I was looking to have the tranny serviced on an 04 burb. It has 80k miles, the dealer was pushing the tranny flush which I was pretty set against. He said depending on the cleanliness of the fluid upon checking it would determine weather or not it would be ideal to do versus just dropping the pan and changing the filter and a few quarts of fluid.

I personally have seen two instances where shortly after doing the flush onmy dads old grand Marquis and my aunts olds both trannys needed to be rebuilt.
Anyone have any input or personal experience doing this? Thanks in advance.

 

i did mine about 1000 miles ago maybe more.. no problem.. and my fluid was dark brown and smelled burnt. no problems what so ever.... i'd say do it. a flush gets ALL the fluid out.as if your doing just the pan theres still some in the trans and pumps and w/e else!

 

Coincidently, that is this evenings project on my '93 'burb.
I generally go with a drain and filter change. That is 5 fresh qts of Mobile 1 syn ATF. Whatever residual that is in the lines, torque converter etc will get diluted. Meantime you have a new filter and you can wipe all of the shavings out of the pan.
On my truck the cross-member has to be removed to get to the pan bolts.

 

I have never heard good things about a flush but have always heard to just drain and fill for all the cars I have owned. if you are worried about getting all of the fluid out just do a regular drain/fill and drive for a day or so then do it again.

 

Flushed the fluid in the wifes car a couple months ago, fluid was black. Made a night and day difference in how it shifted. I'm flushing the trans in my truck at 36k.

 

Well it looks like I'll just be doing a filter change and a few quarts. Keep in mind folks, this truck practically has 80k miles and I don't know if the tranny was ever serviced or if it was used to tow. I'd rather play it safe then end up damaging the tranny and have to pay at leat $2k for a rebuild. Thanks for all your input everyone.

 

Flush, Flush, Flush it. You are changing less than a third of the buy dropping the pan. I have flushed hundreds of trans over the years and never had a problem. Lots of them were over 100,000. Now if the fluid smells burnt or the trans is having a problem then do not do anything.

http://www.goss-garage.com/node/34

Read about transmission flush in article.

 

I somewhat agree with this. If you wait until the fluid is very dark or dirty you're taking your chances with a flush. I'm no service manager or professional mechanic but I've seen or been told of more than a couple of failures on high mileage tranny's after a fuid change or flush. You're definitely asking for trouble if the fluid is black or burnt smelling. If you've waited that long, what makes you think you're going to save the trans from your neglect and trashing it with a fuid change or flush? If you take care of it and just change fluid on a regular basis, even without a complete flush, it will likely outlast the truck. Got 265K out of a TH350 in my '74 stepside before selling it 20 yrs. ago and it put up with a lot from the built small block(s) in front of it (and I mean A LOT).

 

I just purchased this vehicle last week for my wife, if I was the original owner I wouldn't be worried one bit. I maintain my vehicles obsessively.

 

+1

Dropping the pan and just changing the filter and a few quarts of fluid is like draining your oil and not changing the filter.