Transmission Fluid Change in Progress...

"Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs" (yowen) 10/08/2014 at 12:56 • Filed to: None

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...At the mechanic, because I don't have the time or the facilities to do it. Thanks Andy the mechanic! I feel a little bad for my SHO, was supposed to be done at 60k and I am at 65k-ish. But it's a whole lot better than a lot of people that don't pay attention at all i suppose.

Pictured, not my car, pictured is a Saab. Anyways, last oil change I got they tried to convince me that i should do it there, because a mechanic will *only* drop the pan, which will only get like 10-20% of the fluids, he goes "we do a flush, which makes sure you get all new fluid". A flush is the last thing I want, unless something changed that I don't know about. I'm told dropping the pan is the proper way to do it, so the pan can be cleaned, all the fluid drained and then add fluid, rather than forcing a bunch of fluid through the trans by means of a flush, picking crud up off the pan and depositing it all over the trans.

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 10/08/2014 at 12:58

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Payday tomorrow is gonna be some brake fluid and gear oil. Manual SHO, woohoo.

505Turbeaux > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 10/08/2014 at 13:01

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yeah no flushing, I have seen it eat transmissions in short order before

Boxer_4 > 505Turbeaux 10/08/2014 at 13:07

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Yes, flushing will almost guarantee you will get all new fluid, and a new transmission to go with it.

jariten1781 > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 10/08/2014 at 13:09

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Yep, you're correct...flushes are bad...gunks up passages and valves. If you really want to get all the old stuff out of the torque converter and cooler do three drain-fills spaced about two weeks apart apiece. That's usually not necessary though.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 10/08/2014 at 13:09

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Yeees, flush... because lingering traces of solvent in your torque converter clutch could in no way cause any issues, and planetary clutch protection is for girls.

desertdog5051 > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 10/08/2014 at 13:12

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But what about the torque converter? Doesn't that hold its fluid when the pan is drained or am I wrong on that?

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > 505Turbeaux 10/08/2014 at 13:26

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So he just called and told me my transmission only needs to be changed every 150k. I know for a FACT that it needs to be done every 30k, should I by worried? This is a mechanic many people I know use. I'm worried he could use the wrong fluid or something. He uses something called Mitchel to look this stuff up.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Boxer_4 10/08/2014 at 13:26

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Haha so I hear.

He just called and told me my transmission only needs to be changed every 150k. I know for a FACT that it needs to be done every 30k, should I by worried? This is a mechanic many people I know use. I'm worried he could use the wrong fluid or something. He uses something called Mitchel to look this stuff up.

Bytemite > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 10/08/2014 at 13:27

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Lexus man...180k miles and still going with original transmission oil.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > jariten1781 10/08/2014 at 13:27

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Haha yeah, I figure the recommended every 30k is good enough.

He just called though and told me my transmission only needs to be changed every 150k. I know for a FACT that it needs to be done every 30k, should I by worried? This is a mechanic many people I know use. I'm worried he could use the wrong fluid or something. He uses something called Mitchel to look this stuff up.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 10/08/2014 at 13:28

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Ah I wish man. They really should've made the '10 in manual! I'm thinking it's an availability problem, no transverse trans that can handle that much power, not at Ford at least.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 10/08/2014 at 13:29

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This dude is using some Mitchel thing telling him to do this every 150k. I hope he uses the right fluid?

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > desertdog5051 10/08/2014 at 13:29

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I think you are right, based on other replies here, so to do a completely thorough job, you'd be right.

jariten1781 > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 10/08/2014 at 13:36

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Don't know about the SHO, but a lot of companies use lifetime fills that they say are good until ~150. However, if you look at fluid analysis the add-packs are shot around 30k. The lifetime fill is fine if you want your trans to last no longer than 150k, but if you're trying to keep it with the least possible wear it's good to change when the add-packs wear out. Best bet is to get on your models specific forum, weed out the chafe, and see what people with experience have encountered.

Party-vi > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 10/08/2014 at 13:49

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30k miles is insane. If BMW designed a 100k-mile interval transmission with the E46 I would think your transmission is good for almost that amount.

505Turbeaux > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 10/08/2014 at 13:51

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Mitchell is ok stuff. Unless there was some TSB saying the change frequency could be extended - read: less money for dealerships, then I would call bullshit. I asked Dr. Google and the first result from the webz says 150K and that Ford recommends this, but I also see 30K listed more times. Stick with what you know

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 10/08/2014 at 13:55

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Im inclined to agree, theyd have to put a lot of money into developing a transaxle to handle that.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > jariten1781 10/08/2014 at 14:10

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I was pretty active on the forum for a while and everyone seemed to recommend every 30k. So that's what I'm doing :D pretty soon I'll be adding power (this is one step in preparation of that) so I'll really wanna stick to that.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Party-vi 10/08/2014 at 14:15

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It is rather frequent, but based on my time on a SHO specific message board I am inclined to do it. I'll ask how the fluid looked (if that's an indicator?).

NaturallyAspirated > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 10/08/2014 at 14:19

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I highly recommend the "poor man's flush."

Raise car.

Drop transmission pan.

Change filter.

Put all that stuff back together.

Re-fill transmission.

Disconnect one of the transmission cooling lines from radiator. Bonus points if you know which one is the return line and you disconnect that one.

Use creativity to rig it up so that regardless of whether the transmission fluid comes out of the line or the radiator, it will go into a bucket.

Have friend or family member start car and repeatedly run the gear selector through all of it's positions.

While they are doing that, add fluid to the transmission at approximately the same rate it's being pumped out.

When the fluid coming out is the same color as what you're putting in, you're done. Shut off the car, re-attach the line to the radiator, and double-check fluid level.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > 505Turbeaux 10/08/2014 at 14:44

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Another question; if I asked the guy to do a fluid change, is dropping the pan implied, or should I have specified that?

Party-vi > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 10/08/2014 at 15:40

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Transmission fluid usually starts a nice pink/red and gets darker from there. That should be a good indicator. The worst enemy to your transmission is heat.

crowmolly > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 10/10/2014 at 10:00

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I believe you want a filter and fluid change.

I'm sure there's a way to change just the fluid.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > crowmolly 10/10/2014 at 10:10

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Yeah, I imagine that's what was done. Apparently my car does not call for a filter change... ever.