Hi Everyone!
In the past I have always done a full trans flush on all my cars when they reach about 80K. Never had a problem with those transmission and ran most of them to over 200K. So now I have this 2002 Trans Am Automatic and want to get a full flush. The oil is old. I think a full flush and filter change is in line with maintenance. Plus the trans can be filled with newer synthetic fluid.
Any one done same?

 

I wouldnt flush, I would just drain, install new filter, and refill with new oil and go

 

I've done "flushes" by disconnecting the cooler lines at the radiator and running the engine until the fluid starts spitting. Shut off and proceed to drop the pan. That will pump most old fluid from the torque converter. No issues. I've done a plain pan drop w/o the flushing as well. No issues.

The notion that replacing old, dirty fluid will cause a high mileage transmission to start slipping because of the "grit" or whatever they claim is an old-wives tale...if that's why you are asking.
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Not a fan of high mileage dirty fluid flushes . I would just drop pan , change filter and refill , Just my opinion ,

 

Car has only has 30k miles on it. Not an old dirty trans. Just old oil. Thinking a flush is in order, out with the old, in with the new while the trans is young.

 

Another vote for drop the pan and replace the filter.

Most shops won’t do an actual flush due to the risk of a transmission fault. They will charge u for a flush but really, they will drop the pan and replace the filter.

 

FWIW this is my opinion on this topic. Remember that opinions are like _____, everyone has one.
Flushing Is just a way of transferring new fluid for old fluid with minimal labor involved. Both Valvoline and Quaker State have done studies on fluid/filter change VS fluid exchange and found that there was little to no advantage to either one. The filter media is much better at trapping debris than the old brass or plastic screens and has a lot larger surface area than they used to have. If there is no problems with the transmission, you should have no problems flushing. How many have seen an actual clogged 4L60E filter? I have only seen 2 in my whole life. I have broken many apart and found ton's of debris but it was always units with broken parts, super smoked clutch pack & etc. Low mileage units the filters looked new inside and I felt that there was really no reason to have replaced it.

To me the advantage to either one is that you are replacing fluid that the lubricating properties are deteriorated or just gone in general. Once these properties are gone the usefulness of the fluid is gone. Now the bushings start to wear, planetary pinions wear through their hardening, pumps start to score & friction surfaces start to get glazed. All of this shortens the life span of any transmission. Full synthetic fluid handles cold drive-ability better and the severe heat better but my opinion is that it deteriorates quicker. Think about it old school transmission fluid would get brown as it degraded. I had an old 700R4's go 286k with a cooler, I never changed the fluid. I wanted to see how long it would go and the fluid was varnished and brown. New school synthetic's get black like motor oil and don't feel or smell the same at 100K. If you could run Dexron 3 in a 6L transmission W/O clutch chatter or squawk. I think you may find less of the need to machine pumps/pump covers & pressure regulator valve wear.

Everywhere I have worked. If you paid for a flush, you got a flush. We knew what transmissions had a replaceable filter or not. We recommended appropriately.

The real issue is that people wait to think about it until they actually experience an issue. Then it becomes "Oh my gosh I have never serviced the transmission" and the reality is "It's too little too late".

I just flushed a 2011 Equinox with 105K miles. Fluid was black now it is bright red and the transmission functions properly 1K miles later. There is no serviceable filter for the 6T45 transmission, you must split the case to replace it. Many transmissions have gone that way. I feel it's the MFG's way of selling more transmission repairs.

Ya'll are forgetting the real reason a flush machine was developed. Back in the day when electronically controlled transmissions came out. The quick lubes were doing filter changes and kept braking solenoids on the 4L60E's getting the pan off W/O pulling the cross-member. They would send the car to a transmission shop. The greedy transmission shop would charge the quick lube for an overhaul, instead of fixing the broken solenoid. $1200 easy money. One of the district managers after finding out what was really happening. Took it up on himself to make one for his biggest shop. He single handedly saved Pennzoil quick lubes 1000's of dollars in liability claims. Then it became a business of his own and was selling the machine to other quick lubes. He sold the business for over $1,000,000 after a couple of years and the new company refined itself into (if I remember correctly) G-Tec transmission flush machines...

It's also my opinion that the flush machine trade has allowed the MFG's to make units W/O serviceable filters.
Rant over...

