sandcracker21

how often do you all getting your automatic trannys flushed at a mechanics?

mine seems a little 'rough' even for my 4.10s...and im thinking i might need service

NOTE: i had mine flushed and filled with royal purple about 15k miles ago? didnt think i should need to have it done again so soon?

hiboostwoody

Are you talking about a flush or a service? A flush is where a machine is hooked up to the cooler lines and the coolant is swapped out. VERY BAD IDEA!! A service is where the pan is dropped and inspected for clutch and other material, the filter is replaced, and the tranny is refilled with fluid. If the tech doing the service is REALLY good, they will break open the filter and look for any foreign material that is trapped in the fold of the filter fabric. This should be done at a MINIMUM of every 30,000 miles and more if you use your car more harshly than normal driving.

sandcracker21

a service is what i am speaking about, sorry for the mix up..

how much does ur mech charge for that? just curious


...i doo drive like a bat outa hell most of the time though...but 15k miles seems like way too little to need it done again

hiboostwoody

Well, I AM the mechanic. LOL! I am the head technician of four Aamco Transmission shops. We normally charge around $140 for the service with standard fluid. If you want a synthetic like Royal Purple (which is EXCELLENT fluid) it would be a LOT more. If you are doing a lot of stuff like power braking and loading the converter and stuff, it would be a good idea to have the service done even if it's only been 15k miles. This kind of stuff builds a LOT of heat in the transmission and that breaks down the fluid. I would also recommend that you put on a big auxiliary external transmission cooler if don't already have one.

sandcracker21

i was just at my ford dealer for a special they had (couldnt pass it up even though i am super paranoid about anyone other than myself changing my oil)

deal was - 6 quarts of full synthetic with filter change, tire rotation, lube job, all fluids and 28 point inspection for 60$ even....not even I could pass on that


BUT...while i was there i asked the ford mech. about this and he said there was no reason to change the tranny filter until at LEAST 100k miles?? this seemed a little crazy to me

he told me all i needed was a flush every 30k or so miles, full service after 100k


am i going crazy or what?

hiboostwoody

Depends on how the car is driven. Personally, I wouldn't waste my time with a fluid change without changing the filter and I would NEVER, EVER, EVER let anyone powerflush my transmission. I have seen it all to often where the pan was completely clean; no clutch material, metal, nothing and then I crack the filter open and find pieces of torrington bearings, clutch material, etc. in the fold of the filter fabric. Filters are cheap. Why WOULDN'T you change it unless it was a screen type that you can clean? I have only seen one transmission that the filter should not be messed with and that is on a certain type of Nissan transmission. One of the bolts that holds the filter to the valve body has a nut on the backside of the valvebody that will move out of place when the bolt is taken out. The only way to fix this is to then pull the valve body and there are several check ***** that have to go back in certain places that can easily get lost if you don't know what you are doing.

hiboostwoody

That's a steal. You are getting $60 worth of synthetic fluid alone. Of course, you know that it's all a marketing ploy, right? We do the same thing. Get the customer in the door with a screaming good deal so the we can get their car up in the air and hopefully find some problems that need to be addressed that we can upsell them on. We do $9.95 oil change specials. Our cost? $10 so we actually lose a nickel on every oil change. BUT, if we can find something else that needs to be addressed and sell it, who cares about that nickel?

06SSilverGT

a nickel today, a million buckets next year :look:




i was told that for my s197, transmission doesnt have to be serviced til 80K..... can anyone confirm this for me? sorry for the thread hi-jack

hiboostwoody

Manufacturer specification is every 60K for normal service and every 30K for severe service.