I am caught between a rock and a hard place on this issue and need members advice pro or con. My T5 has 100K on it and the tranny
has never been flushed,the fluid is a light brown in colour with just a slight smell of burnt paper.When I ask the local tranny shop he advises against it saying that the new fluid being highly detergant will disolve some build-up of lacquers in the tranny thus possibly gumming up the valve body.Then I read on this forum that it it quite an exceptacle practice,thus my confusion.Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.
glenn

 

I did mine for the first time that I know of at 120K and have not had any problems. What I did was jack the car up with both front wheels off the ground, drained the transmission, refilled the transmission, started the car and put it through all the gears for about a minute +/- in each gear, drained it again, refilled it again, started it again etc etc. That way you are not really flushing it, but just replacing the fluid. I think you only get about 1/3 of the fluid out with each drain. As soon as my fluid looked pretty much like what I was putting in, I stopped. Pretty sure I did three drains. Now every 20K I just do one drain and refill. I had a 94 850 Turbo with 206K on it and never touched the transmission fluid though and never had a problem with the tranny.


Edit: not sure what year yours it. Mine is a 98 and I have to use Dextron III.

 

I also followed that method above when I did mine. Pretty straight forward....drained and refilled with the same amount that came out and ran thru the gears.

Before I did it I read through all the debate whether to do it or not. My tranny was fine before and fortunately fine after. Just make sure it's the right kind of fluid for your tranny.

 

Thanks guy's for your input, my actual intention was to not flush the tranny but to drain it,measure amount of fluid then refill. Next was to remove to trans hose fitting from rad,connect plastic hose and place in a jug that has been marked in 1/2 quart/litre measurements
go thru same procedure with start/gears and refill. I thought doing it this way I am not working under the car (getting to old and grumpy
for that crap) if I am out to lunch on this please tell me.
glenn

 

Draining a few quarts of fluid from the transmission alone brings up the problem of which you first mentioned............ie: freeing up the sludge and therefor causing transmission issues. The ONLY acceptable method of changing fluid is FLUSHING fluid and that takes appx 13 quarts of fluid to accomplish. Because I do not want to dispose of that much fluid I take my autos (4 with auto transmissions) every two years to the dealer to have the service performed. The cost is negligible or to compare, it is the cost of a fine dining experience and that is not much concidering it only comes around in two year periods. So...............flush, don't simply replace a couple of quarts.

r.