Transmission fluid never changed...

[Swordfish]

I'll admit in this area I am not familiar, but I figured I'd toss this out and see what feedback/suggestions would be. I was talking to someone who has a Corolla that is approx. 11 years old and around 116,000 miles. The car has had routine service, however; I don't believe they ever changed the transmission fluid. My past cars I never changed it myself personally, but he's asking if it should be changed ?

What's the best option ? I would guess definitely not a flush, but a filter replacement and fluid change. For me if it's not broken don't fix it, but since I got the question I thought I'd pass it along.

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[Rickmeister 48]

I'll admit in this area I am not familiar, but I figured I'd toss this out and see what feedback/suggestions would be. I was talking to someone who has a Corolla that is approx. 11 years old and around 116,000 miles. The car has had routine service, however; I don't believe they ever changed the transmission fluid. My past cars I never changed it myself personally, but he's asking if it should be changed ?

What's the best option ? I would guess definitely not a flush, but a filter replacement and fluid change. For me if it's not broken don't fix it, but since I got the question I thought I'd pass it along.

This is first hand experience. I had a 95 acclaim, had no idea what had been done to it. I had just started doing a lot of work myself on it. I read up how to change the fluid and filter,was very easy so no problems. Next thing I know,about a week later, I had a leak coming from a seal that was going to require the transmission to be dropped to fix. I had no leaks prior to that. For some reason, I called Pennzoil,as I had used their atf fluid to make sure I hadn't done something wrong. The guy asked me a few questions and ended up saying that if I wasn't sure it had ever been changed before, I would have been better off not doing it. He said that junk could have been built up in there and was plugging any leaks or worn seals,and that the new,clean fluid probably cleaned it all out and unplugged the leak.
Thankfully, and this sounds weird,but the car got totalled about three weeks later, I got three grand for it and ended up getting a newer toyota tercel in way better shape for 1400.00.
Sold the tercel for 1800.00,and bought my civic
Anyway, what the guy at Pennzoil said made sense and heard from other guys the same afterwards.

 

[charleswrivers]

Leaks can happen. Typically you're ok if you do just a drain and fill, as it won't dislodge anything stopping a leak.

If you had a heavy vehicle or (obviously) one that tows... regular fluid changes would be important as the ATF breaks down when it gets hot and isn't effective. On a light car, it tends not to do it so much. I'd change it if I were you, but that's just me. I've opened up ATs before and replaced solenoids and changed gaskets, so... while it sucks... it wouldn't be something that would keep me from doing it.

Some trannys have a screen mesh filter thats internal that need not be changed. Others have more of a *filter* that's external that doesn't hurt to change. Otherwise it's draining and filling. You oughta be able to find out the expected drain volume... but ~3 qts is pretty standard. About 1/3 of the total ATF volume or so. You do them in periodicity and change just a portion at a time. You can do 3x drain and fills, or remove a hose and try to get more out. I just do 1 drain fill when the MM tells me on my Odyssey... around ever 30k miles. I have seen some cars be 60k... 100k. Some claim to be 'lifetime' but fluid always breaks down eventually and even those lifetime fluid-filled trannys still have a drain plug and fill port.

 

[Swordfish]

I generally have not done mine in the cars in the past and that's what I recommend to him as well since it has not been done before. I will change the cvt fluid on the Civic though. I've heard about it not being done and even after a filter and fluid replacement the transmission starts leaking and slipping. Plus he said everything is fine which made me to err on the side of just leaving it alone

 

[latole]

I'll admit in this area I am not familiar, but I figured I'd toss this out and see what feedback/suggestions would be. I was talking to someone who has a Corolla that is approx. 11 years old and around 116,000 miles. The car has had routine service, however; I don't believe they ever changed the transmission fluid. My past cars I never changed it myself personally, but he's asking if it should be changed ?

What's the best option ? I would guess definitely not a flush, but a filter replacement and fluid change. For me if it's not broken don't fix it, but since I got the question I thought I'd pass it along.

Other car in the family is 2007 Corolla with MT with 135 ,000 miles
We never change any fluid except engine oil. Car work better than when it was new.
Start at -12F with no help, no block heater and with original battery

Is Civic is more "fragile" ?

 

[charleswrivers]

I'd be less worried about the gear oil for the MTs than ATF. Still I hear about tons of small cars with ATs that's go their whole life w/o a change. For the heavy things like my Odyssey that has the Accord's AT... or the vehicles I've had that I've pulled at the limit of their capacity for thousands of miles, their ATF goes quick. It's obviously run hot when it's changed.

Gear oil can make a big difference in ease of shifting a MT... but I'd be comfortable changing it more based on shifting performance on a small car. Butter smooth shifts with easy downshifts that cold weather doesn't affect? I'd leave it. If not... then I'd change it regardless of age/mileage.

A 10 year battery BTW is a rare occurrence. Most won't do 2x beyond their prorate. Might want to get it checked for it's cranking capacity. I have my own tester (really just a resistor bank). I don't play around with weak batteries that could get me stranded. If it's at an *exceptional* 10 years... there is waaaay less days ahead than behind. I've never had a flooded lead acid go past 5 years in the FL/GA heat, and heat raises the grid corrosion and lowers the life rapidly. VRLAs can last longer, based on them being essentially acid deficient with doesn't tend to wreck them on a deep discharge so you don't get a reversed cell... but their plates still corrode and break down just like their flooded counterparts.

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