Transmission Fluid, is it to late ?
 

While changing the oil today, the service man told me that the transmission fluid is black and I have to flush it quickly.
I have 74000 miles on my TC 2007.
my driving style is fairly normal with across the states trips every now and then. And I bought the car used with 59k on it.

My question is, is it too late to recover the transmission ?
Should I be worried that much ?
I didn't see if it was brownish or blackish my self.

watching

Well first off you didn't say whether you have an automatic or manual transmission, which is kind of important info when asking for opinions or a diagnosis.

Manual trannys are a lot simpler, and are a lot easier to deal with, diagnose, and fix when you have a (potential) problem. The life cycle of manual transmission fluid on our cars for someone who drives normally is around 60000 miles, give or take a few. So yeah, if it's been 74000 miles, especially on conventional tranny fluid, then you are long overdue for a change.
My 2007 TC is a manual, so I don't know a whole lot about the automatic transmission for the TC, but I imagine the life cycle for the fluid is around the same 60,000 miles, actually maybe a little less.

I'm not really sure what you mean by "recover the transmission". Is it damaged? Does it seem damaged? Since I dont know if you have a manual or an auto, I'll ask you diagnosis questions for both.

Manual:
Does it feel like the shifter is "sticking" or reluctant to go into gear? Does it feel like you are grinding a little when trying to shift into a gear.

or

Auto:
Does it seem to make any unusual noises? Does it seem reluctant to upshift or downshift at the appropriate time? Does it seem like its having a hard time finding the right gear? Does it seem to get stuck or randomly shift for no reason?

If you aren't having any of these problems, then you don't necessarily have any damage to your transmission. If it just seems a little reluctant or sluggish, then the fluid change should do the trick.

I actually changed my transmission fluid earlier today myself. I have a manual 2007 tc with about 81,000 miles on it. I last changed my fluid at 10,000 miles and used Redline MT-90 (75w90) full synthetic. I got about 70,000 good miles (I pushed it a little past the 60,000 mile threshold) out of it but recently the shifter started sticking when it was cold outside, and I had a hard time getting to third, so I knew it was well past time to change it. This time, the Redline wasn't available at NAPA, so I went with the Royal Purple (75w90) full synthetic. She has seamless shifting again, and so far I'm just as happy with RP as I was when I first put in the Redline MT-90.

I tend to overemphasize this but I'm a performance enthusiast and I want the very best for my car so hear goes: I highly recommend you use a fully synthetic transmission fluid, either Redline or Royal Purple. You absolutely get what you pay for, and with the full synthetic (vs conventional) you get way more protection, the shifting is smoother, and you will get a lot more longevitiy out of your car and its transmission. The same goes for the engine oil, I run Royal Purple 5w-30 full synthetic in the summer, 5w-20 full synthetic in the winter. It's a little more expensive but if you plan on getting years of reliability out of your car its worth it.

good information.

Great Info! Thanks ColonelSanders85. Mine is Auto.
There are no signs of such problems. Well maybe two days ago I noticed that it didn't shift to 4 as usual. It might be me being paranoid and that it is not related, but however, I did notice it only once in a cold morning.

Thanks again for your informative response, I appreciate it.

How about flushing Vs changing the filter and the fluid ? I'm kind of leaning to flushing, but still not sure.

Thanks. It's nice to be able to help people out. That's the only way we learn, by asking questions. I can't count how many times people here on the forum have helped me out of a bind with good tech info, not to mention saved me a ton of $ with DIY tips instead of taking to the stealership where they try to scare you into spending money on stuff you dont need.

Well if they have some special device to "power flush" the transmission, then I would say go ahead and do it this one time as long as they don't want to charge you a crazy amount for it, and get a new filter if it's required (again, im not that familiar with automatics). But make sure you ask for full synthetic transmission fluid. And next time in another 60,000 miles, you won't need to pay for the "flush", you can just get the fluid changed again.

I just hit 25k on mine, probably wouldnt do much for 30k service but I will just eyeball the fluids myself. I just changed my stock bridgestones out to kumho ast since I failed to do alignment at 10k after lowering the car. So the inner tires were shredded.

Anyways, I will probably do my tranny fluids when it is closer to 60k and keep changing my oil every 5k with syn mobil1 5w20. I hope the royal purple or eneos oil will go on sale soon so I can try those too..

how exactly did he check your tranny fluid if we have no dipstick? our trannys are sealed and thats why scheduled maintenance is every 30k miles. more then likely he was trying to get more money out of you because i highly doubt he drained your tranny fluid to tell you it was black.

even though he lied you definitaly should have changed the fluid already.

I want to say the sticker on the dipstick cap says you never have to change it like you do your oil. Only have it flushed with the machine at the specified intervals which vacuums out all of the old fluid while simultaneously pumping in fresh fluid. I change mine every 20k or so just because.

And it holding 3rd gear on cold mornings is normal. Mine does it too, although very rarely. I think it's because the transmission isn't at OT.

Um it does have a dipstick. That's how I refill mine every time I change the fluid.

lol i was going to say the same thing... no way he checked your fluid because you have no dipstick... doing the flush around 80k is about normal... that's what i usually recommend to people... remember most places won't flush over 100k. so do it before then... fyi you can do a drain and fill but i would recommend a flush..

Did they remove the dipstick after 06? Do M/T cars not have one? Mine sure does.

What do you guys think this is? The portal to Narnia?

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/4596/img012td.jpg

1. Didn't know he had an automatic

2. Manuals don't have dipsticks, so in essence my post was 100% informative to manual owners:icon_smile:

That's why reading the thread is important. :)

are you asking if you can take a short cut to narnia?, from inside your tranny.:lalala:

:D

so then basically what your sayin is that since I have an 05 manual I can't do it myself and have to take it somewhere because I don't have a dipstick? That sucks...

No with a manual, just drain the gear oil, than refill with the correct amount.

people get confused when they don't read...