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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Maintenance and Repair / February 2007Transmission service
My mechanic convinced me to do a full transmission service on my Corolla 2001 with 80K miles. I know some places flush transmission under pressure with special machine which is much better then just drain and replace transmission fluid. My mechanic does not have this machine, however he charged me $110 for changing transmission fluid, gasket and filter. I called other shops that have this special machine and they quote at least $175 for fluid, gasket and filter. My first question is if it is really necessary or highly desirable to flush transmission with specialized machine vs. just draining and replacing fluid. Second question is if replacing gasket and filter is also necessary. Finally last question is how often I need to replace transmission fluid and how often I also need to replace filter and gasket. Is there anything else in transmission service that I also need to do? My first >1. question is if it is really necessary or highly desirable to flush > transmission with specialized machine vs. just draining and replacing > fluid. 2. Second question is if replacing gasket and filter is also > necessary. 3. Finally last question is how often I need to replace > transmission fluid and how often I also need to replace filter and > gasket. Is there anything else in transmission service that I also > need to do? (1) For most applications, flushing the entire transmission is not required. Some have said that it can even damage the transmission, but I rather doubt that is likely to happen. (2) Replacing the filter is highly recommended. You also replace the gasket unless you have a car that has a reusable gasket. (3)You service the transmission as recommended by the manufacturer, so look in your owners manual. Regardless of the manual, I normally do it at least at 30,000- 50,000 miles, and yes, you should replace the filter every time. Gasket same as above. (3) This is normally all that is needed. Some cars have transmissions with internal adjustments on the bands. I do not think yours is of this type, but havent researched it. Some cars also have external linkage adjustments, but you dont normally have to touch these unless the linkages have been damaged or have wandered out of adjustment. Dont know what your car has. >My mechanic convinced me to do a full transmission service on my >Corolla 2001 with 80K miles. I know some places flush transmission [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >gasket. Is there anything else in transmission service that I also >need to do? You will probably get a lot of opinions on this one and here's mine... I would much rather have it done the way your mechanic did it. As the transmission wears over time the wear material is deposited in the pan or caught by the filter. A lot of those power flush jobs don't remove and clean the pan or change the filter. I would rather have the clean pan and new filter with as much new fluid as I could get than having all the crud stirred up by the flushing machine and not cleaned out. Check your owners manual for the replacement schedule. Use the severe service schedule even if you don't think you fit that one. Steve B. my father had a transmission flush on his Suburban, and the transmission did not operate properly after that. My service rep at the dealer does not recommend it, nor does the dealership do it. They drop the pan and change the filter the old fashioned way. Roy > My mechanic convinced me to do a full transmission service on my > Corolla 2001 with 80K miles. I know some places flush transmission [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > gasket. Is there anything else in transmission service that I also > need to do? >my father had a transmission flush on his Suburban, and the transmission did >not operate properly after that. My service rep at the dealer does not >recommend it, nor does the dealership do it. They drop the pan and change >the filter the old fashioned way. The thing about the flush is that it removes a lot of crap from the system, but you can't remove all the crap. And sometimes what it winds up doing is moving a lot of the crap around. If you do it on an old transmission that has not been properly maintained, often it will remove varnish and plugs of gunk from a place where they are doing no harm to someplace where it does harm. If you flush or change the fluid on a regular schedule like the manual says, you'll be fine. If you wait 100,000 miles before you change the fluid, don't do the flush. --scott  Signature"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
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