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Yup, I've done the "bucket flush" at least 4 times on my 2004 Silverado hd2500. It's got 155k on it and still going strong. Transmission fluid is cheap, why not change it?. It's very easy to overheat the trans fluid if you get stuck in snow/ mud. I can't understand why some of the manufacturers (bmw and others) eliminate the trans dipstick and say the fluid never needs changing. It's like $2 a quart.
$2/quart? Not too often any more! More and more the manufacturer has a specific proprietary fluid that is the only one they approve for a particular vehicle and costs more like $10 up.
Actually they do now have a flush and drian that is done by a machine that gets rid of all the old and repalces it with all new. Same as the radiator flush. If you just drain ;then you need to do it more often as it doesn't get rid of all the old fluid. Most transmission shops and dealers how have the flush machines.
the flush machines are large expenses and you can be sure that if a shop has purchased a flush machine that they will push flushes as a way to recoup some of the cost to repay the loan for that machine and to generate a new revenue stream from folks who don't know better.
my kia sportage has "lifetime" transmission fluid and doesn't even have a dipstick or a drain plug. I'm waiting for the day they come to me with a dirty transmission dipstick. (also looking for a way to change my fluid.)
Heat kills transmissions. I install an aftermarket transmission cooler and then change the fluid and filter. It really helps control the temp in the Summers, especially when driving over mountain passes. The fluid seems to last longer with the cooler in place. This approach may not be for everybody, but I haven't had a transmission go bad and I run my cars up to about 225,000 miles with no issues. The transmissions are always fine and the fluid looks good. After the installation of the cooler, I will remove some of the fluid with a hand pump through the fill tube and refill with new fluid, after about 50,000 miles of driving, but I don't change the filter after that and I don't replace 100% of the fluid with this method. Probably not the best method, but seems to work okay.
$2/quart? Not too often any more! More and more the manufacturer has a specific proprietary fluid that is the only one they approve for a particular vehicle and costs more like $10 up.
Example: Toyota "World Standard."
Don in Austin
Don, your right, I think I paid $14 for a gallon of dex III. Certainly not $10 a quart though. My truck holds 12 quarts. I know Honda has a special (more money) brand that's pretty expensive. And it didn't help with my 2001 Crv or my accord! I believe My 1990 Camry uses dexIII too.
The "bucket flush" on my Silverado is easier to do than changing the oil, ehich is pretty simple itself.
Gonna throe my 2 cents in here.. I have owned over 37 vehicles in my lifetime.. All have gone over 100,000 miles, a bunch more over 150,000, some more over 200,000 and more over 250,000..... I have NEVER changed tranny fluid or ever had any maintenance done on the tranny's.. I have had to replace the tranny's in 3 of them due to the manufacture of the tranny itself and not because of the lack of maintenance.....
Gonna throe my 2 cents in here.. I have owned over 37 vehicles in my lifetime.. All have gone over 100,000 miles, a bunch more over 150,000, some more over 200,000 and more over 250,000..... I have NEVER changed tranny fluid or ever had any maintenance done on the tranny's.. I have had to replace the tranny's in 3 of them due to the manufacture of the tranny itself and not because of the lack of maintenance.....
You owned 37 vehicles from new and drove them all over 100,000 miles? How old are you?lol
I have a 2004 Toyota Corolla, automatic transmission with approx. 37,000 miles. At our last oil change done at a local Meineke, we were told our transmission fluid was dirty and that we should get our transmission flushed. We didn't have the money and said no. Yesterday, we had the car serviced (we were about 3,000-4,000 miles overdue) and again the mechanic said the same thing. He went as far as saying our fluid was so dirty that there may be a serious transmission problem and said it could be a manufacturer's defect. Up until going to this Meineke, we had always maintained/serviced our car at Toyota but we moved last summer and decided to go to Meineke instead as it was closer.
I called Toyota this morning to check about defects and they said based on my VIN, that there were no defects, recalls, etc. for my car.
We have 2 payments left on our car and next month will be the 5-year anniversary so we have to get the car in IMMEDIATELY to meet the powertrain 5 year/60,000 warranty.
Has anyone had anything like this happen? Do you recommend flushing? Could we have a "lemon" transmission?
I don't think 37K miles is enough for an AT Fluid Flush, but your car is ~15 years old, so it may be in order. Have you noticed any shifting problems? I'd probably flush the fluid, simply because it's so old.
You owned 37 vehicles from new and drove them all over 100,000 miles? How old are you?lol
LOL. Let's assume 40 vehicles for say 105K. That's 4.2 million miles. The average person works ~200 days per year and assume the guy's commute is 150 miles each way or 300 miles/ day. That's 60,000 miles/ year or 70 years of driving 60,000 miles per year.
Maybe he has a lot of kids that drive?
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