Transmission flush, how often, how important?

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friendly_prawn, Feb 26, 9:15pm
I have a 1998 Falcon, auto, done 158,000 ks, and to my knowledge has never had a transmission flush.
Am I pushing my luck!

johnf_456, Feb 26, 9:18pm
Automatic or manual

friendly_prawn, Feb 26, 9:18pm
Auto.

friendly_prawn, Feb 26, 9:33pm
just rang garage. every 40,000 ks at a cost of $300 a pop.
I wonder how many actually bother to do this regularly!. Not many I'm betting!

friendly_prawn, Feb 26, 9:38pm
hmmm, just rang another place, $180! Thats nearly half!
Anyone got an idea of what is a realistic figure or why the big variance!

steve312, Feb 26, 9:40pm
Normally around $200 for a flush.

friendly_prawn, Feb 26, 9:42pm
Just got quoted $250 from another outfit but he says, its because they use a synthetic oil which is far better and makes the transmission shift better than the standard oil normally used.
lol, prices all over the place.

thejazzpianoma, Feb 26, 9:50pm
Very few bother to maintain their cars properly in NZ. They would much rather drive it until something expensive breaks due to lack of maintenance and then blame the badge on the front.

Good on you for getting on to this FP. Definitely money well spent, you can also do this yourself although with it only costing around $250 and still having to buy fluid you are not going to save a fortune. but you will save some.

friendly_prawn, Feb 26, 9:54pm
I dont maintain my cars to a very good standard unforutately jazz.But with the ks on this old girl and to my knowledge never having had one done before, I just cant help but wonder if Im pushing my luck if I dont. Would rather spring for a couple of hundred than a new transmission.

thejazzpianoma, Feb 26, 10:00pm
Wise thinking, its like I always tell people. Automatic transmissions are the mostly likely think to break on an older car and be financially un-viable to repair.

Have a look at the Citroen C5's with their horrible "sealed for life" nonsense transmission. Once the filter clogs up (typically around 140'000 - 240'000km depending on use they die off rapidly.

That same transmission if you bother to pull it apart and replace the filter and fluid on a regular basis will usually keep going pretty much indefinitely (from what I have heard those who have bothered to do this are yet to have a failure).

friendly_prawn, Feb 26, 10:11pm
cheers mate. You just pushed me in to making that phone call and booking it in. lol

nzoomed, Feb 26, 10:50pm
Thats the most i would pay, last time it cost me only around $120 and that was for a full service with new sump gaskets, fluid and and band adjustments etc.

casper35, Feb 26, 10:52pm
Oil changers did mine for 154.00.

friendly_prawn, Feb 26, 11:01pm
Hey cheers for that guys.
I had the one booked in for $250. I just rang and cancelled it after reading your guys comments. Will shop around.
Theres that one for $180. Problem is I dont know the garage so am a little worried about whether I can trust them. Might hold off and do a little home work on their reputation first.

jason18, Feb 26, 11:29pm
I do mine every 20kms in my falcon but I tow the 2t cherry picker everywhere and all the time so would rather not take a chance.

robotnik, Feb 26, 11:34pm
Do not use just any old ATF in your Falcon. The Falcon has an advanced BTR transmission which requires a highly friction modified fluid such as Castrol TQ 95. Using a cheaper fluid will reduce the life of your transmission.

steve312, Feb 27, 12:07am
And thats where a lot of the variation in price comes from.Some of the CVTs cost $60 a litre for fluid.

Most of the later model autos don't have bands anymore.Most have solenoid operated clutch packs.

richardmayes, Feb 27, 12:33am
And ironically. that really DOES seem to be an indictment on the badge on the front of the car!

I know the owners of plenty of Borg-Warner 35s and 65s that have been to the moon and back, ZERO maintenance beyond the occasional check of the dip-stick. Towing all manner of boats, caravans and rubbish trailers through the sixties, seventies AND eighties and right up until today. No breakages, no noises, no worries!

It's a pity they don't make transmissions like that anymore. Now, I hear some modern autos need to be plugged into a laptop every two years to stop them losing the plot.

gmphil, Feb 27, 12:46am
lol a manuals call a gearbox !

robotnik, Feb 27, 1:10am
A late model manual Ford Falcon would be a rarity.

steve312, Feb 27, 1:16am
Or transmission.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_(mechanics)

So, lol yourself.

intrade, Feb 27, 2:18am
you can do it your self if you got a clean enviroment like your fancy garage. but be prepaired to whipe a mess of the floor . it will cost you 3 bottles 15 literatf from supersheep 10$ for a cork gasket and about 26 to 45$ for a autotrans filter. and you can get instructions on how to do it from me but you got to find out if you have to adjust some bands or not on that transmission. total cost for diy will be 160 to 200$

intrade, Feb 27, 2:21am
yes got to be sure to get correct fluids if it isdextron then supersheep auto when they got a special otherwise all fluids and parts from automatic trans rebuild place i use local guy who tells me where and how to adjust transmissions on demand advanced automatic whangarei top guy gives out info without hisitation.

nzoomed, Feb 27, 5:16am
My 1967 wolseley landcrab has a borg warner 35 and it still goes like new and done well over 250,000k's i havnt even stripped the engine yet, ive had it serviced a few times, and the reverse band has almost worn right down to nothing and all the adjustment has been wound in as far as it goes, but it still drives fine, i wonder how much life it has yet!

unbeatabull, Feb 27, 5:53am
TO answer original question, due every 5 years or 90,000k's. They take TQ95 but Dexron-III can be used as well.

Ideally you would want to do the pan gasket and filter at the same time, be sure to know what's included in those quotes. A proper trans flush on those take around 14L of fluid.