ATF is STILL dirty!

[Alan]

My sister had a BG transmission flush done her Camry with about 100K on it.The original fluid was very dark,borderline burnt.The transmission shifted well though.

After she had the transmissions flushed I looked at the ATF dipstick and noticed it still looked darkish instead of red like new ATF.

I talked to the mechanic who performed the flush and he explained to me that in some transmissions(especially ignored ones) the ATF fluid will still remain dark even after a good flush due to staining within the tranny.He also said that some transmissions are more prone then others with retaining stains after flushes.He cited the Camry AT as "one of those" that does.I just looked at the fluid the other day and it still looked kinda dark but smelled like fresh ATF.

 

[ekpolk]

quote:

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Originally posted by Alan:
My sister had a BG transmission flush done her Camry with about 100K on it.The original fluid was very dark,borderline burnt.The transmission shifted well though.

After she had the transmissions flushed I looked at the ATF dipstick and noticed it still looked darkish instead of red like new ATF.

I talked to the mechanic who performed the flush and he explained to me that in some transmissions(especially ignored ones) the ATF fluid will still remain dark even after a good flush due to staining within the tranny.He also said that some transmissions are more prone then others with retaining stains after flushes.He cited the Camry AT as "one of those" that does.I just looked at the fluid the other day and it still looked kinda dark but smelled like fresh ATF.

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Camrys (including platform vehicles like the Highlander and Sienna) have a tendency, especially when V-6 equipped, to have hot transmissions. I just caught my V-6 Camry (year old, with 32k miles) starting to burn its ATF. I had noticed it started shuddering a little on the 4-5 upshift (this is an 03.5, with a 5-spd auto). The fluid was darkening, but still fairly red, and did not smell burned. Just did a full flush and replace. I'm going to do very regular ATF changes to stay ahead of this potential problem. We're not going to be playing the ATF lives forever game with this car. BTW, the shudder is gone with the new fluid.

 

[gfcrane]

I did three "drain and fills" on my 02 Maxima AT to get to 82% new fluid over a two month period. The oil only had 7,000 miles on it but at the end the fluid looked like new. I have decided the moral of the story is to change AT fluid early and often, at least with this method. Since I used 0.89/qt Chevron dino fluid this is cheap insurance.

Intend to follow the same plan on my Chev S10 4.3l pickup. Already have a case of AT fluid.