Transmission flush or not?

[OrdnanceMarine]

FYI about Magnefine.....

problems-with-defective-bad-magnefine-filters

Something to keep an eye on though I know of many, many, many folks that have used them for hundreds of thousands of miles individually and have nothing but praise (and a transmission that hasn't needed to be rebuilt) to show for it. I did pull the sticker on one to see if it was embossed and it looks like I have the genuine article. I'll keep my eyes open for additional negative reports.

On the other hand, should I trust anyone who owns a Chevy S10, let alone someone who would actually be proud enough of their S10 to post on an S10 forum?

 

[JB.]

Has anyone found a cost effective alternative to WS fluid for the transmissions that call for it?

Not that I know of.

After my water pump failure at ~55k miles and the large amount of some sort of black flake deposits present in the coolant (so much for "Super Long Life"), I switched to Zerex Asian at about half of the price of Toyota's super long life coolant so I am by no means convinced that WS is the only possible solution that could ever exist for our transmission fill.

Yeah, personal experience naturally receives a lot of weight. Mine has been somewhat the opposite of yours.

I don't feel strongly enough about it to advise to anyone, but I continue to pay the WS tax.

 

[OrdnanceMarine]

Not that I know of.



Yeah, personal experience naturally receives a lot of weight. Mine has been somewhat the opposite of yours.

I don't feel strongly enough about it to advise to anyone, but I continue to pay the WS tax.

I've only had to pay it once so far but if I had to change my transmission fluid today I don't see another choice at this point. Perhaps something will emerge as the market for an aftermarket choice grows.

 

[JB.]

I skimmed too much when reading and mixed coolant with ATF (luckily, not in the truck).

My experience with super long life coolant was somewhat opposite of yours and I continue to pay the Toyota coolant tax, but without strong conviction.

The WS ATF I feel somewhat more strongly about and am not looking for any alternatives.

 

[lockerc18]

Reviving a older discussion here...

I brought my '04 LTD V6 in to the local dealer for a state inspection, and during their "free" multipoint inspection, they found a problem with my transmission cooler lines. They said they had rusted and were leaking, and when I took a look at them, they sure were. I'm surprised they hadn't blown apart, given the condition they were in. So, I had them replace them.

Of course, that meant that the tranny needed a little more fluid to fill it back up. I figured, the truck has 125K miles on it now, and I'd never done any tranny work on it after the 30K checkup, which was just a drain and fill. And it was time for another drain and fill, anyway, so why not do a full flush, which the dealer did.

They used the machine which runs off the truck's own pump, not the high pressure backwash type. And they ran some kind of cleaner through the tranny as part of this. I didn't really follow up with them about that, so I'm not sure what that was. (Anyone know about that?)

When it was done, and I'd handed over one arm and one leg in payment, I noticed something while driving home. The truck was decidedly faster than before the flush was done. Is that normal? I mean, the throttle response was very snappy. This truck was never a slouch, but I was surprised at how quick it was after the flush.

So, after 10 years with this truck, I've had 3 problems: 1) a seat belt buckle was bad when I picked the truck up new, which was replaced right away; 2) the TPMS system had a failed sensor, which was replaced, and the wheel rims needed cleaning up to stop a persistent leak; and 3) this tranny work. I can't complain. This truck has been really, really good to me over the years. I plan on keeping it for quite a while yet.

 

[GoldenUT]

How much did the dealer charge you for the full flush?

 

[radlynx]

I did a full flush myself. I have a 2005 SR5, V6, 5 speed Auto. Here's what I did, drained the oil, removed the oil pan, cleaned it up, removed the filter, cleaned it up and reinstalled back with a new gasket.

I used around 16 Qts of oil from AMSOIL which is listed on their site and used the radiator transmission cooler line to fill it up and drain the remaining oil. 1 line is with the new oil and 1 line goes to an empty container.

make sure to measure how much oil you remove so you can fill the same amount. I just start the car watching the old fluid come out until it's 2 quarts then stop the engine, then refilled another 2 quarts and do the same thing multiple times until a red fluid comes out. I replaced it around 65000 miles and now i'm at 100000 miles. I replaced my radiator a few months ago and noticed that the fluid is still red so I'm good another 30000 miles.

All in all, you really don't need the expensive WS fluid. :car:

Reviving a older discussion here...

I brought my '04 LTD V6 in to the local dealer for a state inspection, and during their "free" multipoint inspection, they found a problem with my transmission cooler lines. They said they had rusted and were leaking, and when I took a look at them, they sure were. I'm surprised they hadn't blown apart, given the condition they were in. So, I had them replace them.

Of course, that meant that the tranny needed a little more fluid to fill it back up. I figured, the truck has 125K miles on it now, and I'd never done any tranny work on it after the 30K checkup, which was just a drain and fill. And it was time for another drain and fill, anyway, so why not do a full flush, which the dealer did.

They used the machine which runs off the truck's own pump, not the high pressure backwash type. And they ran some kind of cleaner through the tranny as part of this. I didn't really follow up with them about that, so I'm not sure what that was. (Anyone know about that?)

When it was done, and I'd handed over one arm and one leg in payment, I noticed something while driving home. The truck was decidedly faster than before the flush was done. Is that normal? I mean, the throttle response was very snappy. This truck was never a slouch, but I was surprised at how quick it was after the flush.

So, after 10 years with this truck, I've had 3 problems: 1) a seat belt buckle was bad when I picked the truck up new, which was replaced right away; 2) the TPMS system had a failed sensor, which was replaced, and the wheel rims needed cleaning up to stop a persistent leak; and 3) this tranny work. I can't complain. This truck has been really, really good to me over the years. I plan on keeping it for quite a while yet.