first I've heard this about A4LD's

[FMExplorer]

A buddy brought his explorer into the shop for an oil change and transmission service. The shop told him NOT to change the fluid and flush the system. They said it would cause the transmission to slip if the plates were cleaned. Has anyone ever heard of this? Sounds kinda funky to me...

J

 

[Alec]

If a tranny has had a crappy service history it's better to not change the fluid and filter from what I've seen.

So if you maintain it well, then continue to do so. If you've never maintained it, don't touch it unless you have to.

 

[boostranger]

i would say change it. Now if the fluid is really nasty and black and theres lots of sludge in the pan, thoroughly clean the pan and the magnet, change fluid and filter and refil trans, now since ATF is acts like a detergent and cleans things, you may end up with tranny probs in a week or 2, but not to worry this is cuased by the new fluid cleaning the inside of your tranny and the now dislogded dirt and crud clogging the filter. Drop the pan and change the filter and fluid again and you should have no adverse affects.

I had always heard the myth about once you have lots of miles on a trans to leave it alone, but i am currently taking Automatics trannies and transaxles in school and after getting into them i now understand why its not true. My prof also was a vast aount of knowledge and a great deal of experience in the feild and have yet to see him lead us in the wrong direction

hope that helps
Jon

 

[Alec]

Well my tranny crapped out about 10 days after a fluid and filter change. Turns out where I'd been going before hadn't been doing what they should have been doing.

 

[Hartman]

Ok so my tranny has 131k on it and the transmission fluid has been changed maybe twice during that time. Do you think I should leave it alone? It seems to work fine as it is right now but with 131k I know it's going to go soon. I've heard about many people who have had there tranny go after a fluid and filter change.

 

[mrboyle]

Hartman, you should have no problems having a filter service done on your X. You don't want to have the tranny flushed though.

 

[Shurup]

WOW! I heve read lots of treads about tranny problems soon after oil/filter change, tranny flush/rebuild but I didn't see this connection between servising tranny and tranny problem. Are all those cases just coinsidencne or the result of tranny servise?

I was about to flush my tranny and go to synthetic fluid. I have only 112K on my truck and according to the original owner, he maintain this truck very regularly. He gave all those maintenance papers but I haven't looked through them yet.

The only problem I had with my tranny (so far) that when I was on a highway I wanted to pass somebody, I floored the gas pedal and the truck shot and then somewhere in between 4500 and 5000 RPM when it was the time to go to the next gear it wouln't (kind of slipped) so I released the gas and it did change the gear. THat happened only couple times. I heard that this tranny is ****ty and I thought I had trouble of shifting at very high RPM. Normally, when going from a stop it wouldn't go past 4200 - 4300 RPM so I didn't worry, but now I am afraid that thas was the beginning of the end of my tranny.

Should I try and flush my tranny and puor in some synthetic and maybe some tranny additive or better not touch it? What do you think?

 

[Opera House]

My tranny never goes past 3,000

Then I don't drive it really hard. You might want to check the line on the vacuum modulator for the presence of fluid. The problem with new fluid is the cleaners tend to loosen up gunk stuck in the torque converter. Your transmission has a metal screen which will hardly filter anything. You can switch to the newer MicroFelt filter which will trap some of this gunk. So I suggest just a pan drop and a new filter. If there is a lot of sediment in the pan, it would be advisable to drop it again in six months and change the filter. It will be dirty! Put a couple of ceramic magnets in the pan too. Even standard Mercon has changed a lot in this time. Get the tranny clean before changing to full synthetic. Don't do a flush.

 

[Shurup]

Where is that vacuum modulator?
And one more thing. How can I change to full synthetic without a good flush? I don't want to mix regular fluid with synthetic. I think it is not good for any unit of the truck to mix regular and synthetic together.

 

[Lifted95X]

I hate when this comes up. I have just about 1.5 years on my rebuilt tranny and was gonna get the fluid/filter changed....now...I'm not so sure.

 

[Opera House]

That shouldn't be a problem

on a recent rebuild. The problem is with transmissions with a lot of miles on them. These usually have a lot of sediment in the pan. Even when that is cleaned there is just as much gunk still in the torque converter and elsewhere in the transmission. The rebuilds with the newer filters shouldn't have any problem.

The vacuum modulator ($12) is on the passenger side about midway back, just above the pan. It is held in with one bolt. But just try and get at it. Some take out the seat and go through an access cover, do a search. Should be able to follow the tube up to the vacuum tree on the engine, drivers side. Some test with a mity vac to see if it holds vacuum. This also identifies if there is a split in the connecting hose.

 

[Mr_Evil]

My dad and I changed the oil on my X's A4LD last December and that's when it went. As soon as the oil was changed the SOB would NOT untrack which ended up in a $1025 rebuild job because the VMV crapped out. I'm probably gonna change my fluid out Tuesday with no flush. I use John Deere Hydraulic oil in my Tranny with some great results.

 

[Shurup]

Ok, I guess I would never ever change fluid in that crappy tranny.

 

[Rhett]

Well now I'm not so sure about dropping the pan and all.

I had mine flushed at 75,000 miles, and now it has 98,000 miles and there's been no problem. I'm wondering if I should change the filter or just leave it alone.