Just went over 100k miles on the ecotec. Time for some maintenance. Is it a good idea to get the tranny flushed? I'm not really having any problems with it, so should I even bother? Before you ask, yes I did a search. Came up with nothing. Thx. in advance.
Mike, i've had my tranny flushed on my ecotec before in fact i am overdue for one as we speak have about 136k on my 04 2.2 eco but have also heard people on here discourage going that route the having your tranny flushed route that is. Something about breaking stuff loose in there, and then having it come back later on don't know if i worded that exactly right but thought that was what i saw on here somewhere. Good Luck with it, and keep us posted on how it goes
NO!!! With that mileage if you use a flush machine you may very well end up with a new transmission shortly after doing it.
Too many miles on the car. Just drop the pan and change the oil and filter. It's safer, much safer.
Dave
Mike, if that transmission were to fail, it would cost about as much as an engine replacement....
When it was built GM used a quality fluid. It's needing to be replaced by now, however. But,
a simple drain and re-fill is all it will take. A "flush" does remove most of the 2 old quarts in the
torque converter, but this is not necessary. The refill will be 9 quarts, and this will re-vitalize any
old fluid trapped in the torque converter.
Use the highest grade of Dextron 4 fluid you can find at an auto supply.
There's another thing, its about the transmission oil fluid filter...
If you want to discuss this, and it's simple, get back. I'll help.
Bill wrote:Mike, i've had my tranny flushed on my ecotec before in fact i am overdue for one as we speak have about 136k on my 04 2.2 eco but have also heard people on here discourage going that route the having your tranny flushed route that is. Something about breaking stuff loose in there, and then having it come back later on don't know if i worded that exactly right but thought that was what i saw on here somewhere. Good Luck with it, and keep us posted on how it goes
IF you do flushes while the car is young, there seem to be fewer problems than with an older car that has gone many miles without any service being done.
There is the Flush where they remove your oil, run a cleaning solution through and then reinstall oil. I'm not a fan.
Then there is the fluid replacement where they just replace your oil with new oil, like a human dialysis machine. I'll accept this provided you also drop the pan and replace the oil filter as well. The filter is often over looked doing this procedure so you have new clean oil with an old dirty filter, not good.
There are cleaners formulated into transmission oil. These alone are enough to keep things working and IF there is build up it will slowly erode them away and they'll get trapped in the filter rather than being instantly dissolved, breaking off and causing problems before entering the filter.
Google the flush, you'll come up with a few praises but by and large you'll find a lot of "it worked fine until I flushed, now I need a transmission / engine!!!" posts.
Err on the side of caution. It's too late to do frequent oil changes while the car is young but you can always start and slowly clean things up. I've never heard anyone say.......
"I changed my oil so frequently that the unit went bad"
Oil changes = Long life (there are rare exceptions)
Dave
Dave, you mention there seem to be fewer problems than with an older car that has gone many miles without any service being done. Now on the flip side of that, if your the type that has meticulously maintained the car from day 1 service wise etc is that if you will the exception to the rule or would what you said above about older cars etc still apply.
What I meant was if you changed the oil early and frequently then did the flush later on with high mileage you don't seem to have as many problems for the dirt and debris never built up in the unit.
If the car has been largely ignored then suddenly it is flushed, problems are more likely to happen.
sorry to confuse.
I'm not a fan of the flush either way. It's all snake oil remedies for a mistreated unit.
dave
This post is a little old but I had the tranny flushed in my previous car with 180K miles and had to get it rebuild shortly after. Some of that was from general wear but overall... Lesson learned.
What's a good interval for changing tranny fluid/filter? My last transmission fluid change was almost 26K miles ago at 93K miles.
thnkin04eco wrote:This post is a little old but I had the tranny flushed in my previous car with 180K miles and had to get it rebuild shortly after. Some of that was from general wear but overall... Lesson learned.
Yep, that's what I'm talking about, thanks for the first hand experience report.
What's a good interval for changing tranny fluid/filter? My last transmission fluid change was almost 26K miles ago at 93K miles.
If you drive the car at all hard, I'd for sure do it by 50,000 but no problems ever resulted from early and frequent oil changes. An oil change with filter will set you back about $40 or so? depends on the exact filter cost. A tranny rebuild will set you back about $2000 or more?!!? Oil is cheap!
Back in the old days they suggested 30,000 intervals. Don't overlook the trans filter, very important thing to change.
Transmission oil lives a very hard life. Extreme temperature, extreme friction, high pressures and it is expected to lubricate, cool and clean all at the same time for a very long time. Trans oil is almost a miracle in engineering all by itself. Do it a favor and let it work just a short time, you'll be happier and you'll be able drive far far longer without problems for having done so.
Best of luck
Dave
david keevil wrote:thnkin04eco wrote:This post is a little old but I had the tranny flushed in my previous car with 180K miles and had to get it rebuild shortly after. Some of that was from general wear but overall... Lesson learned.
Yep, that's what I'm talking about, thanks for the first hand experience report.
What's a good interval for changing tranny fluid/filter? My last transmission fluid change was almost 26K miles ago at 93K miles.
If you drive the car at all hard, I'd for sure do it by 50,000 but no problems ever resulted from early and frequent oil changes. An oil change with filter will set you back about $40 or so? depends on the exact filter cost. A tranny rebuild will set you back about $2000 or more?!!? Oil is cheap!
Back in the old days they suggested 30,000 intervals. Don't overlook the trans filter, very important thing to change.
Transmission oil lives a very hard life. Extreme temperature, extreme friction, high pressures and it is expected to lubricate, cool and clean all at the same time for a very long time. Trans oil is almost a miracle in engineering all by itself. Do it a favor and let it work just a short time, you'll be happier and you'll be able drive far far longer without problems for having done so.
Best of luck
Dave Well stated dave, it's just common sense $34 or so for an oil change now or 2 grand for an engine that's the key meticulous maintenance.
Thanks.
Oh I've never changed it myself, don't know if I could honestly.
Thnkin, nice to know there are others out there like me i've never changed my own oil either in fact the majority of maintenance i spend the extra money and have a pro do it simply because i don't trust my own judgment and don't want to mess things up ya know.
I do pretty much everything except the trans myself, those things are way too finicky. My previous car was a 93 4cyl mustang and the trans had little beads along the rim of the pan(that might be common, I don't know). If I had tried to change that myself I would have lost half of those things. The car was barely kept up from the PO and I was the recipient of all that neglect so I got to know the guy at Ford that would work on the car and he showed me quite a bit. It wasn't my first vehicle but it was the one that ingrained the need for proper maintenance.
Yeah that's how i am , i get to know the people that work on my car and ask questions etc. For the majority of the 5 yrs i've had the car i've always taken it to the stealership for regular maintenance etc, since i am extremely leary about letting just anyone work on my car however with things having taken a downturn and the economy being what it is i've had to go outside the box in some cases to cut costs. Get the same kind of work the dealer might do but for less cost.
Well that mustang was at the dealer so much for work they started waiving the diagnostic fees and like 20% of the labor. I've only taken the Cav to the dealer once, for the tranny oil change.
thnkin04eco wrote:Well that mustang was at the dealer so much for work they started waiving the diagnostic fees and like 20% of the labor. I've only taken the Cav to the dealer once, for the tranny oil change.
see, it pays to know who your doing business with and whose working on your car
