How Often Should I Change Transmission Filter

When you lot should or shouldn't modify your automatic transmission fluid

This question was easy to answer earlier: Your mechanic pulls the transmission dipstick out and drops some fluid on a piece of paper. Does it look brownish or scent burnt? Practise you see any clay on the paper? If yes, you know it's time to change it.

Checking transmission fluid Driblet a few drops of transmission fluid on the piece of paper to see if it's contaminated.

Recommended transmission fluid change intervals varied between 30,000 and l,000 miles. One of the main reasons for transmission failures is overheating. This means, if yous tow a trailer or drive in a mountainous area, change the fluid more than frequently.

Today, many cars don't have a transmission dipstick. How practise you know if the manual fluid needs changing? A quick look into the maintenance schedule may help. For example, for the 2017 Jeep Wrangler, the maintenance schedule says: change transmission fluid at lx,000 miles if using your vehicle for any of the following: police, taxi, armada, or frequent trailer towing, otherwise, change at 120,000 miles. Knowing this, you lot tin can decide when to change your transmission fluid based on the severity of the load, merely you know it needs to be changed betwixt 60,000 and 120,000 miles.

In many recent cars, however, transmission fluid change is not fifty-fifty mentioned in the maintenance schedule, or included merely for astringent driving conditions. For instance, the Warranty and Maintenance Guide for the 2018 Toyota Camry says to change the manual fluid at lx,000 miles when "Driving while towing, using a machine-tiptop carrier, or heavy vehicle loading" as well as when "Extensive idling and/or low speed driving for a long distance such equally law, taxi or door-to-door delivery use." Information technology'southward called Special Operating Conditions. For normal driving conditions, the manual fluid change is not included.

If the manual fluid change is not in the maintenance schedule, does it mean it'due south filled for life? We know that we have to take manufacturer's recommendations with a grain of salt. They want to testify lower maintenance costs. Yes, fluid quality and transmission technology have improved, just no, this did non eliminate mechanical wear. Transmission problems, whether acquired by wear and tear or other reasons, are all the same common in many cars. The fact that auto manufacturers are striving to reduce the size and weight (and toll!) of their transmissions doesn't help either. Manual rebuilding shops aren't going out of business someday soon.

Should you change the manual fluid if it's not mentioned in the maintenance schedule? Is there whatever reason non to change transmission fluid at all? We spoke with two motorcar owners with different views:

Joe: I drive a lot and I desire to know for certain that my transmission is in expert shape. I checked my maintenance schedule and it doesn't even mention manual fluid. I visited my dealer where I bought the auto and asked the technician that I know, who worked on my car before. He said there was no problem and he got it washed for me. Information technology was at 55K miles, now I'chiliad at 80K and my automobile runs fine.

Ed: My truck has over 160K miles. I bought it used, a year ago. Sometimes when I shift into opposite, there is a little delay before the tranny engages, but otherwise it drives fine. My mechanic told me that the fluid is very dirty, just he warned me that irresolute transmission fluid at loftier mileage when it's that dirty is risky and sometimes tin make it worse, so I decided to get out it.

Both opinions make sense. If you want to keep your motorcar longer, you want to brand sure it'south in skillful shape. You can ask your dealer'due south stance on irresolute manual fluid. If they do recommend it, you know they can do it correct and will apply the correct fluid. The price for irresolute transmission fluid ranges from $150 to $350. Reputable car dealers are also more probable to stand up behind their services than small quick-lube shops if something goes wrong.

Transmission fluid change Adding manual fluid

Why is information technology risky to change transmission fluid in loftier-mileage cars? If the fluid has never been changed, it might exist contaminated by products of article of clothing. In a worn-out transmission, these products of wear tin can temporarily "seal" diverse pistons and O-rings. Once all the clay is flushed out, the transmission may start slipping or shifting differently. Cases like this are rare, simply we have seen this happening.

For the same reason, if a manual already shifts crude, slips or has other bug, changing the fluid is unlikely to fix these problems.

Is drain and refill safer than a flush with a car? Flushing the manual using a auto was common when the manual fluid was more than or less universal. Now, every manufacturer has their ain specific fluid that cannot be mixed with anything else. Because repair shops commonly have only one flush machine, they may employ it for different cars. For this reason, it'due south safer to practice a drain and refill service. The affluent machine does change more than fluid at in one case, though. If you do drain and refill, you only tin can bleed about 30-45% of the fluid.

How practise mechanics bank check the fluid level and status without a regular dipstick? Some transmissions have an oil filler plug (overflow plug or inspection plug), some accept a small bolted-in dipstick.

In some cars and trucks, at that place is a dipstick pipe, merely no dipstick; dealers have the dipstick as a special tool. The typical process involves warming upwardly a car while measuring the manual fluid temperature with a scan tool. Once a certain temperature is reached, the transmission fluid should come out of an oil filler (inspection or overflow) plug, or the level is measured with the little dipstick or special tool.

Does that hateful you lot cannot alter the transmission fluid in a minor garage or every bit a DIY project? No, if you lot sentinel DIY videos on Youtube, some people only measure the amount of the fluid drained and add together exactly the same amount. Regardless of where yous want to change your transmission fluid, nosotros strongly advise to use only the proper fluid type. Y'all can buy it from your local dealer.

Checking transmission fluid Spin-on manual filter.

Do you need to modify the filter when changing manual fluid? Near cars have a fine-mesh screen that doesn't need to be replaced. There are cars that practice accept a transmission fluid filter that needs to be changed. The one in the photo, for example, is a spin-on transmission fluid filter on the Allison transmission of the GMC Sierra HD. You lot can find out whether your car has a filter in an owners manual or maintenance schedule. For example, the manual for the 2018 Ford F150 says "Alter automatic transmission fluid and filter at 150K." Volkswagen recommends changing the fluid and filter in the DSG transmission (automated-manual) every forty,000 miles (for 2012 models).

In some cars, a transmission fluid filter is mounted on the outside of the transmission, in others, the transmission pan will have to exist removed to replace the filter. Does the magnet within the transmission pan demand to be cleaned when changing the transmission fluid? The magnet needs to exist cleaned whenever the transmission pan is removed. If the fluid tin can be inverse without removing the pan, then cleaning the magnet is non necessary.