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How often do you have your transmission fluid changed

Geo-TH,In

Geo-TH,In

Well-known Member
I have mine change every 60k. I call to make an appointment, July 14th is the earliest I can get in.

This guy has been in business for decades. I trust him. I'll wait. Planning on 8 am appointment and will walk 3 blocks to have a sit down breakfast at restaurant he recommends.
So how often do you change your transmission's fluid?
 
I try to go by the owners manual.

Some say never to change it, don't even have a way to check it without going through a procedure.

Some require special fluid, and they mean it! Don't rely on the oil change place to go get factory fluid!

And don't fall for the flush scam! If it's bad enough to need flushing, it's too late!
 
I go by the owner's manual.

My current Chrysler T&C says every 60K miles. The trans is a sealed unit with no dipstick or filler so I figure that's one thing not to ignore.
 
Either by the owners manual or never. Don't do a flush. That just knocks the crap loose in the filter and puts someone else's used fluid and good knows what kind in your trans. Used car, don't know history, I don't. New car or lease trade in mileage, by the book. I'm driving a 1995 f250. I got complete history with truck. About a 2 inch stack of papers. It's coming due for its second change. Getting close to 120k. Will get a filter too, duh.
 
My 02 F-150 has 301,000 miles on it and I've never touched the tranny except to check the level. It's almost pint down and I hesitate to even add that. I figure if it ain't broke,,,,,
 
well from the reply's i am presuming your talking automatic trans. if its every 60k then i think thats a waste of oil and money. unlees there is reason to change it from excess heat.
 
i got over 430,000k on my duramax allison. changed the trans filter once and just pulled the pan off to see whats going on in there. all good and just filled it back up and still going strong. 60k is nuts.
 
Approximately every 50,000 to 60,000 miles I have my tranny fluid professionally drained, force flushed and refiled (which my mechanic says his machine flushes the torque converter as well) with the recommended Synthetic Fluid. I also change any associated filters or filter screens etc. I/m one of those guys who believes its good cheap preventive maintenance to change oil even if MORE then an owners manual may recommend but NEVER LESS.......Similar I change engine oil and filter every 3000 to 4000 miles even if the manual says I can go more, but thats just me to each their own maintanance........I know some who say NEVER change tranny fluid ........

John T
 

60k normal service, 30 on models that have a oil pan drain plug... Its rare I flush anymore.

What's the 30 deal THE DRAIN PLUG its like draining the oil I drain it 3 consecutive oil changes then its good till the next 30k event.

Folks that look after the fluid rarely have transmission issues...

If you are lucky enoufh to make it to 400K don't touch it the dirty fluid may be the only thing making friction on the clutch plates...

I have a 2015 Surburban 200K on the lift now to replace the trans, cooler lines and oil cooler $6K... I do believe if they would have looked after it they would not be here...

I do not like servicing a modern trans with no standard oil fill tube GRRRRRRRR. They eat away at time to properly fill it...
 
Make sure the trans you put in has a
billet converter cover, Hobo. It is the
fuel economy tune bringing the TCC on too
soon that kills the 6L80E in the '14 and
up GM trucks. The tune overheats the
stamped torque converter front cover, then
it warps and hot spots the clutch. Then
the TCC lining fails, goes metal to metal,
and kills the transmission.
 
This is my second fluid change. First was at 60k. Second at 120k. I can't see not changing fluid.

I follow factory recommendations on engine oil changes.
My 2018 XT5 used full synthetic engine oil. 6k miles, which is about 20% oil life. Car is getting changed this afternoon at dealer. I can afford $40 for service every 6k.
Really cheaper than old cars and trucks when I changed them every 3k. Synthetic
Oil at 6k looks better than conventional oil at 3k in my older vehicles.

Stay cool. Happy trails.
 
almost never. I have changed trans. oil a few times. Dodge caravan when it looked dirty when I bought it. never after and was still running at 200000 miles later.
once when doing a motor job on an old chevy. and when I had a trans leak from the pan getting bent.

