my truck is starting to down shift pretty hard once and awhile usually when in bad traffic. i am going to be doing the tranny flush and filter soon. you think that would help? my fluid is full and has very good color. if not would a tuner help with the shifts? thanks mike

 

The color is only a rough indication. If your fluid is brown and smells, you've waited too long to change your fluid. Lacked Maintenance. I see it on here all the time about guys who wait until their fluid is all nasty. It's the only fluid they do it to and I dont understand? You dont wait until your engine oil is black and clumpy right?

Trans fluid can lack lubricity even being a "good color". Once the fluid begins to lack lubricity, it becomes overheated and starts to get burnt. Trans fluid should be flushed every 50kmi. Doing a pan drop doesn't get but ony 40% of the fluid.
-Remove return line off trans.
-add rubber hose to extend into bucket
-start truck and let bucket fill and shut truck off when fluid spits/sputters.(your pan is close to empty now and makes removing it much cleaner, there will still be 1qt of fluid in there so be careful when removing it)
-change filter and gasket and close back up.
-fill trans with 8qts of New ATF+4
-start truck and let fluid empty into buck again.
-fill trans up with 8qts new fluid and start truck again. Run until fluid is bright pink fgoing itno bucket.
-close up return line, top off trans and run till hot to verify Hot Full line.

Trans system takes 17qts total. You'll prob use all of 20qts to do the flush and topoff as needed.
Been doing flushes this way for YEARS! Best way to do it because the trans pump pumps the fluid at normal pressure and draws everything through the filter while doing so! Makes pan changes much cleaner rather than dropping 7qts of fluid everywhere as well.
btw..I like to put down cardboard to absorb any splatters or oil drops that occur during all this. makes cleanup a snap!

 

wow thanks for the lecture.... to answer your question. i wait even longer than when my oil turns clumpy. i usually dump whatever is around in it to thin it out like windsheild washer fluid. i change it every 25,000 miles even if it does not need it.
i made the mistake of going by the haynes manual for the tranny service. Thanks for the tech help. i hope you have a better day today than you did yesterday. mike

 

hey guys, when i flush my tranny and do the filter etc. i would like to use royal purple but bc of the amount i need to do the proper flush it would be really expensive. could i use a less expensive brand atf+4 for the flush and then do the fill on royal purple? or would you recomend using a diff atf all together? thanks mike