My ATF flush and filter story of my new SVX
 

So after much research and contimplation I decided to give my newly aquired 233,000 kilometer SVX a transmission flush.

They were offering synthetic and also a semi synthetic ATF but I opted to just go with regular Dexron3 and the friendly tran-specialist dude even put in my lucas stop slip with out talking quackery about my special snake oil. He actually thought it wasn't a bad idea, the shop manager advisted me not to use lucas before I went into the garage. I watched the tech dude they whole time and he couldn't get over how thick it was lol. I was like "well man it wont take long for that stuff to heat up and thin out!
If they were offering a good brand name synthetic fluid at a more reasonable price I would have likely gone with it, what would you have chose?


I was considering just doing a fluid drain and refill and worry about changing the filter when I go to put a tranny cooler onto it.

I was debating to go with synthetic or not but it was like an extra $200 that I diddnt have yeah I think they overcharge big time on synthetic especialy for a generic brand.
Maybe i`ll get synthetic ATF in there when I install a tranny cooler.


I made sure they had the fluid transfer flush system that uses the car's own transmission pump to transfer. I went to a Tranmission specialty shop to get this done.

And at the same time found out a rear motormount is gone and they priced one up for me at around 100 bucks, i'll have to shop around and see how much they are going for. I diddn`t like how they kept `testing`my motor mounts thrashing my engine and drivetrain about repeatedly when it was obvious they mount was bad after the first couple rev tests.


So I believe it's the original tranny, and the filter and pan did reflect that.
The magnet on the pan was covered in metal particles about 3/4 of an inch high which was a rather gut churning sight. But not as bad as when he opened up the internal filter:)

The internal filter has filtered some small yet chunky bits of metal and there was also some nasty silicone in there.

The good news is that my ATF fluid before change diddnt smell burn but the color was not very lively. And after the flush the car seems to operate just fine, as it did when I brought it in there. It has a quick jerky shift into 2nd but it's not violent and I think thats just the nature of these trannys anyways. I know that my tranny is likely in it's final life stages but thats just a good reason to try to find a 5 speed into her.

http://usera.ImageCave.com/knowtion/...ATF-filter.jpg

http://usera.ImageCave.com/knowtion/...TF-filter2.jpg

http://usera.ImageCave.com/knowtion/...TF-filter3.jpg

So yeah I pray that this tranny will last as long as I need it to!

Re: My ATF flush and filter story of my new SVX
 

Mmmmm....looks tasty.

It's probably better that you didn't go with sythetic. As has been shown time and again, sythetic fluids in an older car will tend to leak. External leaks are one thing, it's obvious, but worse would be an internal leak. Tranny fluid could leak through the pinion seal into the front diff, or open up that seal enough to allow gear oil to move back into the tranny. Either case is a recipe for a cooked diff/tranny. (Best served with garlic mashed potatoes, maybe some asparagus)