Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe2.0E
The general advice here is change the ATF at or before 60K miles and repeat at 120K, 180K etc. which worked for me when I had a D3.
In your case if you are pretty sure it has never been changed, I wouldn't touch it as you may do more harm than good. Lots of Auto's pack up after a fluid change late in life.
I would check the ATF is at the correct level and then leave it be and budget for a rebuild or good used box if you intend keeping the car for the long haul.
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To be fair I don't know that the ATF hasn't been changed before but the lack of receipts and general clunkiness of it leads me to that assumption.
Perhaps if i dropped a small amount of it and had a look and see what like it is, I might get a better idea. Obviously if it's black and smells bad then its probably not a good idea, but if there is still some colour in it then I ight give it a go. might also be worth speaking to my local specialist. There is certainly no slipping or unusual noises except the odd chirp going up my hill on the loud pedal.
To be honest i was kind of under the impression that these boxes were pretty robust and it was the 5hp19 that was prone to failure after an oil change. Its a really difficult decision, I dont want to leave it and ruin the box and have to fork out thousands for a replacement of unknown quality. Equally I dont want to get the oil changed and then have the box fail.
Ive booked the car into my local garage to get the crank sensor replaced as my workshop is chock-a-block. I'm hoping it will cure the hot start problem without having to go into a long drawn out detective process. Maybe while its on the ramp I'll drop a wee bit of fluid out and see what it looks like.
I am assuming I'm looking for gold ATF?
thanks for the comments so far guys
gill