Waste. Every 15-30k miles depending on driving habits, fluid used, and transmission history. I'll change the fluid more often on the Honda since that car is driven much harder than my Buick, and is known to be rough on ATF.
ATF drain & refill every 5K?
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Originally Posted By: Jiles
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: Jiles
It might not be a bad idea considering how the vehicle is operated and that they are--most likely--- only changing 1/3 to 1/2 the total capacity of fluid used in the transmission.
Yeah but the guys who engineered the car, spec'd the fluid, and wrote the owner's manual know that's only how much comes out.
The factory recommended service is for a COMPLETE fluid change.
This is done with a "flushing machine"--most dealers and reputable garages change fluid with this machine. My dealer has one.
My newest vehicle is a 2004 Monte Carlo SS and it doesn't recommend using a flushing machine. It recommends a pan drop and filter change. To my knowledge unless it's very recent, I have never seen any manufacturer recommend using a flushing machine. That is a dealer thing to make more money, faster and they usually don't change the filter. When I inquired at the dealer about changing the tranny fluid in this car, changing the filter was an extra cost over the cost of the flushing.
I drop and refill the tranny in my 98 chevy truck every 6,000 miles because the 4L60E is not known for being a strong tranny and I want to protect it the best that I can.
Wayne
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: Jiles
It might not be a bad idea considering how the vehicle is operated and that they are--most likely--- only changing 1/3 to 1/2 the total capacity of fluid used in the transmission.
Yeah but the guys who engineered the car, spec'd the fluid, and wrote the owner's manual know that's only how much comes out.
The factory recommended service is for a COMPLETE fluid change.
This is done with a "flushing machine"--most dealers and reputable garages change fluid with this machine. My dealer has one.
My newest vehicle is a 2004 Monte Carlo SS and it doesn't recommend using a flushing machine. It recommends a pan drop and filter change. To my knowledge unless it's very recent, I have never seen any manufacturer recommend using a flushing machine. That is a dealer thing to make more money, faster and they usually don't change the filter. When I inquired at the dealer about changing the tranny fluid in this car, changing the filter was an extra cost over the cost of the flushing.
I drop and refill the tranny in my 98 chevy truck every 6,000 miles because the 4L60E is not known for being a strong tranny and I want to protect it the best that I can.
Wayne
This thread and the other thread are 2 extremes. One is 5k ATF and the other is never.
Depend on the recommend by manufactures, anywhere from 30k to 80k is reasonable. Less than 10k or more than 100k are extreme.
The ATF and filter in my E430 was changed with MB ATF at 8x,xxx miles, it is 130k miles now and it shifts very smooth. I don't plan to change the ATF until around 160k, this time I'll use the fluid extractor to siphon the ATF without changing the filter.
Depend on the recommend by manufactures, anywhere from 30k to 80k is reasonable. Less than 10k or more than 100k are extreme.
The ATF and filter in my E430 was changed with MB ATF at 8x,xxx miles, it is 130k miles now and it shifts very smooth. I don't plan to change the ATF until around 160k, this time I'll use the fluid extractor to siphon the ATF without changing the filter.
I do drain-refills on my Mazda6s Jatco ATX every 2 yrs. using Redline D4. Combining that with a cooler and LG Red, have kept my ATX running good.
Use this FWIW:
Currently my vehicle has 242,000 miles on it. Had the tranny flushed at 50k. Dropped the pan at 120k. Siphoned out a gallon at 160k. That's it...no problems with it whatsoever.
Changing ATF every 5k is like changing your oil every 800 miles.
Currently my vehicle has 242,000 miles on it. Had the tranny flushed at 50k. Dropped the pan at 120k. Siphoned out a gallon at 160k. That's it...no problems with it whatsoever.
Changing ATF every 5k is like changing your oil every 800 miles.
My 2008 Infiniti FX35 maintenance manual says to do a transmission flush--with ATF at 60K
Originally Posted By: wtd
Originally Posted By: Jiles
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: Jiles
It might not be a bad idea considering how the vehicle is operated and that they are--most likely--- only changing 1/3 to 1/2 the total capacity of fluid used in the transmission.
Yeah but the guys who engineered the car, spec'd the fluid, and wrote the owner's manual know that's only how much comes out.
The factory recommended service is for a COMPLETE fluid change.
This is done with a "flushing machine"--most dealers and reputable garages change fluid with this machine. My dealer has one.
My newest vehicle is a 2004 Monte Carlo SS and it doesn't recommend using a flushing machine. It recommends a pan drop and filter change. To my knowledge unless it's very recent, I have never seen any manufacturer recommend using a flushing machine. That is a dealer thing to make more money, faster and they usually don't change the filter. When I inquired at the dealer about changing the tranny fluid in this car, changing the filter was an extra cost over the cost of the flushing.
