Yesterday I called around to different shops to get a quote on having all of my fluids changed in my car. I was shocked to see how expensive it is to have your oil, trans, pw st., brakes, and coolant changed. The lowest quote I got was for 300. One shop said to check to see if my transmission fluid even needed changing so I went into the engine bay to full the trans. fluid dipstick and to my suprise there wasn't one. I looked in my manual to see if it said where it was and the manual told me the Manual transmission fluid doesn't need to be changed? Does anyone know why or if I should change it anyway since I have no idea how long it's been since the last time it was changed? It would save me a lot of money if I don't need to have them change it.

 

Well you should have a transmission fluid dipstick. The handle for it is red and its on the passanger side of the engine bay towards the back.

Whether transmission fluid should be changed is actually debatable. You will find a majority of people telling you that you should change it if it appears dark and loses any resemblance of its original pinkish color, but some will actually say that changing it may damage your transmission. Not long ago, when I started suspecting slippage in my transmission I started asking around about this. What I read on some sites, and later confirmed with my mechanic is that generally cars under about80,000 wouldn't get hurt from a tranmission fluid flush. Thus, if the fluid is dirty a change would be recommended. Now if you have more miles, especially more than 100k (like in my case), and the transmission fluid has never been changed before, then the flush is actually not recommended because you might end up with a transmission that is slipping even more than it was before. The reason for that is that supposedly the old transmission fluid that's been in the tranny for years and has collected the metal dust from the friction of all the parts has a different viscosity and "grip" than the fresh new fluid. So there have been cases where people took their cars to the shop to get a trans fluid flush and ended up having to tow it to a transmission shop for a tranny rebuild.

My personal advice would be to actually check out the fluid. If you see any bubbling on it, or notice any signs on it burning then forget about a flush - that wouldn't save you anymore: just ride it out until it breaks on you, like I did. If the fluid seems fine but just a dirty and the car shifts perfectly fine and there haven't been any problems with the tranny, go ahead and flush it.

 

A manual trany may not have a dip stick it could only have a fill point and drain hole. Also it will probaly not use trany fluid but might use oil if im not mistaken.

 

Right, didn't think he has a manual, lol.

 

I had to read it a few times too.

 

Yeah sorry about the confusing explanation but I was in a hurry to post it because I was leaving. So my car manual says that on a 3.8L manual transmission you shouldn't change the fluid. I wasn't sure that's why I asked and thanks for your guys help. Saved me about 120 bucks

 

5 speed on the V6s use Dexron III or better ATF. 3.5 qts.

Generally doesn't need changed unless you had to drain it for something else (like taking it off to get to the internal slave cylinder on the 98+ 'maros. Ask me why I know, go ahead).

 

we know what the perpose of trany fluid is and what it does.

protects ageanst heat and where.

well all oil(even tranny oil) has memorie elements.

once your trans wheres into its pattern you will start to notice a truns a little diff. in collor. such a a slite metalic in the red. those are little peices of mettle from your trans. beilive it or not it helps the trans geears from wearing even more. the little chunks of metal that are in there and people tell you is bad, ar actually good.

so for anyreasy you need to change the trans never NEVER drain it all the way. always loeave a little bit in so you dont loose the metal particals.

clearly engine oil is a little diff. story.

thats never good to have matal particals in there.
only reason you would need to change the fluid is if you swap motors burn clutch etc.

 

I realize this is an old post revival, so not expecting feedback from the OP.
Now that's something I never heard of before, as far as a manual transmission oil never wanting to be changed. (Unless you didn't realize that this thread was about manual trans oil)? Yes, it could be risky changing the fluid in a high mileage automatic trans, almost for the reasons you give (the existing grit in the fluid adds traction to the clutches).
But in contrast, I don't see the harm at all in doing a complete oil change in a manual trans. If what you say is true about the metal particles being good for gears, then somebody is missing out on a good bet. Sell a bottled metal shaving/sludge mixture and market it as a life prolonging gear additive. I'll stick with synthetic oil for mine, thanks!

 

this is the ultimate old wives tale of transmission mechanics. Metal shavings show wear which is bad. You need to change out fluid to get more grip to reduce wear. Now, if the ATF you put in your vehicle is high in friction modifiers, then it may slip worse. If it is slipping worse, then put a percentage of Type F fluid to increase grip. If you never change out ATF, then that crappy stock fluid will ruin your transmission before 150k miles.

I know this is digging up a dead thread, but I was doing a search for information and had to put this out there for others using the search tool for research. :-)