 

With the exception of my first old cars from the 60's and 70's, (Nova, Chevelle, Impala) I have done full flush on transmissions (Ford, Toyota & GM) before they reached the 60K miles mark. And again at about 100K. Never had a problem with those transmissions. Even a 98 Camaro and 98 Firebird that had computer program change for quicker shifts (but not hard tire chirping shifts) and additional trans oil coolers.
This Trans Am has 30K miles on it and I don't trust that the oil is not deteriorating after 23 years or that it is contaminated with condensation. This car has such low miles for it's age I just feel better knowing it has fresh fluids going forward. Plan on flushing out the brake lines too.
Thanks to all for your input, I really do appreciate your opinions.
Happy New Year!

 

Not sure I would worry too much about trans fluid based on chronological age alone. Any fluid breakdown will have more to do with service conditions (severe duty; i.e. high heat, and/or lots of miles) and/or failed/worn internal pieces contaminating the fluid. Just "getting old", as per the calendar, is much less of a concern.

FWIW, I did a pan drop & filter change on my '98 when it had ~10k miles. That was about 20 years ago, and it's almost at 20k miles now. Obviously this is a limited use car. I'll probably do another pan drop at some point soon, but the bulk of the fluid is still from 1998 as a pan drop only gets maybe 4-5 quarts worth. No issues at all with mine, fluid is still red/pink and smells good. This is a minor bolt-on car with near-stock shift points, no severe duty, and a trans cooler with lower fan settings (rarely sees more than 180-190°F, usually less than that). I lose no sleep over my vintage Dexron fluid.

 

Every once in awhile I will do mine as well as 'my mind' dislikes the idea of old or dirty fluid. Dumb? Maybe, but for this kind of $$$, about double an oil change, I don't worry or have to think about it. My receipt from my last one in 2020 before our Rte 66 trip that covered over 6,000 miles in 2021.

 

Thanks. That is what I am thinking. No one worries about changing oil in a manual trans, but OMG dont change fluid in an automatic. Oil is oil it gets bad and contaminated. I vote to get old oil out.

 

I'm with ya. You are not alone.

 

Amen!

It's an old-wives' tale. High mileage, neglected transmission, never been serviced. They do an oil change and said crappy transmission goes out and they blame the oil change! In reality, it was about to go out. Blame the oil change: It's the Gospel. LOL.

Meanwhile, the same exact scenario, but no oil change and transmission goes out..."well, it just went out because of high mileage."

SMH

 

Yes, my higher income friends with more expensive cars do the same. No problems.
I really think flushing out the trans is the same as doing an oil change in the engine. It is needed.
My dad was engineer at esso/Exxon for years. He worked with oil for years. He said flush it out every 50K miles because it breaks down from heat and friction.
Just my dad's opinion in the oil business. What can I say? Dad never told me he had a trans failure. So I follow his advice.
Thanks for all the posts about flushing. I do appreciate it.
Mark.

 

Engine oil is subject to combustion byproducts even when lightly used (i.e. no severe duty, low miles), but this is not something that should ever be occurring inside an automatic transmission so the exposure + duration vs. risk factor is quite different as compared to oil in an ICE. This is why it doesn't necessarily do any harm to a transmission to be operated on very old (chronological) fluid as long as no severe duty has occurred.

With that said, yes, heat will break the fluid down over time and high heat exposure will break it down much more quickly. If you can keep fluid temps under ~180°F then it will last a very, very long time in a limited use vehicle.

 

"New to you" 2002 car with unknown history... Safe bet to just change all fluids and filters.

 

I dog to too far I just drop pan , change filter and refill , that's all.

 

Yes, I do put a load on my cars. Lincoln town car, and even the V6 Firebird towed a 2000 lbs boat. Yes, a V6 firebird towed a 2000 lbs boat, and put it in the bay via a boat ramp. LOL.

 

I think rated towing capacity on these cars is 1,000lbs. So your boat was double that, plus the weight of the trailer. I would definitely call that "severe duty", and you'll want to use a BIG trans cooler in addition to keeping the fluid changed in that case.

 

Yes. But the specs for towing in 98 was high. Next year the tow dropped to about 1700lbs.
And I did add a trans cooler.. Gave the car to my daughter. Who ran it up over 100k,. miles. LOL.
I think the trans cooler and double oil filters made the v6 last a long time.

Every time car went into shop for oil change, they complained that there were two large filters with cooler. So I went with a local shop I trusted and didn't complain about dual filters.