When to change tranny fluid?

If you're changing the fluid within the guidelines of the service manual, I don't see where you would be voiding your warranty. I would suggest checking your fluid after 25-30K miles and see what it looks and smells like. If it's starting to brown and/or smell like it's on the verge of burnt, then I personally would go with the 30K recommendation. If it still has nice color and no offensive odor, I'd wait before going that route.

I change the fluid in my Escape every 3rd oil change (about 9K miles), but that's a totally different tranny than yours. Mine has no filter (just a screen for the big chunks), so I added an inline spin-on filter set up. I'm not changing all of it- just draining the pain and refilling it with new fluid, which works out to about 5 quarts out of a total 10 quarts capacity.

I use the suggested schedule for dusty areas since I live on the coast with lots of sand, clay, and salty air. May not have to, but hey, it can't hurt, and it's not all that expensive :-)

SC Tom

On Wed, 10 Nov 2010 16:22:48 -0600, The Seabat rearranged some electrons to say:

The manual should have a "severe service" schedule, which also defines the criteria for when it should be used. If you follow the owner's manual to the letter, then you can't go wrong.