Transmission Flushes or Transmission Fluid Changes in Orange Park, FL
Changing the Fluid:
While both automatic and manual transmission vehicles utilize transmission fluid, the most commonly used fluid is Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF). ATF is typically manufactured with a refined mixture of base oil and a combination of additives. These additives work with the oil to create the proper lubrication needed for many essential mechanical & hydraulic elements throughout the transmission.
While both automatic and manual transmission vehicles utilize transmission fluid, the most commonly used fluid is Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF). ATF is typically manufactured with a refined mixture of base oil and a combination of additives. These additives work with the oil to create the proper lubrication needed for many essential mechanical elements throughout the car.
First and fore most At Transmission Hero, become familiar with your car’s manufacturer-provided owner’s manual. The manual will give you the most basic guidance for how often you should change the transmission fluid, which type of fluid to use with the vehicle, and other information that may be pertinent to your vehicle.
Many experts generally recommend a transmission fluid replacement every 35,000 to 60,000 miles depending on your driving behaviors. When your vehicle is used in hot or cold climates, hilly terrain, stop and go traffic, to tow or carry heavy loads, or if you plan on keeping your vehicle for mileage more than 100,000 miles, you will want to change your fluid and change it more often in order to keep it clean and fresh even if you use a synthetic “lifetime” marketed transmission fluid. At Transmission Hero one of our professional technician’s can help you get an idea as to the current state of your transmission fluid, any issues related to the transmission, and help inform you what is the best course of action for your vehicle. All vehicle owners should make sure to add transmission fluid checks to your regular maintenance. Transmission Hero’s position is that a fluid change is part of regular transmission maintenance. It's only useful for increasing transmission life if it's done every year - or even every other year - as part of a regular maintenance routine. Performing a fluid exchange on an older unit that's never been serviced, or as a heroic attempt to salvage a transmission that's beginning to fail, isn't something Transmission Hero recommends. At Transmission Hero, we recommend changing all your fluids for transmission, transfer case, & differentials at least once a year or every 15,000 thousand miles minimum or max of 30 thousand miles depending on the type of fluids you use.
It's the Customer's Gamble, Not the Shop's. It's no great surprise that a consumer might want to try a service or a flush when his or her transmission's act's up or begin's to have problems. A fluid change costs a lot less than a transmission repair or a transmission rebuild.
Because transmission fluid does more than just lubricate and cool the transmission it has friction modifiers in it, detergent additives, anti foaming agents, & conditioners to help keep molded pistons and seals soft and pliable. But as the fluid wears, a process called shear reduces the protection capacity of these additive's & normally after 25, 000 miles wear out and lose there strength in helping the fluid keep the transmission protected. As the transmission fluids lose's these additive's the transmission fluid is severely burnt or varnished by the way transmission fluid doesn't burn it smells burnt from clutch's & seals, or the transmission is slipping just a bit & begins to wear which discolors the fluid with burnt clutch material and seals that can not hold up do their not being protected basically lack of maintenance from servicing it properly not being protected. So changing the fluid might buy some time before a rebuild is necessary but normally will not help the problem.
The problem is things could go the other way. In fact, changing the fluid on an older, worn transmission can actually cause the transmission to fail or to shift worse than the older fluid. There are a few reasons this can happen:
• New fluid has new detergent additive's basically a solvent or cleaning agent, cleaning away built-up clutch material and varnish from worn valves and passages. The newly cleaned surfaces begin to leak or bypass the built up area's causing even more bypass of fluids in pistons and servo's , causing additional damage from the lack of pressure, making the simple job of changing the transmission fluids into a larger service problem or worse complete failure in the transmission, and the liability is pushed on the shop for trying to help fix a transmission problem with a service or flush when that hard earned money can be used to fix the real problems.
• This cleaning process can also displace the built-up clutch material and varnish in the transmission and move it to a different location … in the valve body one where it's more likely to cause the transmission to fail. It can even clog the filter, preventing the transmission from moving at all.
• New fluid is usually less viscous - thinner - than the old contaminated transmission fluid which over time is thicker more dense. So the new fluid is more likely to leak past worn sealing rings and valve passages , molded pistons , & servo's than the old fluid creating instant pressure changes for old seals and pistons.
How can the technician or shop owner tell whether a transmission fluid exchange will help an older worn transmission, or cause it to fail? He can't… no one can. It's a gamble… a crapshoot. Either the transmission will work better… or it'll fail miserably. The important point to remember is it's the customer's gamble, not the shops. If the customer wants to try changing the fluid for a smaller amount of money to pick up a little more time out of a transmission, the customer has to accept the risk. Not the shop. Because the customer is the one who's going to reap the benefits if it works.
Transmission Hero’s position is that a fluid change is part of regular transmission maintenance. It's only useful for increasing transmission life if it's done every year - or even every other year - as part of a regular maintenance routine. Performing a fluid exchange on an older unit that's never been serviced, or as a heroic attempt to salvage a transmission that's beginning to fail, isn't something Transmission Hero recommends. At Transmission Hero, we recommend changing all your fluids for transmission, transfer case , & differentials at least once a year or every 15,000 thousand miles minimum or max of 30 thousand miles depending on the type of fluids you use.
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