I am having my auto trans fluid change soon and the service wrighter told me they would do trans flush, I read in my owner’s manual to drain and refill fluid and replace main sump filter, he said technicaly they do not remove the pan inless it is leeking. Will the trans flush be adequate and not replaceing the filter for now? The vehicle has 74,000 miles with the fluid with no problems.
The pan should be removed and cleaned and the filter should be cleaned/replaced prior to the transmission fluid exchange. If there’s metal particles in the pan there’s no sense in doing the fluid exchange because the transmission is on it’s way out.
Tester
Technically…the service writer is a moron. He just wanted to “flush” your wallet. Always follow the owners manual schedule for maintenance.
Flushing a transmission without first dropping the pan and changing the filter is NOT an acceptable transmission service. If your fluid is not contaminated, all you really need to do is drop the pan, examine it real good for debris, clean it, replace the filter, and refill. This needs to be done every 25-30k miles regardless of what the owners manual says. NEVER follow the owners manual service intervals.
transman
Two points.
One is the service writer, like the majority of them, are not mechanics and really don’t know what’s best.
Two is that dropping the pan and changing the filter is a bit messy and time consuming; flushing is comparatively clean and fast.
Guess where the easy money is at.
Exactly right. I had that done and never even considered having the filter changed until the shop told me not changing the trans filter would be tantamount to doing an oil change and not changing the oil filter. Why bother. And you’re so dead on about most svc writers.
Well, rather than trust a service writer, I will always trust a mechanic. It is good to ask around, find a trustworthy one in your area and always take your car to just him, just like you choose a dentist. With a car from the Las Vegas auto body and trustworthy advice, coming from someone who doesn’t just want to rip you off, things will be just fine.
You couldn’t be more correct regarding the owners manual service intervals. My job involves a lot of traveling and my driving time spins around the cheap car rental companies. I had a similar problem with a car and the firm politics said to consult the manual service intervals. I ignore it and went straight to a mechanic. He resolved my problem in one hour and gave me the same advice: Never consult the…
You should always trust your owners manual. I once talked to a friend, who sells brake rotors. Even if he has an experience of 20 years, he told me that he couldn’t figure out all the technical problems that constantly appear.