Transmission issues

7 minutes of Scotty hollering at me and now I need some quiet time with my lab Sadie .

 

It's very rare that a post on TW will be of any value. But once in a while, a gem will pop up. When this happens you have to cherish it ... apricate it. The wisdom this man has bestowed upon us should not be ignored.

There is a high probability that constantly flushing your fluid will actual cause more leaks and issues because the filth that accumulates in the AT will help keep seals. That old ATF is nice and gummy , but not too much so that it can't do its hydraulic job.

Maybe if you are very low and the car is not shifting into gears because the fluid is too low, then add some fluid to bring it up to level.

For manual transmissions this is a million times more true. Unless you have chunks (not little sparkly flakes), Chunks of metal or large amounts of water, that fluid should be fine for 500,000 miles or more.


I would bet money that never in the history of automatic transmission has there been a failure due to "not changing fluids regularly". If something fails it's due to a bad seal , cracked metal part , bearing, gear, casing or anything else. Paradoxically I think AT fluid swaps can cause failures as they act like a cleaning solution, freeing up all that good ol' gunk.


I am fully aware that this post sounds like a bad joke , or advice from an idiot. However, I have had 2 jeep XJs, two ford rangers, one toyota van, one 4runner and a Honda accord all fail right after an AT tranny flush / swap. All transmissions fails!

This is in contrast to the 6 Toyota autos , I have had that never had a BS flush/service. They all worked perfect with 100% transmission neglect.

 

A transmission wears out because of the load that is put on it. The greater the load, the greater the friction (heat) and faster/more) wear. It has nothing to do with changing the fluid. Let’s take the clutch on a manual transmission, it can last a long time.
Or just a few hrs under severely overloaded conditions. And you will smell it. If you keep going you’ll burn it. Game over no fluid involved there, same result it won’t pull once it is damaged.

Now please show me some data that proves changing ATF will prevent this from happening.
Or that if you install a new clutch in a std transmission you can exceed the load it was design to pull with no damage.

You could put a bigger (HD) clutch if you anticipate to operate at the higher end of the spec loads to prolong its usable life, or a transmission cooler in an A/T, but only up to the limit of the specs before you need a bigger drivetrain. It’s all about specs, not the fluid change.