Mechanic installed a new filter, that's square in shape, he had bought 1 that O'Reilly's suggested which was sort of rectangular made by the brand Wix

So after going to another O'Reilly's while the red Tiger was on a hyraulic jack, it was installed successfully and she runs smoother

After he drained the transmission oil, he showed me that it was dark in color, it should be an apple juice lighter color, and based on the color and the pan which he showed me collected the trans. fluid/oil, there's a "magnet" inside that pan which draws heavier objects to it,

it had more viscosity or thickness of fluid in that magnet area of the dump pan

It was nearing it's time for a transmission service he said

Once the fluid stinks, he told me, it's irreversible, and that's the time that no one should do any transmission service

My car is an auto trans. so cars with a stick shift might experience more problems with the transmission and the darkening of its fluid etc., gunk building etc

So she's good for another 30,000 miles (by that time, I'd have upgraded my ride) to a more modern 80 k miles Camaro latest gen. with auto transmission (current gal is 151k miles)

I have to be grateful she made it so far, lol....after all her trials & tribulations...

Thanks everyone and hopefully this was helpful to others.

 

If you pull the dip stick and wipe it on a paper towel is the fluid clean and the lighter color? Did he tell you that he only replaced 5 of the 16 quarts in the transmission? That means 2/3rds of the bad fluid is still in there. 30,000 miles service interval is if you tow a trailer in stop start traffic, in the desert heat, up and down hills. I have only known one truck I would have recommend a 30,000 mile service on, It was a big block 454 3500HD dually that spent its life in a rock quarry hauling rocks all day, Big rocks.

You are not really changing the fluid as much as you are changing the filter for the fluid. If the car shifts the same as it did before your filter was not blocked. If it shifts faster and crisper then the filter was partially blocked. If it takes longer to shift then the filter is not installed correctly.

Transmissions can be flushed but that can cause all kind of issues if you start pushing fluid in and out of the valve body and a valve get stuck you just bricked your car.

GM does say 30,000 to 100,000 miles for the trans service intervals. With 30,000 being the hardest used. That is a terrible way to judge how hard a transmission was use. Driving at cruising speed has almost no wear and adds very little heat to the transmission, the wear and heat comes from getting 3500 lbs moving from a dead stop. So I had a 2000 Camaro I drive 100 miles per day. I live 1.5 miles from the turnpike and my work is about 2 miles from the same turn pike. I get on the turnpike hit the cruise control. All told the car is running hour and 40 minute a day. Base on 30,000 miles I have to change my fluid every 300 trips (year and a half). The guy that works next to me live on the other side of the city he also takes drives 1 hour and 40 minutes but only covers 30 miles each day all stop and start driving. He never gets over 40 miles per hour. According to the 30,000 mile service he needs to service his transmission every 1000 trips (2 and a half years). I start and stop 5 times each way. When I asked him how many times he stops and starts he had no clue but 5 times does not even get him out of his development. He said if he had to guess 40 stops and starts each way.

FYI Many manual transmission have no way to change the fluid. There is no drain plug. Most of us change it when we replace the clutch. Same with the rear end.

 

Thanks for your input, as always it's enlightening

Say, I bought the car in 2012 which is what I did, at 130 k miles,

Say, in theory, the 1st original owner drove her up to 70,000 miles & a family emergency happened where he needed to sell the car and before he did, before that emergency he had a transmission service at 60,000 miles (because the 2nd owner who sold it to me, said it looked like this 1st owner baby-ed her & took good care of her),

and then 10,000 miles later, he needed to bring together some money after this family emergency

So, let's say, he sold it to the 2nd owner at 70,000 miles when times suddenly became tough

So, let's say the 2nd owner, never had transmission service.... When he sold it to me at 130,000 miles (70,000 + 60,000 = 130,000 miles)

I the new owner of this 2 owner 4th gen. auto transmission don't know it's history, so I added 21,000 miles and it's now 151,000 miles)

So in theory, she might have not had a trans. svc from 2012 to 2023 (11 years)...and at 70,000 miles plus 21,000 miles = 91,000 miles (with out any transmission service)

So, I do and have done *a lot * of stop & go driving, I mostly drive on surface street in So. Cal, and it's hot & dry here much like your desert scenario, (I do this because after an injury, I can't drive on the highways)

So, in theory, she hadn't had a transmission service since 2012 (11 years) and hadn't had one for 91,000 miles)

