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What I have read is that studies show that a car who's trans. fluid has not been flushed or serviced regularly, should not be flushed when it is higher mileage.(i.e 80k, 100k, 120k and up) Flushing a high mileage vehicle can lead to the failure that you described. My van was flushed at 25k. The pan was dropped and filter cleaned,new gasket, then flushed.
Synthetic ATF was not OEM in my Mazda. It did not smell burnt, just losing the pink color.. it had a brownish/pink tint. I have read here on Edmunds, and elsewhere, that ATF becoming darker is not indicative of the fluid going bad. But, the transmission seems to be the achilles heel of many car manufacturers... thus my better safe than sorry comment.
Yes, that is what I was trying to say initially. That heat is the primary cause of transmission failures.... which in turn affects the fluid break down(burning)... which leads to the failure. Right?
You mention extra cooling, but wouldn't early and frequent ATF changes accomplish the same goal? My ATF was starting to turn a bit brown, i.e heat, being cooked... thought it would be good preventative maintenance to change it.
No, because there are heat sensitive parts inside the transmission that can be weakened by high heat. True, replacing the fluid will remove damaged fluid, but the parts are still in there.
Best Regards,
Shipo
My mazda dealer and virtually all Westcoast dealers that I have been too recommend changing/flushing the brake fluid, tranny fluid, and coolant every 2 years. They claim to powerflush, hence the high cost but at a Honda dealer years ago I saw they just drained the fluid...a money grab I think. And yes, my car takes DOT3. And the engine is a DOHC.
And to show how quirky or screwed up the Mazda3 manual is, it states that in all regions (OUTSIDE of NORTH AMERICA) one should replace the brake fluid every 2 years and engine coolant every 2 years but in North America, no mention of brake fluid change but Coolant change at 4 years and 2 years afterthat. Only inspect the tranny coolant for both inside NOrth America and outside.
So, bottom line is that one doesn't know what to follow. To much contradicting info. And one can forget about calling the Manufacturer's 1-800 number call centre. They all lack customer service skills and are minimum wage earners who aren't trained and only quote the manual verbatim. It's like talking to a darn robot.
FlushingOfAmerica1
FlushignOfAmerica2
The writer is also against brake fluid changes as they aren't recommended in owners manuals. Only use them with the necessary brake work. Most posters here advocate draining or flushing brake fluid every two years.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Please keep in mind that most cars sold here in North America use DOT 3 brake fluid from the factory. As DOT 3 isn't as pure as DOT 4, it is less hygroscopic than DOT 4. The flip side of that is of course that DOT 4 is less compressible than DOT 3 (when new), and as such will present a firmer brake pedal. As a general rule, ALL cars sold with DOT 4 from the factory recommend a bi-annual fluid change (i.e. BMW, Audi, Porsche ).
Years ago I made the mistake of allowing one of my DOT 3 equipped cars to go six years without doing a full fluid replacement. When I finally did, what came out was a thick, rusty looking mixture that was anything but brake fluid. Yuk. Just to be on the safe side, I pulled apart one of the rear wheel cylinders and was stunned to see how much corrosion was inside there. In the end I had to replace both front calipers and both rear wheel cylinders due to the corrosion. Lesson learned.
True, DOT 3 may not need to be replaced every two years, but four years is certainly advisable, and going six is a recipe for a complete brake system failure. Since the time when I went six years, I've simply replaced the fluid in all of my cars at the two year mark, regardless of what fluid came with it, and I use DOT 4 exclusively.
Best Regards,
Shipo
The problem with what you are doing is that water is heavier than pure brake, and as such sinks to the lowest area of the braking system. Said another way, if there's water in your system (highly likely unless you've just replaced it), it is pooled inside of your brake calipers and wheel cylinders, right where it can do the most damage (i.e. cause corrosion and boil under extreme braking).
Many DOT 4 fluid makers sell their fluid with different color dyes so that as you pump it through, you can easily see when you've fully pushed out the old fluid.
http://www.hrpworld.com/index.cfm?form_prod_id=92,49,363_3148&action=product
http://www.hrpworld.com/index.cfm?form_prod_id=92,49,363_3149&action=product
Best Regards,
Shipo
Maybe we have a CE around here to explain this phenomena.
Best Regards,
Shipo
The time or two I've disassembled calipers they were much cleaner. I give that to a better dust seal system and a different type of seal for the piston.
