Trans flush... placebo or worthwhile?

I have been hesitant to use the tranny flush, but have learned that some problems ARE essentially solved by this. Have seen this on a couple of unrelated brands of vehicles.

I dont believe in lifetime fluids either.

If you change your fluid on a regular basis it can't be anything but good for your transmission as long as the fluid isn't burnt. If it's burnt you have something wrong with the transmission, or you've been towing a lot. :) Now if you wait until 100,000 miles and then flush it, this might cause some problems.

I've heard that and believe it, but I rolled the dice anyway and had the trans flushed on my pickup truck when I bought it at about 130K miles. I figured that if it killed it, I'd rather go ahead and kill it and have it rebuilt. 10K miles later, it's fine, and I'll probably have it done again at 150K miles and then stick to the recommended 50K mile intervals after that.

nate

Why a flush instead of just a simple change? The change doesn't replace all the fluids, but that's okay. You just do it more often.

Well, you can always look at what comes out when you do the change.

--scott

That is a good argument, Scott.

My son has a Honda that went into tranny meltdown , under warranty, and the dealership recommended a flush. He bowed up at first, but finally let them try it, and it solved his problems.

I had a F...... Dodge. These are known for "whining" problems as they mature. Local very adept mechanic suggested the flush. Seems that this restores flow that is difficult to do otherwise.

My initial cynicism is at bay. I dont like the concept, in principle, but if it works, go for it.

I own two full size Dodge vans.A 1978 Dodge van with over 266,000 miles on it and a 1983 Dodge van with about 148,000 miles on it.In 1963 I bought a 1950 Dodge car, I don't remember how many miles were on that car.All three Dodge vehicles, no transmission whining or any other noises at all.Dodge vehicles are just as good as any vehicles in the World.Perhaps even Better.In my opinion, you can't buy any Better. cuhulin

Based on the models you own(ed) I can understand your perspective. However, the FWD trannies are notoriously s**te, almost as bad as the Taurus.

nate

If you have a Dodge manual tranny, you wont have the whining. If you have certain of the autos, there is an innate problem, which you can read about in the TSBs.

Some of the Dodge autos are really good.. Others are shit.

Dodge vehicles are as good as Kias and Fiats perhaps. They are definitely NOT world class.

m6onz5a wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@15g2000yqi.googlegroups.com:

What exactly goes wrong with it? is it the broken bits causing further damage by moving from where they "fell" and were resting safely or is there something inherent in the process that can cause damage?

The story that I heard is that sometimes if you let it go too long, the varnish buildup on various parts inside the trans, if broken up too rapidly, can clog small passages/valves/whatever and stop it from working correctly, whereas if you just let it go, it'll work for a good long time, just not as long as if you'd changed the fluid/filter every

50K miles like you're supposed to. Dunno if true or not.

nate

The trick with trans flushing is that IF you are doing the proper maintainance and change the fluid an filter when it should be changed then it will be fine.

When people complain about the "problems after a trans flush" it is usually because they have 100K on the fluid and no service on the trans. Then the new detergents and clean fluid flushes all the crap from the old neglected fluid into the system. OOPs....

I have never owned a front wheel drive vehicle before, and I don't want one either.My 1948 Willys Jeep has four wheel drive.If I ever get around to rebuilding my Jeep, I reckon then I will find out if the transmission whines, or not. cuhulin

Absolutely. If you have a problem already, a flush may dislodge junk that is causing the problem. I just don't see regular pre-emptive flushing being any more effective than just regular fluid changes, and it is substantially more work and money. And it might dislodge some junk and move it to a worse place, although hopefully if you have bee following some sort of regular changing schedule that won't ever be an issue.

--scott

Maybe. I had an '85 Laser with a manual... I went through three replacements and two rebuilds over the course of owning it, the replacements because the case cracked. Wound up with 480,000 miles on the engine but I never got a transaxle to last much over 100,000. As I recall that was a Mitsubishi engine with a Dodge transaxle...

--scott

The whine I am talking about is on certain Chrysler automatics. A manual might whine but it is not the same thing, not the same cause. It happens because a particular part starts vibrating, particularly when the vehicle is cost. Replace the part, or flush the tranny, or both, and it goes away.

My old 1950 Dodge car had a sort of an automatic shift transmission.It didn't make any whining noises.Both of my Dodge vans have automatic shift transmissions. cuhulin

I'm assuming you meant "coasting"?

My '92 Grand Caravan has a bit of a whine. and sometimes the trans doesn't want to shift until it hits about 4K RPM.

When I got it I did a 'complete' trans service; dropped the pan, drained what would come out, new filter and 4 qts fresh ATF+4.

Funny thing was, it sat for 6 months before I bought it, and I drove it home (130 miles) with no problem...

I don't know if it's a replacement trans. It has 240,000 on it, so I am deathly afraid of flushing it!

Chrysler automatics are the gold standard. The Torqueflite transmission on my 1975 Hornet has never needed anything but normal maintenance. Ditto for the Torqueflite in my 1985 Eagle.

All automatics of that era are pretty bulletproof. My dad's '73 Chevy pickup is still on its original THM350 with only occasional maintenance and a replacement vacuum modulator quite a while back. My '55 Studebaker came with a '63 model year Flightomatic (AKA Borg-Warner Model 8) and it too came to life perfectly with just a fluid change, band adjustment, and correct linkage setup. I think it's still waiting on the floor of my friend's garage; waiting for a new home (I wanted a manual trans in the car.)

This is one of those instances where "they don't make 'em like they used to." In some ways it's good (an overdrive is awful nice, as is a lockup TC - although Studebaker and Packard both had lockup TCs in the early

50's, and subsequently dropped them) and in other ways it's bad (I'd be willing to accept 10 or 20 pounds of extra weight if it meant that I didn't have to drop the trans and carry it to a repair shop.)

nate