Good afternoon everyone, seeking opinions here...I have a 17 kia forte, about to hit 30k miles.... Any other car my inclination is do a transmission fluid change. The manual says no check or change is necessary for normal service (!), But under severe, 60k. I won't bore you with the details but imo my usage is certainly severe. Anyone think 60k is excessive? The trans is under warranty until 100k in any event. Thanks for your opinions!
Dump the 30k ATF in the 17 Kia?
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30,000 on the first flush for sure. Make sure they replace 100% of the full amount. to do it right that means buying 3 to 4 qts over the full amount with some left if you get the cycling right.
During the warranty, use the interval that Kia says to do. In this case, it seems to be 60k. Use a quality synthetic ATF like Castrol Full Synthetic, or Maxlife
Isn't Maxlife a group 3?
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Service that transmission. You will be happy.
It's nearly unanimous, gonna do maintenance. My instinct too. I have a drain plug alright, but no dipstick! Have used the max life in more than one transmission, satisfied every time, is it cool warranty wise?
I did it every 30K miles (50K KM) in my Santa Fe and it lasted a long time. No serviceable filter on that transmission either.
Glad you decided to do it now. I have a 2014 Versa note. Not being able to do the service myself due to sealed CVT I took it to the dealer at 30,000 miles and asked for the fluid change to be done. Nissan suggests doing it at 60,000 but hey I like doing transmissions a lot more often. I will be keeping this car as long as I can. The service guy was in agreement about doing it sooner. (maybe for profit reasons but I like to think it is because he is thinking it is better sooner) Because it is a sealed transmission I have no recourse but to let them do the job. If I ever do buy another car it will NOT have a sealed transmission. That is just the dumbest thing I have ever heard of. I should have researched that some more before I bought the car. I DIY all repairs that I can and when it occurred to me I wasn't going to be able to do this job my jaw hit the floor. So I am coming up on 60,000 miles with the car and it is time to take it back in for another fluid change. This will be only the second time the car has gone into the dealer for work. I have done everything else on it and it runs just as good as the day I drove it off the lot. I have a pretty extensive spreadsheet on all work done.
Check your car manual for ATF specs, MaxLife is good for SP-II, III and IV.
I did full ATF change at 30K miles on Forte and at 20K miles on Sportage, Doing D/F at same intervals since.
I did full ATF change at 30K miles on Forte and at 20K miles on Sportage, Doing D/F at same intervals since.
Originally Posted by hallstevenson
Originally Posted by 3Aone
is it cool warranty wise?
If Valvoline says it meets the Kia spec, you can use it and not void any warranty.
As we recently found out in another thread Valvoline isn't officially tested for the Toyota WS spec so they might also not be officially licensed for the Kia/Hyundai/Mistu SP-III spec and might just meet this requirement because they have tested it internally. I would call to ask them. I'm not knocking them but if you worry about things like warranty then you should make sure the fluid is officially licensed.
Castrol did however license the Toyota WS spec, so they might have done the same with the SP-III if they list that on their fluid. Not that I'm a fan of Castrol.
The OEM fluid from Hyundai/Kia/Mitsubishi (SP-III) is a good fluid, I have used it in my Santa Fe before I converted it to Amsoil. It stayed nice Cherry Red the entire OCI I used it.
Originally Posted by 3Aone
is it cool warranty wise?
If Valvoline says it meets the Kia spec, you can use it and not void any warranty.
As we recently found out in another thread Valvoline isn't officially tested for the Toyota WS spec so they might also not be officially licensed for the Kia/Hyundai/Mistu SP-III spec and might just meet this requirement because they have tested it internally. I would call to ask them. I'm not knocking them but if you worry about things like warranty then you should make sure the fluid is officially licensed.
Castrol did however license the Toyota WS spec, so they might have done the same with the SP-III if they list that on their fluid. Not that I'm a fan of Castrol.
The OEM fluid from Hyundai/Kia/Mitsubishi (SP-III) is a good fluid, I have used it in my Santa Fe before I converted it to Amsoil. It stayed nice Cherry Red the entire OCI I used it.
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Kestas
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Originally Posted by 3Aone
I have a drain plug alright, but no dipstick!
Measure the amount that comes out. Replace that amount.
I have a drain plug alright, but no dipstick!
Measure the amount that comes out. Replace that amount.
I did our Tuscon at 68K (no severe driving condition) and the trans fluid was still red in small amounts. When I dumped it all in a clear gallon jug, it looked dark. Not that the color matters (my OM says the same thing that color of fluid is not that significant)
Under no severe condition OM specifies 100K.
imho, 30K maybe too early.
I would wait till at least 50K.
Under no severe condition OM specifies 100K.
imho, 30K maybe too early.
I would wait till at least 50K.
The idea of early ATF drain and fill is to remove abrasive material along with the fluid, did you look at the drain plug and wipe it off?
The more metal is stuck on the magnet the more is floating in the fluid and thru the transmission.
The more metal is stuck on the magnet the more is floating in the fluid and thru the transmission.
Originally Posted by dubber09
The idea of early ATF drain and fill is to remove abrasive material along with the fluid, did you look at the drain plug and wipe it off?
The more metal is stuck on the magnet the more is floating in the fluid and thru the transmission.
Very small amount of paste! Much less than i was expecting for the first fluid change.
The idea of early ATF drain and fill is to remove abrasive material along with the fluid, did you look at the drain plug and wipe it off?
The more metal is stuck on the magnet the more is floating in the fluid and thru the transmission.
Very small amount of paste! Much less than i was expecting for the first fluid change.
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