Yeah it’s been awhile since transman has been on here. It would be interesting to get his input on this.
He might say all of us were wrong . . .
LOL
That VW automatic reminded me. In 1959 my neighbor smashed the front end on the 59 Impala and decided to fix it themselves. In the meantime they bought I believe it was a 49 Desoto to drive. It had that centrifical clutch in it that allowed the clutch to be out in gear until you stepped on the gas to engage it. We thought it was kinda neat. A manual automatic. I don’t know about shifting but I think you had to put the clutch in. Never got to ride in it that much.
I live in phoenix and started taking my car in for service at the garage I purchased it. The first time it came back with the corner of the plastic on the tail lens broke off. I didn’t find this until I washed it. The next time they broke the plastic chrome looking piece on my hood. I am tired of taking my car to them. I phoned a friend who uses Sun West Transmissions in Phoenix. I am going to have them remove the tranny fluid and replace it with new. The cost is less…around $125.00. I am hoping the service will be considerably better than I have been getting at Chapman Hyundai. I receive an evaluation after each visit to Hyundai however it seems Hyundai is only interested in whether or not the people are friendly. Personally I don’t care if you don’t speak to me as long as you are taking good care of my car.
You want to have the transmission fluid flushed.
Just to replace the transmission filter requires disassembly of the transmission.
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=5895819&cc=1502000&jsn=324
So, you want ALL the old transmission fluid replaced.
Go the independent shop to have this done.
It sounds like they know what they’re talking about.
Tester
The 2012 Sonata has a drain plug, a side port for level check and a fill plug on top. I just changed my wife’s 2013 ATF an hour ago. It is the third drain and refill at 40+ K miles.
I use Valvoline Maxlife synthetic and it is compatible with the Hyundai ATF, but the dealer sells the Hyundai brand fluid for much more $$. Somehow the Kia dealer in my town sells the same fluid for much less.
My dealer quoted ~ $150 for a drain and refill.
There is a youtube video on how to change to fluid, just google it. It is not difficult if you have done DIY yourself. The difficult parts are taking the bottom cover off and also measuring the ATF temp for the level check. I bought an infrared temp gun for this.
Is the dealer replacing the fluid in the torque converter? That is complicated and expensive. But if you want 200k out of your car it is a bargain. Or get the tools to do it yourself. Not really that hard. Tools about $200. Beware of those saying just draining and refilling. You can do that for $100. The torque converter holds as much as the trans. Do you only change half of your oil? Just saying.I
2 years too late.