That satisfies the below criterion:

copy & paste from google: (start quote): Every 30,000 to 60,000 miles
Every 30,000 to 60,000 miles is best, and that equates to roughly every 2 to 4 years. If you have an automatic vehicle, then it's then you'll most likely be safe to only bring your vehicle for a service on your transmission every 4 to 7 years

(end quote)

The fluid he might have checked at the dip stick, but also showed me the drain in the pan: it was a dark urine color

The fluid, he said should be a nice apple juice color

There are no sounds after he changed the oil & put in a new filter, but it took a while to get the transmission filter (for a 1993 camaro, v-6, 3.4l, auto trans.) as some of the employees at the auto parts store, sold him the wrong type of trans. filter. It was rectangular, a Wix brand, it should've been square to fit right / fit correctly.

So, I hope I haven't been bamboozled?

I want to err on the side of being safe, than sorry. He did right by me the last 6 x I employed this mobile mechanic, including getting me out of a frayed battery wire jam on my birthday last year, putting the serpetine fan belt back after it was taken off by my supposed ase certifed former mechanic neighbor last year)

I don't think he tried to trick me into something totally unnecessary)

Thanks, again...any more input is always welcomed, Gorn.

 

You where not bamboozled. IMO the whole service of the transmission is no different then everything else on the car, but again my opinion. People assume since it is part of the drive line its like the motor and has to be changed at certain intervals. Many mechanics believe this also. The reason you have to change your engine oil is because of heat and the carbon that blows by the rings contaminate it. The oil sees extreame heat, it is what cools the pistons and cylinder wall, 350 degs is not uncommon. I know your engine may never say more than 180 degs on the gage but right at the piston it gets hot. The heat can burn the oil. This require oils to have additives to slow down the heat damage/break down process of the oils. Due to the additive you can not have a supper fine filter. This means it needs to be changed. More so as the motor gets older. Unless you race/tow 3000 miles even on a older motor is fine.

Transmissions fluid is just hydraulic fluid. It has no where near the additives and it should not see temps over 200 degs F unless something is wrong. It has a job of lubricating internal parts but unless it is a heavy use transmission its very rare to see an automatics transmission fail for a lack of lubrications. The black and shinny stuff in the pan is normal wear on the clutches. In most cases a single filter can keep this material out of the system over the life of a car. As a transmission nears the end of its life the filter can struggle keeping the fluid clean. Someone that knows what he is looking for can detect burnt fluid and knows how dark is too dark. Keep in mind the fluid you are checking on the dip stick and in the pan is before it is filters. One thing to think about, if GM engineers are so worried about changing transmission fluid why is there no drain plug? Why not redesign the filter so it could be changed easily? Imagine how often oil would get changed if you had to remove the oil pan and replace the oil pan gasket every time.

Have you changed you power steering fluid or you rear end oil? How about flushing the brake system. Power steering fluid does not have a filter and sees almost the same use as the transmission fluid. Flushing the brake system is a real service that should be done every 3 years. The brake fluid will absorb moisture, that moisture can boil and cause air in the line under hard braking.

I drive manuals but my wife has a 2014 Chey Transverse. While under warranty I did not even check the trans fluid. I had extended the warranty to 80K miles. Now when I change the engine oil I check the transmission fluid. It is just over 100K I will most likely upgrade her daily in the next year or two. I have no intension of changing the transmission fluid before that unless I see a reason on the dip stick or have a leak at the pan.

Now when I say there is to high a risk of causing a problem I am looking at everything as a whole. Even if GM designed a system with a drain plug and a filter that was easy to get to someone would mess it up. The quickly oil change places screw up oil changes all the time, They forget to put oil back in, cross thread the plug ect. So maybe what I was seeing was that.

 

Never trust Google unless you verified by some other means. If you still have the owners manual in your glove box it gives you GM's recommendation. They suggest 15K if it is towing, police car, taxi or driving mountains. 100k if it is not doing any of those things. They make no mention that I have seen about time. Like I said before using "Miles" is a bad way to judge wear and tear on a transmission but if you can not tell by looking at the fluid it is all we have.

 

ok thanks for your 2 most recent replies

so at worst, if it was done early, i gave him "goodwill" for future jobs, so as he will find space for me if he's too busy and i need urgent repairs (glad i wasn't selectively scammed)

as far as the manual, it's what Craby was kind enough to post, the F body manual for pontiacs, camaro's etc., which i downloaded already - dont have it in my glovebox

thannx again