I have a 92 voyager, 150,000 miles. I have had it for the last 100,000 miles and have never changed the transmission fluid. This is because I have heard that once it has been let go that the fluid thickens and putting in new, thinner fluid may cause valves to leak and shifting problems.
Is there any truth to this? Should I change fluid or am I risking catastrophic failure? I plan to keep the van at least another 50,000 miles.
The transmission works perfectly most of the time but occasionally will get stuck in second. Turning off the ignition and restarting the engine has fixed this each time so far.
If you do not change the fluid AND FILTER, you are going to have a major problem in the not too distant future. The fact that your vehicle is already going into "limp mode" (2nd gear) occasionally is a sign of trouble. If you are lucky it is because the dirty filter is restricting fluid flow/pressure. I'd do this/get this done ASAP and hope the existing problem goes away. if it does not, you will have a major expense of rebuilding/replacing the transmission.
Some recommend smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day and only ever eating McDonalds. You can find all kinds of stupid and wrong advice out there.
The original poster is long overdue for a fluid and filter change. By changing now, he *may* forestall transmission repair. By failing to do so, he's headed for an expensive repair.
I'm not a tranny expert or mechanical engineer (I am an engineer, but electrical), but this is one of the most hokey things I've read. If the clutches are so badly worn that they are depending on junk in the oil to function, the likely other parts of the transmission such as the oil pump and bushings and bearings are also shot and the dirty oil is just accelerating their demise. I'd change the oil and if the tranny stops working then it was due for mechanical repair anyway. Leaving contaminated fluid in it only ensures a catastrophic failure in the future, probably in the middle of nowhwere, at night, in a thunderstorm. You make the call, as the IBM commercials used to say.
You are mistaken. The front wheel drive still has a diff, and one wheel spins at twice the speed 2 wheels spin at. Running the diff at 60MPH with one wheel locked is HARD on the diff and not really recommended.
You do what you want, BUT IF the transmission is NOT causing problems, leave it alone. IF you have a few thousands EXTRA $$, CHANGE the fluid. After a transmission goes 150,000 miles and has NEVER been changed, to change FOR NO REASON, is an invite to disaster. Those of you who say, DO IT, well , all the good intentions in the world will NOT help this person WHEN his transmission goes. I am in the business. I have turned MANY prosepctive customers away ( $$$$ TO ME IF I did the work) in this situation. I have a form that I MAKE them sign ( a waiver ) IF they insist they want it done. I have had 4 transmissions that had OVER 150,000 miles and NEVER CHANGED BEFORE, give out within a week or two of the fluid/filter change. They had NO PROBLEMS before the change, but wanted them change. ONLY 1 was a Chrysler product. Do what you want and TELL them all you want, BUT......
If the transmission IS giving problem,you need to change the fluid/filter, but be ready for POSSIBLE major problems.
Just my opinion, but that's urban legend nonsense. Even if the unit fails because it was somehow magically being held together by sludgy fluid then you're better off KNOWING that it was shot rather than stranded somewhere.
Until someone can talk physics about it, I consider those occurrances coincidents.
Look at it this way, shops do XX number of fluid changes per year. YY number of transmissions fail per year. Simple probability theory says that a number of those will happen soon after a fluid change, with no cause-effect relationship whatsoever. But since irate customers immediately blame the shop, of COURSE the shop is going to remember those instances. Doesn't mean a darn thing, though. Its just a skewing of the shop owner's observation because of the fact that the customer blames him if the tranny fails after a fluid change, but no customer blames him when their tranny fails midway between changes.
And did you ever stop to wonder just what percentage of those fluid changes were done BECAUSE the customer noticed that the transmission already showed symptoms of failing???? MOST of them, maybe? Talk about doubly skewed statistics!
I've had my hands in the guts of a Torqueflite a lot recently, and there is not ONE PART in there that I can, with all my engineering education, imagine failing as a RESULT of a simple fluid and filter change. It just isn't going to happen.
But there are dozens that I know WILL fail with dirty fluid and a clogged filter. Given the choice between believing in voodoo and believing in egnieering, guess which one I'm going to pick?
And if you don't change the fluid and filter you are almost guaranteed to have a problem. However, it is your transmission so you do what you want to do.
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