Never hear much about trans issues in some vehicles and figure they don't need it. Other vehicles have lots of trouble and those you can save money by doing a change once in a while. My cousin runs a transmission shop and I find he tells it like it is. I listen to his recamendations
 
It boggles the mind how the same people religiously change their engine oil at 3000 miles "because the manual says so," but think that changing the transmission fluid at 60,000 miles "because the manual says so" is completely unnecessary, and a racket.
 
Well I have to admit I don't religiously change engine oil. My last caravan had 270000 miles
on it when I smashed it up. let Walmart change the oil on it every time. my average miles
per change after 5 years was 9000 miles. one change was 12000 miles. I don't claim that is
the right way to do it but it works for me. Only engine I ever blew up was a 1978 olds. I
have no idea what the history on that was but I only had it 6 months.

If I look at how clean some of these engines oil is after 5000 miles and then look at a
mazda my daughter has and it is dirty after 2000 miles makes me wonder why one is awful and
the other is clean.
 
That is better than never. But since you tow a trailer you may even want to do it sooner ?
My car has a drain plug in the tranny. So you can only get part of it out. Book says something like 30,000 to 40,000 mi to drain and refill. Oil looked like new on stick but once drained it looked a lot dirtier in the drain pan. So I was glad I didn't wait. It only takes 3 qts. about due to do it again soon.
 

Good to know : ) it will get a GM reman if and when they find the funds...

The fluid was burnt black the pan had right much metal in it...

What's the trick to getting the lead off pipe to manifold nuts off... GRRRRR

It took me well over a hour 2 came off nice 4 fought me the whole way.
 
This is an 07 GMC SERRIA 1500. 120k
miles.
Planning to keep this truck until GM
makes the classic low rider.
 
I go bye the Manual, the first one is the most important, but both of mu Autos, at say 30,000 miles, and they still work flawless 300,000 plus miles!
 
I'm surprised how many here do that, mind you the YT crowd is a bit more on top of things like that than in the general population. I've never done it myself, mind you I haven't had a whole lot of vehicles with automatic transmissions. I would bet that 90% of cars made since automatic tranny's showed up have NEVER had an oil replacement.
 
Just had transmission, front and rear differentials and transfer case done on my 2014 Chev Sierra. 80,000 miles.
I don't pull a trailer much anymore so I think that is soon enough.
No one else mentioned the other items, just the tranny. I find that odd, they have fluid too.
Dave
 
I've said it before, and I say it again. Flushing transmissions is a good way to ruin a good transmission.

There are many different transmission oils out there. Each is tailored to specific transmissions. Using the wrong oil can have detrimental effects.

What oil are they using to flush with? Are they putting the correct oil back in? How can one machine deal with 8 or 10 different oils?

Then there is the issue of sealed transmissions. I suspect they came about when Chrysler was offering lifetime power train warranties. Now, you need to buy a special measuring device from the dealer just to check the oil in one of them.

Long ago, I questioned a factory rep about some of the things that were recommended - like thinner oils, longer maintenance schedules, and the like. His answer was that each recommendation was thoroughly tested under the harshest conditions to determine if these things would be satisfactory for the general public. When it came to oil, he told me that engines are run on a test stand at full rated horsepower output on a dyno for the equivalent of a million miles. Any failures were analyzed to determine the cause. Since then, I pretty much follow their recommendations.
 
I change My ATF when the transmission is up on the bench for a rebuild . OR like the one on our old 03 Dodge Durango when i had to replace two shift solenoids at 219000 miles . Back in the old days if ya got 70000 on a slush box you were doing good even with a fluid and filter change at 36000 , back in those days you could drain the torque converter and the pan and get most of the nasty's out , today ya can't drain the converter. And like said below i have seen way tomany transmissions take a DUMP shortly after a flush job .
 
The aftermarket converters I had in my 95 and 01 you could drain . The manual has 12,000 mile oil change intervals when towing
 
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