sbrach

I have a 2009 Malibu with a 2.4 engine and a 6 speed transmission.
I have 88,000 miles. At my last scheduled oil change I asked my Chev dealer about scheduled maintenance on my transmission- possible filter and fluid replacement.
I was told the transmission would have to be dropped to get to the pan gasket to do any maintainence. Estimated cost is $1300.00. I cannot believe major work like this would be needed for scheduled maintenance.
I would like to be more educated before I call the service manager at the dealership. Any insight you may have would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

tech2

find a shop that has a trans fluid exchange machine and have all the the fluid exchanged. its usually billed at 1 hour labour and the cost of the fluid...maybe $300 range. IMO exchanging all of the fluid is better than 6 liters of fluid and the filter....leaving 6 liters of old fluid in the system. Its like changing half your oil for an oil change.

some new trans have the filter built into the valve body. its a for life filter that is only meant to be changed on a rebuild. Japanese trans don't even use filters but rather a coarse screen.
don't worry about the filter, change the fluid. Its a simple as disconnecting one trans cooler line from the radiator and connecting the exchange machine. GM endorses this procedure when done from new, the filter does not need changing.
used dexron vi fluid and nothing but...no equivalents.

sbrach

Thank you sir. Good information. Is this what the dealer refered to as flushing the system? The reason I ask is because they said they would not do that for fear of dislogging solids and ruining the trans. I may not be saying it exactly as they explained but it was something like that.

tech2

you do not want to backflush or flush the system. You just want to do a fluid exchange. this type of machine will allow the trans oil pump to flow the fluid out in the normal flow direction under normal system pressure with no pressure pulses that can stir up crud that can go into the valve body.

there is a concern by some people (old timers that used flushing machines not exchange machines) that adding new fluid, which contain cleaning detergents, to a badly maintained system. the fear is that it will loosen debris that flows into the valve body. Your only at 88 000 km which is not far off the normal fluid life interval. i would do the fluid exchange service.

find a shop that has the proper equipment and does this service as normal maintenance. to me, not changing the fluid is more of a concern.