The worst-looking stuff always is the first to come out. I have not looked up the relative density of water/brake fluid vs "clean" brake fluid nor have I looked up information about the diffusion of the water molecules through the fluid.
Most of my experience has been many years ago with replacing rear brakes. I can't recall the last car I had to replace rear brakes on where I took apart the wheel cylinder. I'm at 150K on my LeSabre and its rear bands have lots of material left.
Have brake fluids improve through the last couple of decades for the DOT 3 commonly used fluid? Have seal materials and the piston cups improved? Probably. But I still go with changing the brake fluid every couple of years, usually when I'm doing a wheel rotation myself at home.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Blackstone does offer analysis on all fluids. Next time I change mine (including the differentials & transfer case) I plan on sending mine in for analysis out of curiosity. They're all Amsoil fluids.... I know don't get me started (or Shipo) on Amsoil.
I have never experienced any negative effects in driving my vehicles well over a million miles. Only the positive benefit to my wallet. No, I don't believe that if you advertise and hype something it makes it a better product.
Save your money. Don't buy snake oil.
I've used cheapo gas in my Porsches and my brand new cars and my motorycles and have yet to have any "incident". As long as the engine isn't pinging, that's fine. Maybe once/twice a year I'll throw in some lethal form of fuel injector cleaner.
That would be me. What probably happens is that all the (heavy) dirt and rust settles down in the lowest position (the cylinders or calipers) and is the first to come out when they're bled. Water by itself won't discolor the brake fluid.
The vast majority of the stations here in the NY Metropolitan Area don't exactly look like they've been attacked by terrorists. However, I'm not certain that they aren't being run by some.
I don't mean to belittle having some caution when buying gas, but really, if the station is busy, the pumps are clean and the price is right...no harm done IMO.
anyway, it's adviseable (isn't it)? to switch between brands so that you're not getting just one formulation of additive?
Yes Samuel, as you say, it is adviseable to switch between brands. That way you can spread your money around to all of the major oil companies who have been raping America over the years.
Personally I don't think it's an oil industry lobby or anything... it's not trying to sell more gas, but rather gas that meets their standard. According to the website BMW, GM, Honda, & Toyota developed this more stringent standard with higher levels of detergents. The Deposit Control section describes the specific standard. I do believe there are actually higher levels of detergents in the Top Tier fuels. As I said, when it started there were only 3 retailers. A few months after it started Shell was added to the list... the same time they reformulated their fuel additive package & started marketing it as V-Power. Here's a link from the Shell site that talks about it. I guess my question is rather the current federal detergent standards are adequate (cheap gas) or they really are lacking as these four manufacturers claim? What's your take Shipo?
Curious about the whol Top-Tier thing, I sent a letter to ExxonMobil over two years ago on the subject, the response is posted at the following link (which points to a post in this very discussion, just 701 posts ago).
shipo, "Fuel and Oil Additives" #316, 16 Mar 2005 9:06 am
Best Regards,
Shipo
Where do you think the fuel that ends up at noname stations comes from? Does it come from the major distributors?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
That's right. The tank farms at the ends of the main pipeline or supply routes are holding the base fuel. When the tractor trailer driver picks up he picks up a pure gasoline or an ethanol blend and dumps it into the compartment on the semi then the packaged additives for that company and that grade of fuel are added.
It's my opinion, and it's not got a link to prove it, that the noname brands may get leftover, aged, bottom of tank materials, and regular fuel base wholesaled to them. Sooooo, you don't know what you're getting. The additive package is not going to be an expensive mix formulated by the latest chemistry available, I know that, because they're cutting costs. Does your car need that special formula ultimate mix? Probably not. But I'd go back to regular brands once every 3 or 4 fillups as my personal choice in that case. I actually use name brand fuel 3 out of 4 times or more. They're the same price as noname when I'm in one area around the city.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
i tend not to visit a no-namie station on a regular basis if i don't have to do so. i find the price diff extremely small, perhaps a few cents a gallon. 17 gal later, what am i saving? .30-1.00?
imho, it's just not worth it. YMMV.
Having owned a diesel, I can confidently say that the manufactures have advised me that they have a minimum and maximum rage of sulfur content in their fuel. This can vary considerably and to me, it's quite shocking but still within the [wide] tolerance level of federal standards.