I drop and refill the tranny in my 98 chevy truck every 6,000 miles because the 4L60E is not known for being a strong tranny and I want to protect it the best that I can.
Wayne
Originally Posted By: wtd
Originally Posted By: Jiles
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: Jiles
It might not be a bad idea considering how the vehicle is operated and that they are--most likely--- only changing 1/3 to 1/2 the total capacity of fluid used in the transmission.
Yeah but the guys who engineered the car, spec'd the fluid, and wrote the owner's manual know that's only how much comes out.
The factory recommended service is for a COMPLETE fluid change.
This is done with a "flushing machine"--most dealers and reputable garages change fluid with this machine. My dealer has one.
My newest vehicle is a 2004 Monte Carlo SS and it doesn't recommend using a flushing machine. It recommends a pan drop and filter change. To my knowledge unless it's very recent, I have never seen any manufacturer recommend using a flushing machine. That is a dealer thing to make more money, faster and they usually don't change the filter. When I inquired at the dealer about changing the tranny fluid in this car, changing the filter was an extra cost over the cost of the flushing.
I drop and refill the tranny in my 98 chevy truck every 6,000 miles because the 4L60E is not known for being a strong tranny and I want to protect it the best that I can.
Wayne
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Originally Posted By: Warstud
Changing ATF every 5k is like changing your oil every 800 miles.
Probably. But this is BITOG!
Are you saying it's too often or barely enough ?
Changing ATF every 5k is like changing your oil every 800 miles.
Probably. But this is BITOG!
Are you saying it's too often or barely enough ?
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i do. i drain pan and refill atf every 8000 miles i never change filter..fluid stays fresh all the time..i do the same thing with coolant about once a year..
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Originally Posted By: wtd
To my knowledge unless it's very recent, I have never seen any manufacturer recommend using a flushing machine.
For the record, the factory service manual for my 2003 Mercury Marauder (which also includes the Crown Vic and Grand Marquis, since they all use the same 4R70W transmission) specifies the use of a fluid exchange machine as the preferred method.
To my knowledge unless it's very recent, I have never seen any manufacturer recommend using a flushing machine.
For the record, the factory service manual for my 2003 Mercury Marauder (which also includes the Crown Vic and Grand Marquis, since they all use the same 4R70W transmission) specifies the use of a fluid exchange machine as the preferred method.
Since I knew the Taurus trannys were fragile after losing the one in my '01 after 135k I got more aggressive with the PM beyond just what was recommended. I pulled 6qts - as much as I could get out of the pan with the vac extractor - and replaced with M1 every 10k. It got as far as 165k with no trouble before someone made a right-on-red all down the passenger side. If I still had an AT in my driveway I'd be doing something similar. I wouldn't bother with a complete pan drop but I'd try to get 4-6 qts out of the dipstick every OCI, vac or syphon doesn't really matter.
Sorry to dig up a somewhat old thread but I just stumbled upon it doing some trans flush research.
Anyway, I wanted to clear up the confusion as to why the Mazda3 owner was doing a pan drop and refill every 5k. As a previous Mazda3 owner I know that the '04 - '05 four speed auto tranny's burned up the fluid in a blink of an eye. I forget what Mazda recommends for a service interval, but several Mazda3 owners started realizing their tranny fluid was completely shot even after 30k. Once a few people started reporting the same findings on fairly fresh fluid, people realized that the fluid needed changed quite often.
Knowing what I know about those 4-speed autos, I don't think doing a pan drop and refill every 5k on one of those is a bad idea. Plus, the poster on that forum pointed out that doing so yielded less than 3 qts.
Fortunately, I had a 5-speed manual in my Mazda3.
Anyway, I wanted to clear up the confusion as to why the Mazda3 owner was doing a pan drop and refill every 5k. As a previous Mazda3 owner I know that the '04 - '05 four speed auto tranny's burned up the fluid in a blink of an eye. I forget what Mazda recommends for a service interval, but several Mazda3 owners started realizing their tranny fluid was completely shot even after 30k. Once a few people started reporting the same findings on fairly fresh fluid, people realized that the fluid needed changed quite often.
Knowing what I know about those 4-speed autos, I don't think doing a pan drop and refill every 5k on one of those is a bad idea. Plus, the poster on that forum pointed out that doing so yielded less than 3 qts.
Fortunately, I had a 5-speed manual in my Mazda3.
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I drain and fill every 15k miles on my RX300. It's easier than doing an oil change. LOL
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