I am going to change the transmission oil in my 2006 Sonata with manual transmission. The car has 70,000 miles and I had it changed at the dealership at 60,000 miles as I don't believe in the "lifetime fluid" approach for "normal" service that many now recommend. Anyway, I went to the dealership just a few weeks before they shut their doors. I thought things looked a little sparse on the lot and in the shop given that it was May. Anyway, since then the car is hard to shift into second gear, especially when cold. I am hoping that they hadn't run out of the correct 75W85 GL-4 and put in a heavier GL-5 fluid and possibly caused damage to the yellow metal parts.
I am going to put in Amsoil synthetic GL-4 as I couldn't find a GL-4 at the local auto parts stores. Apparently, almost nobody uses it anymore.
Anyway, it appears that the only easy way to access the fill plug is to remove the under shield. I thought this only had 4 bolts that held it, but a quick look under makes it appear that there are more than 4 bolts and I was seeing Phillips head screws as well. Can anyone tell me if all of these fasteners are for just the shield or do they hold other parts above the shield that may come loose? Also, leaving the shield off would certainly ease future oil changes and such. Has anyone left their under shield off? Any side effects such as additional air noise or overheating? I can't imagine it has significant functionality other than to smooth the air flow under the car for better mileage and less noise, but if the cooling system depends on it that would be a different story.
Matt