well im rather abusive so yeaaaa lol.

well off to bed for me, bump for the nite

 

hey if you do decide to change it all out the trans filter has a little seal now be warned the seal is sometimes a bia.tch to get out when putting the new filter in ...

 

if your car has over 50-60 k miles and you know it has never been flushed. THEN DONT FLUSH IT. unless your a 100% sure their are no metal shavings.

if you have a high mileage car more than likely their are metal shavings and if you flush the system your gonna move those shavings through the system and liekly will thrash your tranny. multiple mechanics have told me this.

best option is to drop your pan check for metal shavings and if none are present then i guess its up to you. myself unless the car has been getting flushed on a normal basis every 40-60k miles i wouldnt flush.

just drop the pan drain whats their clean the filter. get new seals and refill it up with new fluids. that has been told to me as the best option to take esp in the higher mileage cars 60k+ some places wont even flush your tranny fluid unless you can proove it has been done on a normal regular basis because of the chance of creating more problems.

 

all you gotta do is stick an awl in there and pry it out. EASY

 

My mechanic said this,my mechanic said that. What ever happened to just changing your ******* oil because you know its proper maintnance for your vehicle?
Yeah ok i'm just gonna leave the old oil in there because its doing more good than bad by holding everything together

I changed mine at 70,000 and NO metal chips. Also,how is the trans gonna get wrecked by flushing it because of metal chips? If you think that then you have no idea how to change the trans oil. All you do is drop the pan,drain the pan,clean out the pan,take out old filter,put in new filter,reinstal pan with new gasket,fill trans will oil, DONE DEAL.
It just blows my mind about what kind of ideas people have about this stuff. Your thinking to hard about nothing. Stop knit picking about this and do the proper maintainance on your vehicles.

 

There is a big difference between dropping the pan and changing the filter with a fluid refill (~5 quarts new fluid) and using a flush machine to suck/push all the old fluid out and replace with fresh (~12+ quarts).

I agree that these things should be kept up on from the beginning, but once you let it go so long (say 100K miles) you might just help a breakage happen a little sooner than it needed to. But yes, it would've happened either way, maybe just a bit sooner now.

 

I don't even bother changing that seal so long as it still holds the filter neck securely.

 

Hey guys, newbie but not newbie here. I just want to say that your transmission fluid in an automatic isn't "holding" your clutches together as much as it is important as a hydraulic line. Your pressure is built up by your tranny's oil pump, then sent through the valve-body to an actuator that will compress a band around the pack that holds your clutches together. Sure the oil is needed as a lubricant as well, but I wouldn't ever worry about it holding the clutches together. The way we do it at the shop is drop the pan, then put the pan in a parts cleaning tank while we are swapping the filters. We also spray the tranny w/carb cleaner to get out some of the hidden junk, as well as make the old tranny fluid run out faster. Then make sure that there is no old silicone or gasket left behind when you put your new gasket on. Clean the pan up good, blow it off so its bone dry, then bolt it back up. Now unbolt your tranny cooler lines from the TRANNY, go buy a few cans of aerosal tranny flush, hook it up to your lines and blow through until its comming as clean as started. Hook everything back up and fill her back up with fluid. Once its full, drive it through all the gears, then come back and recheck, as there is passage ways that do not fill up in the valve body until the vehicle has shifted. Now ur done.

P.S. Another way to flush the tranny is to unhook the tranny cooler line at the radiator where it comes in, not leaves, and stick that in a big containter(like an empty washer fluid jug) that you can see though. Fill up your tranny w/oil, start the car, and it will start pouring fluid into the jug. Now you can see exactly when your transmission is pumping clean oil, but don't forget to keep adding as it pumps out. I shouldn't have to say that, but theres always that one guy....

 

well I got axcess to the machine that flushes out the old fluid and puts the new oil in so thats how i'll be doing that. how ahrd is it to drop the pan and change the filter? any average time it takes to do all that?

 

Agreed, however if you have old, worn clutches that are on the way out, an abrasive fluid will help them to grab better than fresh slippery fluid. That's why it's an old trick for shady used car lots to put sawdust in the trans fluid to get a little bit more time out of a dying tranny.

