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Then why does my manual recommend changing trans fluid at 50K on a sealed unit?
This was a pain, as the amount leaving the system had to be measured as their is no dipstick to check fluid level.
It sounds like you have the wrong manual to the car. 50K miles is too soon for even a non sealed unit. My non sealed transmission doesn't require a fluid change until 104K miles.
Venturing a guess, Ultrarunner’s point is that relatively unskilled and stressed-out motorists, lacking tools or adequate working-conditions, can often nevertheless get an older car running again, when stuck on the proverbial roadside – but with a newer car, there’s need for more sophistication, of tools and diagnostic equipment and service-manuals and so forth.
It’s probably also true, that a newer car is less likely to break down in the first place – first by sheer virtue of being newer, and second from better engineering practices, such as replacing finicky mechanical components with solid-state electrical ones. I appreciate these innovations. They by and large are welcome. But when a problem does happen, these very same innovations render the shadetree mechanic helpless.
I remember when electronic fuel injection first came out people thought the "newer" cars could no longer be worked on by a home mechanic. Now 30 years later people think those cars can be worked on but the new ones can't.
The first OBD I systems were read basically using a jumper wire between two pins on the port, and recording a blinking check engine light. Then OBD II came out requiring a $300 scanner, now you can buy a Bluetooth adapter on Amazon for $12 and read everything going on with the engine. You can remap everything just sitting in the drivers seat and not even get dirty. A lot of components can be replaced just by pulling a harness.
Granted not everybody today knows how to do this, but people forget not every housewife in 1950 knew how to adjust their carb at a red light either. Every generation of cars has a niche of enthusiast who can figure out how to mess with them.
It sounds like you have the wrong manual to the car. 50K miles is too soon for even a non sealed unit. My non sealed transmission doesn't require a fluid change until 104K miles.
Then you call a tow truck just like you would if you blew a head gasket. How often do your sidewalls blow out?
Or what if you bend the rim from hitting a pothole? Here's a real life example of something that's happened to me before.
And you're missing my whole point, of course I can call a tow truck, but I'd rather not depend on someone else to get me out of a jam, especially if I'm in the middle of nowhere. But the car manufacturers are so cheap that they'd rather throw in a cheap, Chinese air compressor and a can of fix a flat then put a doughnut in a car, which is MUCH more limiting.
Well now you know why it pays to have a newer reliable car.
When my water pump went out on the side of the road, I got a call from a cop the next morning telling me my wheels were stolen. I've also been broken down in a Mexican colonia doing charity work. I'm ok with not reliving all that.
I drive a 2005 Chevy Colorado with 230k miles on it.. It's never left me stranded on the side of the road.
It HAS left me sitting looking at my clock several times because the passlock or whatever system it is that GM uses got triggered.. making me wait 10 minutes before it would re-enable the ignition system.
It's had problems, but none that left me stranded. Now.. The old '84 and '86 Ford Escorts that I drove? That '84 left me stranded about once every 4 months.
Or what if you bend the rim from hitting a pothole? Here's a real life example of something that's happened to me before.
And you're missing my whole point, of course I can call a tow truck, but I'd rather not depend on someone else to get me out of a jam, especially if I'm in the middle of nowhere. But the car manufacturers are so cheap that they'd rather throw in a cheap, Chinese air compressor and a can of fix a flat then put a doughnut in a car, which is MUCH more limiting.
Bend a rim? Are you rocking low profiles on 22's?
The spare tire sucked. It was dead weight taking up space and was used like twice a lifetime. So they tossed the cheap Chinese spare tire and got you a cheap Chinese air compressor instead. At least you can use the air compressor to blow up a football or something.
Do you carry spare hoses and belts too?
While manual calls this a transaxle filter, no such part exists for my vehicle.
Only transmission filter is sold for the Malibu.
Transaxle is a fancy term for a front wheel drive transmission.
There's caveats under footnote "h" that state of you don't drive in mountainous terrain or frequent stop and go traffic over 90 degrees you apparently don't have to change it at all
That is one weird maintenance cycle. I'm sure somebody at some point would drive up a mountain or in traffic on a hot day sometime within 150k miles. I didn't even think they had sealed transmissions back in 2005.
The spare tire sucked. It was dead weight taking up space and was used like twice a lifetime. So they tossed the cheap Chinese spare tire and got you a cheap Chinese air compressor instead. At least you can use the air compressor to blow up a football or something.
Do you carry spare hoses and belts too?
No it was in my mother's Pontiac G6 which has low profiles on 17's. And it was a big pothole that I hit going 40+ mph around a turn, so I didn't even see it until it was too late. It hit hard enough to bend BOTH rims on the passenger side of the car. Luckily it wasn’t far from my grandparents house, where I was coming from, so I called them and my grandfather and uncle came out and we beat the rims out enough and got them to hold air so we could drive home. Still holding air no problem to this day, and this was back in 2011.
As far as a spare tire goes, I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. I’m not worried about the 0.01 mpg I might gain by losing that tiny amount of weight.
And I do carry spare belts in my Chevy truck, haven’t needed them but again it’s the same principle. Someone made this frame that holds a toolbox under the hood that I’ve filled with pretty much everything I would need to fix the truck on site.
No it was in my mother's Pontiac G6 which has low profiles on 17's. And it was a big pothole that I hit going 40+ mph around a turn, so I didn't even see it until it was too late. It hit hard enough to bend BOTH rims on the passenger side of the car. Luckily it wasn’t far from my grandparents house, where I was coming from, so I called them and my grandfather and uncle came out and we beat the rims out enough and got them to hold air so we could drive home. Still holding air no problem to this day, and this was back in 2011.
As far as a spare tire goes, I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. I’m not worried about the 0.01 mpg I might gain by losing that tiny amount of weight.
And I do carry spare belts in my Chevy truck, haven’t needed them but again it’s the same principle. Someone made this frame that holds a toolbox under the hood that I’ve filled with pretty much everything I would need to fix the truck on site.
That says something about reliabilty when you carry a spare tool box and parts with you.
In the case of your bent rims, the spare tire would have only fixed one of the two, and in your case you bent it back anyway. The cheap Chinese air pump would have topped off the air for you.
But seriously, there was a time when cars had two spares. People have cell phones now, it's not as dire of circumstances traveling with no spare as you can usually call a tow truck. As times change, the requirements change with it to match the times.
newer. 90's GM cars can be restored from the ground up and you can leave out the electronic stuff like the passlock and be way better off. plus its very cheap to do so
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