Am I taking a huge chance doing a tranny fluid exchange on a 3.5L 04 Vue?

[Blue Goose]

About 116k on the Vue...almost all highway miles....fluid is not dark brown but maybe a light brown.

I have heard conflicting reports...some say do an exchange no problem, others saying you will destroy your transmission.

As I understand it, the exchange does not put any more pressure through the transmission any more than normal operation does. I'd really like to get all the fluid changed due to being about 17K over what Saturn recommends

Thoughts?


Goose

[1saxman]

The total fluid exchange machine uses the internal pump of the transmission to move the fluid, so there's no 'pressure' or 'flushing' taking place. They hook up to the flexible hoses carrying the fluid from the trans to the radiator. The pump pushes out the old fluid which pushes in the new fluid. When the old fluid starts to look like the new, it's finished. I don't know of any way this could harm your trans. If it worries you, have it done at the dealer. They couldn't do this if it was going to cost them a fortune fixing transmissions.

[Blue Goose]

How about the drain plug not being pulled on a exchange though..I've heard it is magnetic and collects a lot of crap on it...any concerns on not having this cleaned in 117k? Will the exchange of fluid push any of this crap off of the plug?


Goose

[Bill Murray]

I don't think an exchange will hurt anything.
But I am impressed you've gone that far on the original oil without trans problems.

Have you done the 100,000 mile cambelt change?

[Vue&SL1]

Take the plug off yourself and you'll get about four quarts out. Do this once, drive around awhile, do it again, rinse and repeat. Do this three times and you will get a great majority of fresh fluid in there. It is really easy (and I am not like most of these guys on here who are mechanically inclined). Simply wipe off your magnetic drain plug and you'll get this fine clay feeling sludge goop off of it.

Read my other post for the exact method I employed.

My local Saturn dealer AND my local Honda dealer both told me the same thing: "we will not use a machine to flush the transmission in that model of VUE". They went on to tell me that all they would do for a lot of money is do exactly what I explained to you above. And they would only drain it once and refill with the four quarts.

I am with Bill Murray in I believe it wouldn't hurt anything on the machine. Saturn and Hondas explanations is that the machine can disturb a certain seal within the transmission.

[Blue Goose]

Thanks for the advice guys...we did have the timing belt and spark plugs replaced about 2 months ago along with a new serpentine belt....we originally brought the Vue in because it would sometimes have a little hesitation if you were driving around 20-25 mph coasting a bit and gave it some gas..it would feel like it is was bogging down a bit...lifting off the gas and reapplying would seem to fix that issue


To this day we aren't sure what is causing it but it is not something you can recreate easily or at at least it doesn't happen on a regular basis. The wrench who worked on the belt etc said that it MIGHT be something tranny related....might...he wanted 280 dollars to replace the fluid which we vetoed pretty quickly. In any event that opened my eyes to "Holy Moly..we already have 117K in 3 1/2 years on this thing..I better get the fluid changed"

The tranny seems smooth although sometime putting it in reverse it will make a clunk

In any event I need to change it and would like totally new fluid in there given the age of the current stuff in there....I just don't want a failed tarnny 2 weeks from now! I've been told not to worry to much about maybe a tiny bit of other ATF fluid being in the machine that does the exchange(non Z stuff)

Concerns on that?



Goose

[Vue&SL1]

Thanks for the advice guys...we did have the timing belt and spark plugs replaced about 2 months ago along with a new serpentine belt....we originally brought the Vue in because it would sometimes have a little hesitation if you were driving around 20-25 mph coasting a bit and gave it some gas..it would feel like it is was bogging down a bit...lifting off the gas and reapplying would seem to fix that issue


To this day we aren't sure what is causing it but it is not something you can recreate easily or at at least it doesn't happen on a regular basis. The wrench who worked on the belt etc said that it MIGHT be something tranny related....might...he wanted 280 dollars to replace the fluid which we vetoed pretty quickly. In any event that opened my eyes to "Holy Moly..we already have 117K in 3 1/2 years on this thing..I better get the fluid changed"

The tranny seems smooth although sometime putting it in reverse it will make a clunk

In any event I need to change it and would like totally new fluid in there given the age of the current stuff in there....I just don't want a failed tarnny 2 weeks from now! I've been told not to worry to much about maybe a tiny bit of other ATF fluid being in the machine that does the exchange(non Z stuff)

Concerns on that?



Goose

Saturn and Honda both state not to use a machine to flush the tranny. I just mentioned to you that my local Saturn AND Honda will not perform a flush even if I tell them to. Not following their recommendation is up to you. No offense, but it seems like you are shopping around your problem until someone says it won't hurt the tranny to flush it. Honda engineering has told their techs that the proper way to exchange fluid is to do a drain and fill x 3.

[Blue Goose]

Well yes and no I guess...I'm really looking for some advice maybe from someone who has done the exchange and has not had an issue....2 Honda dealers in my area...one will do the exchange although they won't do it on a Saturn....the other will just do a drain and fill...so I guess it depends what Honda dealer you talk to



Goose

[spencerb]

The recommended procedure is to drain and refill a few times.

I have heard on older Hondas (my 1990 Accord in particular) that changing the fluid on a high-mileage tranny can be bad if regular, scheduled changes had not been done. My tranny was slipping and I was told to just let it be. It never got worse, and the car had 160K when we sold it. My wife's 1998 Civic, however, had problems with it winding out the gears. Changing the fluid every 30K helped (it had high mileage).