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Alright Guys My Gf recently got a 2005 Scion Tc Automatic and beging the tune up Process.
But this is where im stuck i checked the transmission fluid and it is completly black,the thing is the car didnt come with any service records and the car has 182000 Miles on it so im not sure if its ever been changed. Im not sure to change it out or not because ive heard stories where someone would change the tranny fluid just for maitenence then there would be problems becuase of new fluid…someone help.
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This is a cautioned area.If you let the fluid go.it may keep
running but keep damaging.If you do change it.It could die or
it could be a good thing.Your call.I would change it and hope
its a good thing.:huh:Smell the old fluid,if its burnt…….enter that door with caution.
To compare buy a quart of good fluid.If you do change it inspect the trans magnet for big pieces of material.[quote=”dirtywaters1978″ post=32995]Smell the old fluid,if its burnt…….enter that door with caution.
To compare buy a quart of good fluid.If you do change it inspect the trans magnet for big pieces of material.[/quote]I’ve been told that “smelling” the fluid is not good for you and I’m inclined to believe them. If the fluid has an odor you can usually tell without sticking your nose on the dip stick. As for the validity of this test I don’t see how it can tell you much as it’s so subjective as to what a person perceives as ‘burned’.
As to the original question it’s a roll of the dice and no one can tell you if it’s going to work out or not, you just have to go for it and cross your fingers it works and prepare yourself if it doesn’t. Good luck and keep us posted.
Sorry to bump the post, but I have a related question. Although I don’t understand why the transmission would ever fail after a fluid change, I am thinking of doing a fluid change on my 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix GT. I don’t know if the risks are higher if: It has more mileage, the fluid is a darker color, or if it’s because of the amount of time in between changes. But, I bought this car used with 108,000 miles on it, and I’d like to change the fluid because I have no knowledge of past trans maintenance. I can tell you what I do know. It has 109,000 miles, upon checking the level and color, the level is in the middle of the two lines, and the color is a normal translucent pink/red color. Since the fluid is a bright red, I would like to just drop the pan and change the fluid/filter. Is it recommended, and what would the risks be, providing the details I have given?
Its a roll of the dice. will you loose or win?
I don’t think the color would be pink/red at that
mileage. Maybe it was done at some point.I say drop
the pan and change the fluid and filter.The manual says to change it at 50K if under severe driving conditions, or 100k if under normal. So even if I change it at 110k, I hope that wouldn’t stretch it far to the point of causing possible damage. My cousin recommended a flush, but I’m not confident enough to do that. I’ve seen Grand Prix’s get a flush and fluid change at 130k and be fine, so hopefully that will be the case for me if I just do the pan fluid/filter. It’s shifting just fine right now. I heard that if there’s a problem shifting before, that increases the chances of something changing afterwards, good or bad. So I just hope my chances are good. I mean, is it even a “roll of the dice” if you do it at 50k like many manuals say?
If the transmission has been serviced at the regular intervals
it greatly reduces the chances of failure. The engineers that
designed the parts know how long that fluid will last under what
conditions.I would maybe just drive it the way it is and not change it, because that’s what I wish I should have did with my car. I had a 140000 miles on my car when I changed it, brought it to a couple shops and they looked at it and said it wasn’t to bad to change. My fluid was dark brown on the dip stick but was black in a container when I changed it. I did a drain and refill the 1st one I noticed a very slight slippage in the gears but didn’t think it wasn’t much but when I did the 2nd drain and refill is when I noticed it slippin good and now 40000 miles later I need a new car. But again I saw plenty of trans fluid change videos and the fluid came out real black and some people say the fluid shouldn’t get change at all, and there are some transmissions that are completely sealed off. But again on my car I wish I didn’t change it and going to be afraid to change it on my next car.
I see. Well considering the difference in miles, and color, I think my situation would be more likely to yield positive results. If it was a dark color, I don’t think I would want to change it. Also I believe I’m nearly on the service interval for changing it. Thanks for the input.
Also, with the whole issue of possible failure, I’d like to find someone that has had a trans fail, even if the trans fluid looked good before it was changed, if possible.
After doing some reading of people’s opinions, some say it’s the difference in fluid that causes the transmission to act different after changing:
“The fluid that has been in the transmission all this time has become dirty and gritty. This gritty fluid is actually providing needed friction for the worn internal parts of the transmission. Changing the fluid and replacing the filter would remove this friction that the internal transmission parts have become dependent on. If you have not been regularly maintaining the transmission throughout the life of the car, you might actually be doing more harm than good if you replace the transmission fluid at this point. For example, putting new clean slick transmission fluid in an older high mileage vehicle could cause the transmission to slip.”
How I see it, is if the fluid is dark, it indicates an evolving problem, and changing it makes it come out. Since mine still looks good, I don’t think I have a problem, so there shouldn’t be anything to uncover. Plus the new fluid may not be a whole lot thinner than whats in it now. Opinions or more input is appreciated.
What I think you’re missing is that the damage has already been done. Changing the fluid at this point might actually create a situation where the transmission WILL fail. Automatic transmissions are dependent on the fluid and the pressures within them. If those parts get worn then the transmission looses pressure and can fail. The old fluid actually contains the ‘bits’ of the transmission that have worn out. This makes the fluid thicker, the thicker fluid will seal better and help maintain the pressure. Replace the thick fluid with new thin fluid and then you’ve got a recipe for failure. Flush the fluid and you’re really rolling the dice.
No matter what you’re taking a chance at this point and there’s no one that can say for sure what will happen if you change the fluid now.
Ok. Well first I was planning on a pan drop oil/filter change, I don’t believe in flushes. I know you can never know the outcome for sure, there are no guarantees, but I’m looking for trends because people change trans fluid past 100,000 miles ALL the time. I have personally seen good, and bad results, even up to 150,000 miles. Also so you’re saying that the transmission always wears out the same by 100,000 miles, no matter what, even if it was changed at the proper intervals? and that the amount of wear cannot be related to the visual condition of the fluid?
The visual condition of the fluid is in direct correlation to what’s happening inside the transmission. The ‘blackness’ that you see is the result of the material that remains from the internal parts of the transmission that have worn away. This is what I mean when I say that the damage has already been done because the material you see is what’s left of the worn parts inside the transmission. If you change the fluid regularly this will increase the life of the transmission dramatically. NOT changing the fluid at regular intervals is what accelerates the damage. The longer the fluid remains in an automatic transmission the more it wears out, it’s not designed to last forever. If you change the fluid after not changing it for a long period of time you change the dynamic of the entire transmission and you run the risk of complete transmission failure.
Oh alright, that’s what I had in mind about how it wears. My fluid looks pretty nice as it sits at 109,000, so it must have been changed at least once so far in its life. Their service interval is 50-100k, so I believe I’m not very far overdue. Hopefully that puts me in the range of more than likely yielding positive results.
A friend of mine had a Monte Carlo, with what I believe is the same trans as mine, and he just got his fluid changed or flushed, not sure yet. It was probably the first time because the fluid was dark before. Now he says it accelerates weird. He doesn’t call it slipping, but jerky. I’m assuming he means from initial takeoff, all the way to the point where it shifts into 2nd. I think he caused a failure in the not too distant future.
But in comparison to my situation, I’m fairly confident still, I’m yet to find someone in my situation (clean fluid, not totally overdue) and had it fail afterwards. My cousin has done hundreds of trans flushes over the years, and agrees.
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