Should I have my tranny flushed?

[TwiztidRat]

I took my XLT to change the oil today and a guy said my tranny fluid was getting black. I have 197k on my truck and no signs of problems wondering if I should go ahead and change the fluid, or have a flush done. I just planned to leave it alone and drive it till it quits, because I hear a flush can do more harm to it at this point. It shifts fine with no signs of slippage or hard shifts.

 

[Janu93]

Your experience may vary.. but the two times i have done that in the past, i have ended up having to have transmission rebuilt shortly following a tranny oil change. Let us know how it works out for you.

 

[deweyville65]

I took my XLT to change the oil today and a guy said my tranny fluid was getting black. I have 197k on my truck and no signs of problems wondering if I should go ahead and change the fluid, or have a flush done. I just planned to leave it alone and drive it till it quits, because I hear a flush can do more harm to it at this point. It shifts fine with no signs of slippage or hard shifts.

Try changing the filter and whatever oilyou loose, instead of a full blown oil flush.

 

[white_shadow]

Try changing the filter and whatever oilyou loose, instead of a full blown oil flush.

this

 

[Explodr94]

Your experience may vary.. but the two times i have done that in the past, i have ended up having to have transmission rebuilt shortly following a tranny oil change. Let us know how it works out for you.

I agree with this. Everytime I have had a tranny where fluid was never changed and I changed it (not a full flush, but just the pan & filter) my trans fried shortly thereafter. Includes my '94 A4LD. Not an opinion, just stating what acutally happened to me.

 

[Joe Dirt]

I would just leave it alone at this point.

 

[koda2000]

I agree with this. Everytime I have had a tranny where fluid was never changed and I changed it (not a full flush, but just the pan & filter) my trans fried shortly thereafter. Includes my '94 A4LD. Not an opinion, just stating what acutally happened to me.

I'm just curious, was there a reason you suddenly decided to change/flush your transmission fluid? were you starting to notice abnormalities and decided to see if a fluid change would help, or was it just something you decided should be done. my experience has been that i've always changed my trans fluid and filter about every 30-40K and i've never had a transmission problem. if you wait until the fluid is cooked and/or dark with clutch material it's probably to late and you should leave it alone.

 

[C420sailor]

BTDT. Leave it. If your fluid is dark and smells burnt, the damage has already been done. Make sure the level is good and drive it until it starts giving you trouble (which could be quite a while!), then go from there.

 

[TwiztidRat]

Thanks for the help guys, at this point I'm just leaving it alone and hope it'll run till at least 250k.

 

[Explodr94]

I'm just curious, was there a reason you suddenly decided to change/flush your transmission fluid? were you starting to notice abnormalities and decided to see if a fluid change would help, or was it just something you decided should be done. my experience has been that i've always changed my trans fluid and filter about every 30-40K and i've never had a transmission problem. if you wait until the fluid is cooked and/or dark with clutch material it's probably to late and you should leave it alone.

Koda,

On my 94 Exploder I was having the typical shift problems, I had just bought the Ex, so I was not sure about previous service, but the fluid didn't look that bad. Those trannys almost always fried, although I am aware of a few with over 200,000 on this board.

The other two times were muscle cars, one was a 350 turbo Pontiac. That fluid was bad and I should have left it alone. The other was a 727 mopar, same as the Pontiac. Both times shortly after I bought the cars, I thought it best to service the fluid. So it is my opinion that if you don't know the history of the vehicle and there are lots of miles, you'll probably get a few more miles by leaving it alone. When you change fluid it just speeds up the destruction. Otherwise, I change my tranny fluid religiously every 25,000.

 

[Joe Dirt]

The reasoning is, that the old fluid has lots of particulate in it from the clutchpacks as they wear. If you change the fluid out, the extra friction that was coming from the particulate, in essence allowing the trans to operate normally, is now gone- and that accelerates failure.

 

[koda2000]

The reasoning is, that the old fluid has lots of particulate in it from the clutchpacks as they wear. If you change the fluid out, the extra friction that was coming from the particulate, in essence allowing the trans to operate normally, is now gone- and that accelerates failure.

ok, that makes sense. my new-to-me '01 EB V8 has 180k on it and i don't know the service history. the vehicle is in super nice condition inside and out. i'll be installing ball joints, upper control arms, end links and spark plugs this weekend. the seller provided receipts for hoses, radiator, water pump, thermostat and serp belt. the trans fluid is nice and pink and doesn't smell, but as i don't know when/if the fluid and filter has ever been changed i thought i'd change it this fall. do you think i should change it or leave it alone? truck exhibits no problems whatsoever. -sorry didn't mean to hijack...