Transmission flush: Possible problems afterwards?

[guido4475]

So I am in Franklin, Ky, and after the Wal-Mart run I decide to stop at this transmission shop close by, to see how much they charge to do a transmission flush, and what all is included. $225.00, he says, but since it hasn't been done in like 175,000 miles to the best of my knowledge, (Van had 123,000 when I bought it and the dealer I bought it from says they did it, but I'm sure they didn't, and it now has close to 280,000 on it now.) he says I am better off not getting it done and just going with it since the detergents in the new fluid will wipe everything out as soon as they back it off of the rack. Anyone hear of this? Oh yea- the price was for just dropping the pan, changing the filter and replacing the lost fluid. He says you will never get all of the old fluid out of the torque converter.Was he being overly honest, or just not wanting to do the job? I've never heard of this, but ya never know. Transmission operates fine, just want to do some preventative maintenance, that I've been wanting to do for a long time now, but it's always a a case of something gets in the way of getting it done...any ideas?

 

[highway star]

Some torque converters have a drain plug, or it can be possible to draw out the fluid. As long as the fluid doesn't look burnt, there's probably nothing to worry about if you change it. There are those that say as long as the fluid looks good, there's no reason to change it. I did a filter change once a year on my van, never did a flush. I had to have the trans rebuilt at around 475k. I've heard of folks that never touched it at all and went more miles than I did with no problem.

So, there you have it. The definitive answer.

 

[Slo-Ride]

A quick read for ya. Maybe it will help.
Transmission Maintenance

 

[Turtle]

Good into at Slo's link. And as Star said, as long as the fluid isn't dark and burned, there's probably nothing to worry about if you change it. If it's dark and burned, I wouldn't change it (like they say in the link, if it's burned then it's too late). If it looks good, I would change it.

I got 372,000 on my original transmission, and changed it every 80,000 miles. Now with this new one (currently has 133,000 on it), as per Silverstar, I change it every 30,000 miles, usually closer to 25,000.

If you have it flushed, it should only be flushed by one of those machines that uses it's own external pump motor, rather than using the vehicle's running engine to move to the fluid. The self-contained external machines can do a forward as well as a back flush (which cleans out the filter), while the vehicle's own pump can only forward flush. If the machine can't do a back flush, you want the pan dropped and filter changed.