!!(better then 50% life left!!) Was I surprised!
Tranny fluid does not age like engine oil and never sees 'blow by' gases and water from the combustion process that mixes with the engine oil, etc.
Tranny bearing and gear wear is distance based and loads up the fluid with super fine wear metals that can cause shift valves to gall and stick or delay during shifts, it takes a lot of miles to do that and 25K is nothing.
I'd do a "condition based" assessment - is there signs of water in the fluid? Then change it or it smells wrong. I've had 10 year-old tranny fluid and engine oil with low mileage on a sunday driver and the tests came back with low contamination and a TBN of 4.2!!(better then 50% life left!!) Was I surprised!
Tranny fluid does not age like engine oil and never sees 'blow by' gases and water from the combustion process that mixes with the engine oil, etc.
Tranny bearing and gear wear is distance based and loads up the fluid with super fine wear metals that can cause shift valves to gall and stick or delay during shifts, it takes a lot of miles to do that and 25K is nothing.
Really really really good Dex III is ≤ $5 a quart.
Change it.
Change it.
Originally Posted By: i_hate_autofraud
Hi all,
I'd do a "condition based" assessment - is there signs of water in the fluid? Then change it or it smells wrong. I've had 10 year-old tranny fluid and engine oil with low mileage on a sunday driver and the tests came back with low contamination and a TBN of 4.2!!(better then 50% life left!!) Was I surprised!
Tranny fluid does not age like engine oil and never sees 'blow by' gases and water from the combustion process that mixes with the engine oil, etc.
Tranny bearing and gear wear is distance based and loads up the fluid with super fine wear metals that can cause shift valves to gall and stick or delay during shifts, it takes a lot of miles to do that and 25K is nothing.
+1.
If the fluid still looks bright red with no visible issues, odds are it's still fine with only 15,500 miles. Members have also reported using 10-20 year old motor oils in their rarely driven vehicles. Why should ATF age any faster?
Hi all,
I'd do a "condition based" assessment - is there signs of water in the fluid? Then change it or it smells wrong. I've had 10 year-old tranny fluid and engine oil with low mileage on a sunday driver and the tests came back with low contamination and a TBN of 4.2!!(better then 50% life left!!) Was I surprised!
Tranny fluid does not age like engine oil and never sees 'blow by' gases and water from the combustion process that mixes with the engine oil, etc.
Tranny bearing and gear wear is distance based and loads up the fluid with super fine wear metals that can cause shift valves to gall and stick or delay during shifts, it takes a lot of miles to do that and 25K is nothing.
+1.
If the fluid still looks bright red with no visible issues, odds are it's still fine with only 15,500 miles. Members have also reported using 10-20 year old motor oils in their rarely driven vehicles. Why should ATF age any faster?
Lots of different opinions here. Basic question does the fluid go bad with age? Does it turn acidic?
I dont have an issue just changing it, in fact I have Mobil 1 ATF in my stash that is also getting older by the day sitting in the bottle.
I dont have an issue just changing it, in fact I have Mobil 1 ATF in my stash that is also getting older by the day sitting in the bottle.
The transmission has a breather that let unfiltered air to circulate inside even sitting, as climate temperature changes. It may get some dirt, depending on the environment. I've change a 8 years synthetic oil on a 4hp20, with low miles and found a little abrasive material (dustsand) on it, but the oil was clear as new. I changed it out. See if your breather has a good filter, mine didn't, just a cap. Humidity is another issue...
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Mobil 1 ATF is a strong early Dex full synthetic replacement -
I go by mileage and/or fluid condition. This past spring, I changed the fluid/filter in an old Mercury(w/AOD) which was last changed(DEX 2) after an overhaul back in 1994 and 30k miles since then. The fluid was still bright red, no debris was on the filter or collected on the bottom of the pan and shifts are perfect. I don't believe transmission fluid goes bad just sitting in the lightly used transmission.
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Drained it out today, and it was not the bright red colour I was expecting. Dull red best word I can think of. Not that colour means anything, maybe it had oxidised a bit with the 8 years of sitting. I'm hitting my my stash of Mobil one and putting that in. It only takes 7L so no big deal. I'll change again in 10 years, if I'm still alive..
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