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transmission maintenance

morgan63morgan63 Member Posts: 3
Regarding the discussion on transmission flush vs conventional servicing: I have had the transmission flushed on two vehicles; a 95 Chev. Prism and a 94 Dodge Grand Caravan. These two were performed several years apart and at different service centers. In both case the transmission seals began to leak almost immediately. On the Prism it was a $100 plus to repair and on the Van it was $400.00

Comments

  • pluto5pluto5 Member Posts: 618
    Thanks to posts like yours I avoided the tran flush. Instead, went to reliable (indepdendent) trans shop and let them inspect the fluid; result, they said it did not need changing.
  • fleetwoodsimcafleetwoodsimca Member Posts: 1,518
    Just how much fluid could be suction pumped up through the dipstick tube, and then replaced with fresh. Dilution is an effective way to improve automotive fluids. Perhaps we had better hurry, before all the dipstick tubes disappear. It's happening. My 2002 Mountaineer doesn't have one.
  • swschradswschrad Member Posts: 2,171
    there should be a clamor for aftermarket dipstick kits, thanks to those pinhead loser auto engineers who decide on their own that we have no right knowing anything about when fluids should be changed or renewed to prevent failures.

    we need a federal law that says if the manual advises,"no need for periodic maintenance on this fine sealed system," that the home address and phone number of the engineer(s) who make the system sealed should be provided... and it should be updated on a recall-type basis when he/she/it moves.

    this blatant nonsense really hacks me off.
  • cutehumorcutehumor Member Posts: 137
    free transmission replacements on the car manufactures dime. how does that sound? LOL
  • silvernubirasilvernubira Member Posts: 59
    I suspect that the decision was more "management" oriented (money?) than engineering.

    (I am in the same boat, I have the GM 4T40E.)

    cutehumor: it sounds good to me!
  • swschradswschrad Member Posts: 2,171
    let's also get this extended to loser engines that eat head gaskets!
  • jc1973jc1973 Member Posts: 63
    that would be the 3.1 engine your referring to terrible motor
  • bburton1bburton1 Member Posts: 395
    Guess this fits into the save a nickel category. Several years ago-many in fact-a company I worked for bought the same model chevy with auto tranny for everybody-bought them thru a leasing company and then all the trannys started to croak-around 45K. Well turns out some GM engineer found a way to save less than a nickel/tranny by going to a plastic part instead of metal.

    Yup-add this to your new car check off sheet-does this sucker have a tranny drain plug. Value engineering can do some awful harm.
  • cutehumorcutehumor Member Posts: 137
    pertaining to "maintence" free transmissions in the future. since these were created in the past few years. I'm sure they will croak pretty soon. If they stick to "maintence" free transmissions, they should be warrantied to at least 250k miles.

    I was thinkin maybe it was a conspired plan to get people into buying more cars due to dying trannys. the prices of new vehicles are skyrocketing!
  • swschradswschrad Member Posts: 2,171
    where thugs in battle dress stick rifles in your face and tell you it's time to buy a new car, Uncle needs the taxes.

    I don't like it when they design failure points in.
  • jrdwyerjrdwyer Member Posts: 168
    I have a relatively new Olds Silhouette van with an auto tranny. GM says to change the transmission fluid at 100K under normal service and 50K under severe service. Should I just ignore this and change it every 30K? And when I change it, can I just unscrew the bolt, drain, and then fill through dipstick, thus ignoring the filter and pan? On another post someone mentioned doing this 2 weekends in a row to get most of the contaminants out. What do you think?
  • tbonertboner Member Posts: 402
    Since I just changed mine, I'll tell you what I did. I took it down to the local mechanic and told him I wanted him to change the fluid and filter.

    That was about $40 for the fluid, filter and gasket and about $50 for the labor. Of course it has been in the mid 20's here.

    I had him change my cooler lines too since they were leaking. (BTW, this was the real reason I took the car in.) That was another $90, just about the same breakdown for parts and labor.

    This is on an 87 LeSabre and was about 31K since I had the tranny overhauled in Oct 01.

    I'm hoping the next 30K will end in the spring of 2004. I'll probably drop the pan myself and modify it to take a drain plug. But only if I plan to keep the car a significant while longer.

    So I spent just under $200 on my tranny today. Still cheaper than the $1500 for a complete overhaul in the fall of 2001.

    So I'd get at that filter too, trannys are VERY expensive relative to the cost of the filter and maybe an additional hour of labor you are trying to save.

    TB
  • armtdmarmtdm Member Posts: 2,057
    I may be wrong but I don't think GM products have tranny drain plugs. My 2000 Buick does not, had to syphon out the ATF via the dipstick which I did at 30,000
  • donaldrmcnuttdonaldrmcnutt Member Posts: 1
    My transmission is leaking. How do you check the fluid level on this transmission? How and where do you add more fluid? What type of transmission fluid is recommeneded for the 96 626?
  • myvan1myvan1 Member Posts: 6
    I took all the bolts out. lower the front end of the transmission pan with no problem. The rear end of the pan can be lowered about an inch, but it gets stuck at the transmission mounting crossmenber. I though it should be easy to remove the pan. Thanks for any input!
  • alcanalcan Member Posts: 2,550
    Already answered for you in Transmission Trauma.
This discussion has been closed.