Someone please tell me whether or not I should change the transmission fluid in my 03 impala ls. Had the dam tranny rebuilt at 85,000. I got the car with 26,000 miles and changed the fluid once at about 50,000 miles. Tranny went at 85,000 miles. I hear people say dont ever change it (dont touch the freaking thing). Others go by the manual, others it seems by a vision they had while drunk one night. I would really appreciate it if someone could clear this up. Is it a take your chances on either type of thing or what. I just dont want to have to rebuild thiis tranny again.

 

I change mine every 30K and haven't had a problem with it since changing it. I bought my tahoe with a little more than 100k and now have 170k. Some people say not to change it if you have a lot of miles on the transmission with the same oil. I don't know why exactly this is, but people have said that the transmission just wears down to the viscosity of the old oil that's currently inside of it. It's something that nobody really knows. I've talked to a pretty good transmission guy and he said to change it every 25-30k, and don't follow the manual of 100k.

 

I change mine when it starts getting brown, instead of the pink color. Years ago we had a new chevy (i believe it was 1988) we were towing and the tranny got so hot it blew the dipstick out and wouldn't shift out of low. We pulled off the interstate to a corner garage. The man flushed the tranny out with 15 quarts of fluid. It came out like chocolate but eventually cleared to pink. The tranny was still going when we got rid of it at 150k. Been a fan of that since.