How Many Have Never Changed Their Tranny Oil

[pastorscott]

As a point of interest: How many have never changed their tranny oil and lived to tell about it ?

I have been changing my tranny oil in all my cars since I was old enough to drive. I have never saved a tranny. I now have 42000 on my 04 burb and feel like saying. The heck with it, the more main I do, the better oil , plugs tires, filters, have never gained me any better life. Case in point: a Know people who dont do anything and there cars just keep on going. I guess at age 44 Im tired of being OCD about my cars, and wonder if its all in vain.

 

Scott

yes - I will not change my tranny oil at 42000 in fear in will for certain give me trouble after I mess with it.

Im free.............

[Jameson]

My 03 stratus R/T had 75K miles on i before I traded it in. The only thing I did was change the oil every 6-9K miles with some cheapo oil. Never did anything else. It ran great too! I do feel sorry for the poor bastard who buys it htough. LOL. Thats why ill never by used again. Now my new truck will be nothing like that, on time all the time. LOL.

[jrrod2004]

Dad never changed it in his 2001 Cavalier and now he is catching rides to work in my truck, his only had 67,000 miles on it when it died and he bought it brand new.

[Rocco715]

I have an 01 Dakota that i've heavily modded and drive the sh!t out of and didn't change the trans fluid until 131000 mi. just becuase I felt slight slipping here and there. It was originally my dads truck and he leased it but went way over the allowed miles so he bought it and gave it to me as a 16th birthday present. I changed it and put Royal Purple Max ATF fluid in it and smoothed out the shifts real nice. The metal on the magnet in the pan was so fine it was practically powdered graphite. I've also never changed the transfer case nor the differentials but i'll do that further down the road.

[Spoonman]

91 Honda Accord 125k

99 Honda accord 155k

96 Ford Ranger 140K

00 Issuzu Trooper 65K

03 Ford Expedition 65K

87 Pontiac Sunbird 140K

 

Vehicles I have owned and never changed Tranny fluid. Known history on all, never changed fluid and vehicles seem to run fine.

 

89 Chevy Camero 80K No service, fluid ran low/burned up and was slipping terrible when traded away.

 

Brother's 91 Chevy truck 4X4 needed rebuilt replacement every 65-75k reguardless of what he did.

 

I guess I just make sure it has fluid and that it smells/looks good.

[Woodcutter]

I've changed engine, transfer case, and differential oil, but never did a trans oil change. I figure that I'll have either the dealer or another shop change the trans fluid and filter around 50K on my new truck.

 

Probably the most convincing factor for me not having tried this is that it's too much oil to to splash/spray onto me while lying directly underneath the pan.

[hubbycap]

'95 1500, 345K Changed the engine oil religiously every 5K-15K miles, never had a valve cover off. The tranny has original '95 fluid in it. Rear end original dope. If I knew it was going to last this long I would have taken better care of it.

[defragme]

Had an 02 silverado, never changed the tranny oil, tranny failed at about 65k. Also had a predator programmer on it, so I dont know which, if either caused a problem. Maybe I was too rough on it. But either way I will not be buying a tuner for my new truck, and I will be having the tranny fluid changed at the reccomended miles.

 

My dad has always told me that he only changed the tranny fluid on 2 vehicles in his lifetime, and that the tranny failed on both of them almost no time after that. To me it just sounds like a myth that older people say, telling you it's bad to change the fluid.

[C & A s Dad]

Scott, it is your truck and you can do as you wish. IMO, you are making a mistake. It is not the fluid that would bother me so much, it is the filter. Most are a paper meida and simply are not made to last forever. They do get dirty and can eventually restrict flow. If nothing else, drop the pan, change the filter and refill it. I can assure you that if you have trans poblems on a truck with 42K on the clock after changing the filter and fluid, there were problems there to begin with.

[nccrew]

Well - I have owned many vehicles and only ever changed trans fluid on one (wifes expedition). Many of those vehicles clocked over 150k miles on original trans fluid, rear end fluid and brake fluid with no troubles with any of those parts. One was a 70 LT1 Camaro I owned in my early 20's...and let me tell you that was drove hard every time and never a problem.....probably some luck involved in this topic as well ;-)

[N4gkj]

I have owned chevy trucks/suv's since 1988.... i have changed the engine oil/filter every 3000 miles and the trans fluid AND filter every 35000 miles. I have never used synthetic products. i pull my boat around during the summer.. I have NEVER had a failure. Every truck/suv ran as good on the day i sold them as the day i bought them.

[silverad03]

If driven nicely, I'm amazed at the amount of neglect vehicles will sustain and keep kicking.

 

My dad used to change the motor oil in his and mom's vehicles about once a year. Occasionally, one of the vehicles might get a second oil change in the same year. Either way, it was always 10w-40 Quaker State. Transmission fluid was NEVER changed, trans filter was NEVER changed. Dad lost a transmission in the last two Explorers mom drove, but they had 150k miles or more when they choked. I bought the '92 off of them a couple years ago at 180k miles and it ran strong with barely a puff of smoke at startup. I changed the oil in the differentials and the transfer case when I brought it home and that was the first time it had ever been changed - it still ran strong though. I sold it shortly thereafter to upgrade to my truck.

 

I dropped the pan and changed the filter on the transmission in my '99 S-10 Extreme at about 85,000 miles due to delayed and weak shifts. The new filter and a little new fluid brought the tranny back to life. I sold it before it hit 100k miles, though.

 

I did a poor man's garage flush (at home, through aux cooler line) and changed the filter on the transmission in my current truck a few thousand miles ago at 80k. I could feel a difference afterward - it made the tranny run a little better. Knock on wood - so fa so good.

[slimjim2525]

My brother has a ford f-250 with 275,000 miles on it. He's a roofer and constantly is loaded to the top with shingles. He also pulls his race car around with a 24ft trailer every weekend. He has never changed the tranny fluid or diff fluid. The truck stll runs like a champ.

[cmoore74]

Dad never changed it in his 2001 Cavalier and now he is catching rides to work in my truck, his only had 67,000 miles on it when it died and he bought it brand new.

 

The cavalier transmissions are prone to failure. Unless it was low on fluid or he somehow managed to fry the fluid I doubt the failure was due to lack of maintenance.

 

I tow and that gives the tranny fluid a workout so I tend to change at the severe service interval. I have had vehicles (old beaters) that we only changed tranny fluid when the tranny failed which was not often (usually well over 100k miles). I want this one to last so I plan to change it as recommended.

[dreman]

I change the fluid in the pan every other oil change, and the filter every year or two. I put a drain plug in the trans. pan (never could get the factory plug out) and it's a simple procedure to change the trans. fluid that way. Keeps the fluid fresher, and isn't as likely to dislodge a bunch of crap at once like a flush. 270k on original trans. at this point.