When I got my oil changed yesterday I was told my transmission fluid is starting to get dark up until this time I have actually pretended that when my car shifted, it was the act of a benevolent god and that in all reality I dont have a transmission, due to reading all these posts about how our transmissions are made out of glass and grenades

So after christmas I will be doing the deed. I have a few questions pertaining to doing this as I would like a painless fluid and filter change, and would love it if I got this done and my car continues to operate as before. I don't have the money to drop on a transmission right now, my plan is to pay some bills off with my income tax and with the money I was paying towards that, to instead devote to an inevitable tranny replacement. Anyway...

1) Even though I've been told by several people on here that a fluid exchange is a no no, why? If there's crap in the torque converter, won't it just burn up eventually anyway? Why mix old and new fluid? Concerns about blowing it out in the valve body, fouling the pump, etc? I have no qualms about following advice, you guys know more about this transmission than I could pretend to, I just want to know the logic behind it.

2) What kind of fluid and filter should I use? I know to stick to whatever Dextron this tranny requires, but is there a preference on brand? Same thing for the filter too.

3) Is there ANY kind of preventative, precautionary, or saving grace I can perform right now to buy some time til I get the $2k saved for a new one? I have no issues with it right now and would like to keep it that way until I can afford a rebuild. I have a cooler, I just haven't had time to install it.

I have no performance mods. I was thinking about some but I decided to hold off until I can afford a rebuild per the advice of some knowledgeable folks on here. Again, my transmission is operating perfectly fine right now, and I want to keep it that way. Sorry if I sound like an idiot, but I've been down the road before with a tranny dying (In nashville traffic at 7:30 AM specifically) and I care a lot more about maintaining this car than any of my previous ones. Any sage advice, recommendations, links, long-winded explanations would be nice. I know these questions have probably been asked before at some point, but I've never seen the reasoning behind the recommendations other than our transmissions suck. And while we have good threads on failures and the cooler, I haven't seen anything on preventative maintenance besides changing the fluid early. Thanks for your assistance.

 

There isn't a lot of preventative maintenance you can do other than what you already listed.

-Change fluid/filter...I change my fluid every 25,000 miles just to be safe. Don't flush it, just drop the pan and swap fluid. Use Dex VI. Check for metal shavings/schrapnel.
-The cooler doesn't do any good sitting in the box so get on that! Keeping the temps down on our tranny is nothing but a good thing. This is probably the "best" preventative measure you can do.
-Install a shift kit when you do the fluid swap, it will quicken your up and down shifts and gives you a "crisper/cleaner" shift which means less wear and tear. I recommend using a Transgo shift kit. It's fairly easy to do, just check out the sticky page...https://ls1tech.com/forums/ls4-perfo...tch-movie.html


It's a crap shoot with these transmissions. Some guys beat the hell out of
them and they keep ticking with no issues. Others baby them and have tons of issues. But doing what is listed should help keep the tranny in good shape but it would be a good idea to start a tranny fund just in case it grenades, especially if you do not have a warranty.

 

I read on here somewhere that after a pan drop its roughly 7 quarts to get it filled back up. Is this correct?

 

I thought was a bit more than that; the whole system holds around 12 quarts I think?

 

Yeah I think it's closer to 7.5 quarts so need to buy 8 and just keep an eye on the level when filling it up