 

Not hard, but honestly I've never timed it. Maybe an hour including getting the car in the air and all the tool cleanup when done. Faster if you have a lift. I've really never paid attention to the time though.

 

well we got a rack so it should be faster than on the ground. Gramps is in favor of flushing it and says he'll get me the filter and gaskets so it looks like im gonna be doing it. I showed him this thread and hes taking my side a bit since if the tranny is really that far gone that you cant change the fluid then it might as well be rebuilt anyhow.

 

Exactly. I can see people being afraid to flush an old engine. But ATF has a ton of detergent in it and runs at pressure. If you had "junk build-up" you would have a non functioning tranny. I'm no automatic specialist...but basic/common sense says flushing it will not be a bad thing!

 

I had a 95 silverado w/a 4L60E trans that got well over 200,000 miles and I did change the filter once and did 2 complete tranny flushes in its lifetime.

Before I did the flush I would drop the pan and take a look. You say you have a rack than it will take longer to postion the car on it than it will to drop the pan. Clean it all out than fill tranny w/new fluid. Drive it thru the gears and see how it does. All OK than do the flush. Can't hurt.

But getting back to WILL IT KILL MY TRANNY BY FLUSHING? Speaking from experiance, I have actaualy done that. Customer request a trans fluid flush W/filter and the car never left off my rack. Removed tranny and found 1st gear clutch pack history, clutches and steels look the same. If I recall the car had 140,000 miles on it and they swore they kept the tranny serviced. The oil still looked pretty new that was in it. How common is this to occur. I think it is a 10% chance that it will. I have changed fluid/filter on many other vehicles w/150,000+ miles & be ok. Some to even shifted better. Just a thought. AND YES I AM A TECH/MECHANIC.

 

8:4 it seems the old rumor is turning out to be not so true anymore. I guess im gonna try it and if the tranny fails then it needed to be replaced anyways

 

The tranny that failed was on an import. I have never had a domestic tranny fail. The sad part is that that tranny did not use ATF, it used a special fluid from the manufactorer.

I say change the filter and what is in the pan. Roughly 5 qts. Go drive the car a few miles 5-10. Let it shift all postions and lockup. Then hook it up to the flusher and flush. You will be ok.

 

oh praise god!!!!

I looked at what was comming out if the dipstick tube and its pink. no brown or black or anything but wonderful pink. that means I get to get away with just replacing the filter

 

yeah i think it just depends if the tranny fluid is BURNT, I think that once it burns(or turns brown) your pretty much commited to keep the same fluid in there(IMO). I did a flush on My GTP after I found the brown colour, and the tranny ended up goin a few 1000mi after. lol, the whole time I was wishing I had left it alone!

I do know that I have never felt a rebuilt tranny FEEL as smooth and balanced as a brand new one in a brand new car. My parents even had GM replace the tranny in their 2000 Olds Silhouette with a BRAND new unit, and it still doesnt feel 100% like it did A) before the swap when it was running properly OR B) when the van had low milage(20-30k). Done at 65k mi. This is my experience with autos anyways, maybe manuals are different. Either way, for the rebuilt autos that I have driven, are never AS good as originals and never drives 100% the same.

 

Depends on who rebuilds it.

Try driving a new stock 4L60E, then drive a 4L60E that was built by Chuck at FLT. You'll like the 'rebuilt' one better, I promise.

 

Your tranny failed because of the condition that burned your fluid in the 1st place. Its crazy to blame the flushing. Its like blaming washing your car for a mechanical failure. How on earth would it be benificial to leave compromised fluid in a tranny?

Would you say, my rear end weas grinding and popping. So I changed the gear lube. 500 miles later the rear end gave up....damn new gear lube.

Flushing will not move anything that isn't already moving w the tranny operating. Autos have a pump built in, they operate at pressure. Flushing is used to get more of he fluid out of the trans since it doesn't all come out the pan(alot is trapped in the converter and elsewhere). It is not to pressure wash the inside or anything--just to get more of the actual fluid changed out.

DO NOT FEAR THIS BASIC MAINTENANCE PROCEEDURE!


*Thant being said--don't let a shop (Jiffy Lube or other quick oil change places) flush w/out dropping the pan and changing the filter...that is a $ maker 4 them that is a gimmick. You wouldn't change your engine oil w out changing the filter would you?
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