It has also occurred to me that if OP spent all the time he spent on the computer he spent bartending instead, he would not have to buy questionable cars at charity auctions.
Waiters and bartenders make beteeen 100% and 400% in tips on top of their base pay, which is ususallly about $8 per hour. $8 per hour +200% lets say, is $24 per hour or $192 for an 8 hour day. Working only Saturdays, he could make $9600 per year extra working 50 weeks.
That’s the equivalent of 38! Ford Tauruses, his previous car bought at such an auction. We don’t know what he paid for his present Kia but it will be much less than $9600.00
The only reason I brought this up is that my son completely paid his way through university by only working Friday nights and Saturday nights at a Western bar and roadhouse. If money is tight, working more or smarter can make it less tight.
I have no problem with OP getting a free education in automotive design and maintenance, but the payoff of all this time spent is small compared with other uses of his time.
I would prefer to go with the flush, but don’t have the $170 the dealership wants and given my transmission requires special fluid, not to positive with going outside the dealership on this even though my indep place who does great work say they have a comp. fluid.
You obviously have not paid any attention to the professionals on this board. You might want to also start looking for transmission shops and junk yards and start pricing transmissions while you are at it.
Getting all the old fluid out is only an issue if you are obsessed with it. You don’t change all the oil when you do an oil change, and you don’t change all of the power steering fluid when you change it, but for some reason, when it comes to automatic transmissions, people seem obsessed with changing [i]all[/i] of the fluid.
If transman says having a clean filter and a clean pan is more important than changing 100% of the fluid, believe him. He knows his stuff. Drop the pan now and do the flush when you can afford to.
I would say that what you see on your bench everyday has a large component of poor design involved along with exterme use…
[sarcasm] That’s pretty impressive. You know what he sees on his bench everyday without even being there, yet you seem to be in a better position to evaluate what he is seeing better than the master trans technician who rebuilds transmissions day by day. You must be omnipotent! [/sarcasm]
I am pretty sure transman knows the difference between a well maintained transmission with a poor design and a neglected one.
Why, if I change out the fluid what else is there to do? I have had professionals tell me you don’t need to do a pan drop and ones that say I do. I plan on going to the dealership that carries the specific type of transmission fluid called for by the manual and have it drained and filled. In 4-5 months I will do it again. I am unsure why you thing my transmission will fail and why others are wrong?
You see, folks, this is the difference between people like me, who are enthusiasts and give general advice based on their limited experiences, and people like transman, who are specialists, know their field, and are consummate professionals.
Believe it or not, there may still be something left to say…
Transman, I looked at your earlier post where you said this transmission has BOTH a spin-on AND and internal filter. I did some more looking and found that the spin-on filter is ONLY for Sedona model years 2008 and later. So the internal flat filter is the ONLY trans filter on this 2002 Sedona.
So, in fact, there is no external spin-on filter to replace on a 2002 Sedona. Which is what the dealer said in the first place.
What the dealer said may be nowhere near the reality though. Odds are this dealer person was the service writer who on average has little mechanical savvy and quite likely has never changed the transmission fluid on anything; and possibly never even performed an engine oil change.
92!
But I have spoken to 3 different KIA dealerships and all 3 said the only “serviceing” needed on teh trasmission was either the drain and fill or a flush. One removes about 3-4 quarts and is $100, the other removes all 9 quarts and costs $170. All 3 said you do not do a pan drop on this vehicle.
So, what’s left to argue about? There’s no external filter to replace, and no pan to drop.
As the OP said, it’s a choice now between a drain-n-fill that replaces 3 qts of fluid, or a “flush” that replaces all 9 qts. So it’s either door #1 or door #2, and it sounds like the OP is taking door #1 'cause it’s cheaper and that’s what the dealer and the manual recommend.
How in the world did a simple procedure like this manage to generate 100 posts? And how did I let myself waste so much time on this thread?!
I was only with KIA about 4 months and I was never asked to service a Sedona transmission but the cars I did do were always with the flush machine and we filled the machine with 1 quart bottles of the correct fluid. I cannot remember ever dropping a pan on any trans and changing a filter but this was back in 2003/4.
Based on your original post in which you referred to dropping the pan is the reason I even mentioned a pan drop being done in advance of flushing. Note that I qualified that response with an “if applicable” disclaimer.
You even refer to a pan drop being priced out at the dealer.
Since your vehicle has no pan then do a simple drain and fill ever so often or have the flush. Either one would be acceptable at this point because you have referred to the fluid as being discolored. You’re not supposed to let it get to that point.
Number 95 as this post goes to press. The phone banks are open for your pledges.
I didn’t let it get to that stage, the previous owner did, that is why I am doing it now. I have only had the van since Aug and only put on about 2500 miles so far in that time span.
Could you do a simple drain and fill yourself? This should be about as easy as it gets mechanically speaking. Do it several times and you should at least make a dent in the quality of the old fluid.
This would be a far better option than allowing old fluid to remain in place and at least you’re thinking about the well-being of your car; something which many people do not.
