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^^ That is what I'm talking about. Usually Honda is not known for cutting corners on their cars. Why couldn't they research their automatic transmissions a bit more? With engines becoming pretty reliable automatic transmission failure has to be among the top reasons cars are scrapped today.
I'm with you. Let somebody else pay for that developing technology.
As for the AW70 in the older Volvos... If Volvo had just cut the crap, and left that overdrive solenoid out of them, they would have been MUCH better transmissions. Best thing that ever happened is when this little gem was invented. $40 that solves the problem... Automatic Over-Drive Solenoid Bypass Kit
The AW70/71 (and 70L/71L) were basically indestructible. They could be ruined, but ruining one required some sort of neglect or abuse. Aside from the electronic OD issue, the only other common problem with the AW7*/AW7*L was the hard 1-2 shift that affected about 1 out of every 2 of them. It wasn't a reliability issue, just a pronounced shift.
The best transmissions I have found were in the older Mercedes such as the w123 and w126. I have personally had a few with well over 400k on the origninal boxes, with nothing but routine fluid and filter changes at regular intervals, of course it helps that in those older Benzes the filters were the size of two shoes and the torque converter also had a drain the allowed you to exchange a greater percentage of old fluid. They aren't the smoothest transmissions, nor the quietest, but they seem up to the task of many trouble-free miles. It's not unheard of to see those with over 500k original miles, but the majority of "problems" come from ignorant techs who don't know the idiosyncrasies of those particular boxes, like the vacuum modulators. If the (very cheap and easy to change) vacuum modulator goes bad, or there is a leak in one of the lines somewhere, they can mimic the symptoms of a failed transmission with gear flaring and slippage, but the reality of it is most of the time it's a small vacuum issue that is easily resolved. Still, most techs test drive the cars, diagnose it as a failed transmission, and prescribe a rebuild.
The Aisin-Warner units in the 3rd gen 4runners are rock-sold, aside from the pink milkshake issue (not the fault of the transmission), in which the radiator's internal ATF cooler ruptures and mixes ATF and coolant into a nice slurry that quickly invades the transmission. Without any milkshakes, I'd expect those transmissions to last well over 300k with regular fluid drain and fills. Good transmissions are out there, but they seem to be fading as manufacturers go to these "filled for life" ideas, reality is that's just planned obsolescence on the part of the car maker; they don't make as much cash when people drive the wheels off well-made cars for 20-30 years and 300-400k.
Best auto transmissions I've ever driven were on Mazdas. Not "most reliable," best. Linear, direct, smooth enough to not disturb, but pop over to manual mode and it's as fast shifting as a stick, maybe even faster.
Best transmission IDEA honestly is the CVT. Yeah, they drone and they're boring. They're also a lot smoother than dual-clutch units like Ford is using (see "clunky). And just the thought of what could be done with a tranmission that not only could have programmable shift logic, but completely programmable shift ratios just gives me all sorts of evil ideas.
Honestly I've never had a GM transmission go on my GMs, but that's because the rest of the car fell apart before it had a chance. Same with my Fords honestly. And frankly, the Mazda died at 74k too. I guess I'm a little rough on cars.
My vote would have to go to the GM (Turbo) Hydramatic series. In particular, the T-400 and all of its derivatives (going from late 60’s to 2010 IIRC) are incredibly durable and smooth. The same transmissions that went into passenger vehicles also went into 26000lb GVWR trucks. Bentley, Rolls Royce, BMW and a few other foreign makes have used these GM series transmissions in production vehicles in the past. The military uses them in several of their vehicle applications, most notably the HMMWV to this day. They are hard to beat and I think you would be hardpressed to find a more robust series of transmissions.
I am one vote for owner maintenance having to do more with it. I have had cars with "known" transmission issues. Mitsubishi's and current Chrysler minivan. I have always done a pan drop, filter and fluid change every 30K miles and used the OEM ATF. Never let a shop flush, or use generic ATF with additives, etc. On all these cars, the transmission has been trouble free well past 150K miles.
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