So I'm going through every single thing on my new-to-me EX (2004 V10) and making sure everything is working properly and maintained properly and I am looking at my transmission. The previous owner said the the EX was used as a family hauler and never towed anything, I have a lot of maintenance documents for the vehicle but 90% of them are just oil changes and tire rotations and I don't see anything about transmission fluid changes. I contacted the previous owner and he said that he did not know if the fluid had ever been changed, his wife just took it to their mechanic and pretty much whatever he said needed to be done they did. So I've got an EX with 181k on it and I have no idea if the transmission fluid has ever been changed ( much less the differentials or transfer case, but that's happening soon either way).

First, let me state that I am somewhat colorblind so I have no idea if the pictures are red, red/brown, or brown....hence why I'm asking you lol.

This is what my transmission fluid currently looks like





The smell to me has a slight gas smell nothing strong, definitely doesn't smell burnt. When operating the vehicle the transmission shifts really smoothly between gears, no jerking or noise at all. I have no reason at this time to suspect that there is any issues with my transmission at all, which brings me to my questions.

I have heard (and read) that on high mileage vehicles that have not been serviced properly it is not a good idea to go messing with things or things go boom. In my field of expertise (HVAC) I've seen this with motors that fail when you clean the blower wheel and it changes what the motor was used to (amps, rpm, physics, etc...). I certainly do not want this to happen to my transmission! From what I have read a flush would be a bad idea at this point. I can't find a single source that suggests flushing a transmission that the service is way overdue or flushing hasn't been regularly done.

So it boils down to do I drop the pan and change the filter and fill it back up and start doing that every so often, or do I let sleeping dogs lie? My gut tells me to drop and change and do so every 5k miles until I put about 25k miles on it then start doing it every 15k miles but avoid flushing at this point. I just don't want to stir up a hornets nest is all lol.

Oh and it will take me a year to put 5k miles on this EX and the only thing I will be towing is a 16' fiberglass bass boat. So....thoughts?

 

Do the flush here are the step-by-step instructions.

As you mentioned with the other items transfer case and diffs you will now have a base line going forward.

 

Sounds like you drank the cool aid.
Flush it and put new fluid in it and change the filter.

I would also put new transwer case, front and rear end fluids in along with a power steering flush.

Plus I woud flush brake fluid too.

 

I second this! Makes a HUGE difference, especially if it has never been done before. If you have an air compressor, buy the $25 Harbor Freight power bleeder and it is a simple, one man job that you can do in an hour.

 

It's an old wives tale, if your trans fails after a fluid change it was on its last legs anyway. However if your trans is acting fine now, you really don't have a whole lot to worry about.

Personally, that fluid looks a bit dark for my liking. I'd anticipate a good bit of material in the pan around the magnet.

When I acquired my X it had 183,xxx on it. I did a full flush, it was perfectly fine. Decent amount of crap around the magnet in the pan, but still kept on trucking. The only reason it started slipping at 240-ish is I nearly doubled the engine power.

 

If the trans was neglected but never towed with, a fluid change may help. But, if it was overheated several times, the fluid seems like it, and you add extra stress via towing/HP, you could be in for trouble.....ask me how I know. It can be a hefty price tag, I paid $2500 (billet convertor and many upgrades [standard]) but I have piece of mind that its new and ready to go for another 200K miles.....meaning I wont be stranded. I thought about being stranded (again) with a trailer on a highway, or on the way to a hockey tournament in the Sault.......and yeah, I spent the money.

Have it rebuilt/replaced and forget about it. Also, put a temp gauge and the big cooler on it.

Other people will say Im wrong, I dont care.....where were they when I was stranded??

 

Ok looks like I'll be doing a flush then using the walk through that mecdac posted. I don't trust anyone else to do it right. Planned on doing both differentials and the transfer case at the same time. Might as well do the power steering and brakes all in one go as well. Lucky me my work has a truck garage with a lift to make things easier on my back

Hopefully the myth will stay a myth...I don't plan on increasing the power at all and I drive like an old man on a Sunday drive.

While I understand where you are coming from, I'm not going to drop $2500 for no reason other than the color of some oil. I'd chalk the color up to the fact that it's probably 12 years old with 181,XXX miles on it rather than to some damage that can't be felt or smelt at this point.

If my trans was giving me an inclination of a problem I might consider it but since it shifts smoothly, my towing is restricted to a light weight boat for the foreseeable future and I literally drive less than 5000 miles a year with 95% of those trips being less than 30 minutes drive time....I'll just start budgeting for repairs down the road.

Then again, I could drop the pan and be like and take you up on that advice

 

I don't like the color shown, looks a little tired to me. I agree with the flush recommendations above as long as it is currently shifting and performing well.
With your planned annual mileage and usage, I would think a fresh start with all new fluids should keep you and your EX happy for a long time.

 

In my X, before the tune, it shifted like crap when getting on it. It would lurch and jump into the next gear(not always). It still did it when I used the SCT "stock" tune that came with the X4 ... But since I loaded up the 5 Star 87 Performance tune, the transmission seems calmed down.

The reason I am saying this is I am not sure if I have a transmission problem or not, since the tune seemed to take care of it...

 

Which has absolutely nothing to do with OP or any relevance to the other eight posts.

 

I am sorry, I thought high mileage transmission service WAS the topic of the thread. I was pointing out that the tune changed my idea that there was something wrong. But I am not sure so thought I'd put it out there. If this is gonna be the attitude here, I can move along. I am currently saving for the fluid so I can flush it.

This is now the 2nd time someone other than a mod has taken issue with whether or not I am on topic. Either report it or leave it alone, it really isn't any of your concern.

 

Well here's where the rubber meets the pavement.

Charly, it looked like you were hijacking the thread from the OP with the way your post was worded. It's all good, no worries. Mark was just trying to get you to not detract or cause to branch off from the OP's problem.

Was he kind of blunt? Yeah. But he meant well, and...well...we're men, so you know we can "be like that" without any intention to "be like that" ya know?

Stewart

 

why not assume the best of a comment, rather than the worst?

I suppose I could type more info to justify my post(in this case that I am in the same boat, deciding whether to do a transmission flush) in each thread, but it would be nice if that weren't necessary.

 

In the interim PM sent to ameliorate Charley's butt hurt feelings.


Yes, I prefer brevity over longevity.

If I can use two 3 syllable words over three 2 syllable words I will always choose one 6 syllable word.

- mecdac

 

I bought my Ex with 203k on the clock. I didn't have any service records to indicate if the transmission was serviced prior or not. The fluid wasn't terribly dark in color but there was a very slight burnt smell. Of course my mechanic says "don't change it, it might not make it off the lift". So I didn't. And less then 2 months later reverse went out and I spent $1,800 rebuilding it with a slight upgrade. Had u chanhed the fluid would it have lasted a little longer? Maybe but not much as the way it failed was most likely from abuse by the previous owner. My point is, change it or not, if it's been abused it most likely won't go that much longer either way so you have nothing to lose by changing the fluid now and hoping for the best. And even if it hasn't been abused, 180k is still a lot so don't bet on it lasting another 180k.