4T45E LubeGuard Red

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Hello,

I've recently finished a pan drop and filter change on my Alero 3.4 and its been a few thousand miles. I was thinking of adding LG Red to see if I can improve shift feel/cut down a slight shift flare. It had 7 quarts of MaxLife after not having had the fluid changed for 150k since new. Do you think I should do another drop and fresh fluid, or use the LG and see how things go?

I had a question about adding the LG bottle too: can I open the red fill cap under the airbox for the 4T45E and add LG with the engine running? I know the transmission is full so I'd rather not put it in the air to watch fluid dribble out the check hole if I can. Is the fill cap under pressure?

Thanks
 
You can absolutely add fluid via the red fill cap while the engine is running. There are a couple versions of that cap, some have a vent tube. Either way, with out without the tube the cap serves as the vent so best not to overfill. GM redesigned the cap in the mid 2000's to deal with back splash, the newer caps don't allow fluid to escape from the cap like previous versions allowed. The cap is not "under pressure" so there should be no spilling of fluid when opening while engine is running.
 
To address one of your questions:
Since your fluid was 150K old when you did the pan drop/filter change I'd assume there was dirt in the system and that the color of the old fluid showed it.

You've driven a few thousand since. If the fluid was dirty I'd consider doing another pan drop (drain & fill) before adding the LubeGard red.

I bet you'll find some dirtying of the fluid occurred.
 
You can always add it down the road. I believe that transmission hold close to 10-13 quart off the top of my head. Being the only change in 150k miles isn't great but its better then nothing.

Maybe give it 10k-15k and drop it again. Give it some time to work and then replace it to help get some more of the older fluid out again. It's your call you can add it now if you don't see yourself having time to do it again down the road or just don't want to.

Lube guard makes some pretty decent products and I would probably use anything they make without question short of the platinum additive. The high about of friction modifier's can cause some issues depending on the vehicle.
 
I am with the others, drive it a few thousand miles then do another drain and fill. That will get most of the old fluid out of there.
Also, look at adding another magnet to the pan (one of the big round donut ones). I remember reading about the one on the 4T45E not being big enough to work real well. I wish I had done it on my mom's Vue when I did a pan drop/filter change (although hers @ 122,000 miles looked good when I did it, and no shift problems before or after.)
 
Did you have shift flares before using Maxlife? I used Maxlife in my 4t45e a few years ago and it caused shift flares and the most inconsistent shifts I have ever experienced in any automatic tranny. I drove like that for maybe 6 months and couldn't tolerate it anymore. Switched it out with Mobil Dexron VI and normal shifting came back. That was a few years ago, now my tranny has a mix of Mobil dexron VI and Supertech dexron VI and still shifts normal.
 
Originally Posted By: stower17
Did you have shift flares before using Maxlife? I used Maxlife in my 4t45e a few years ago and it caused shift flares and the most inconsistent shifts I have ever experienced in any automatic tranny. I drove like that for maybe 6 months and couldn't tolerate it anymore. Switched it out with Mobil Dexron VI and normal shifting came back. That was a few years ago, now my tranny has a mix of Mobil dexron VI and Supertech dexron VI and still shifts normal.



The shift flare began after the pan drop and 7 quarts of MaxLife going in. I put it down to an old poorly serviced transmission but that is very interesting. Maybe when I do the pan drop I'll put Dexron VI back in. What do you think?
 
It is worth a shot, sticking with Dexron VI fluids worked for me. I know Maxlife claims it is okay to use when DexVI is recommended but it just didn't work well for me.

FYI, you can unscrew the fluid check bolt with the engine off and you should get 2-3 quarts of fluid to drain out of the fluid check hole. If you have a shallow drain pan (I use a hot water heater drain pan) you can do this as often as you like. Think of it as "mini drain and fills"
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
To address one of your questions:
Since your fluid was 150K old when you did the pan drop/filter change I'd assume there was dirt in the system and that the color of the old fluid showed it.

You've driven a few thousand since. If the fluid was dirty I'd consider doing another pan drop (drain & fill) before adding the LubeGard red.

I bet you'll find some dirtying of the fluid occurred.




I agree with Kira.

PS: I believe Maxlife is a great product and it has worked well in my Elantra and Corolla BUT sometimes it isn't a good fit despite what Valvoline states....I'd use Dexron VI or if your car is a 2005 or older I might even use a regular "suitable for Dex III" ATF...
 
Remember too, that you can call the LubeGuard people and ask them for help. It's a family owned company and their tech help is excellent. So are their products. You want made in America, give the a call and try their stuff.
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Remember too, that you can call the LubeGuard people and ask them for help. It's a family owned company and their tech help is excellent. So are their products. You want made in America, give the a call and try their stuff.


thumbsup2.gif
They answer emails as well.
 
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