Trans trouble?????
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Trans trouble?????
I have 1997 dodge van 2500 w/120k on it. I recently added some fluid i think i may over filled it by little. Last time that was service on trans was in june of 2005 with 107k (trans flush w/filters). When i drive for a while i recently experience that wont shift in higher gear. I really had to push gas pedal for it to shift.Trans fluid has bad odor to it, should i flush it again or just drop pan and replace fluid w/filter, any info would be great.
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It's my opinion that any flushing should be followed by a pan drop and filter change. The flushing can clog up the filter making a bad problem worse.
Most people don't pay attention to their tranny until it is already too late. This could be a reason why so many failures occur after flushing, and contributes to why flushing can get a bad rap, in addition to the filter not being changed.
Dropping the pan, changing the filter and adding a drain plug so that you can easily drain and replace 4.xx quarts a few times every few days or weeks is the best long term solution. Dropping the pan also allows one so clean the magnet and see how much debris is there.
Also one of the bands can only be adjusted with the tranny pan removed.
I think the average expected life of transmissions in Vans is around 130k miles.
Also It is unlikely that whoever did the flush 5 years ago used ATF +3 or +4, which are the only recommended fluids for our trannies, and contributed to your current issue.
Burnt smelling fluid is bad. Also transmissions do not consume fluid, they leak it, or can push it into the engine in rare cases, so if you had to add some (because you checked it while running in neutral of course?) and do not see a leak, then check your engine's oil dipstick and see if that is too high.
So you want to replace as much of the ATF as possible, with the correct fluid(ATF +4) and change the filter, and inspect the pan. But if the fluid is dark, smells burnt, and there is a lot of debris in the pan, then you might be better off putting the money toward a rebuild.
Most people don't pay attention to their tranny until it is already too late. This could be a reason why so many failures occur after flushing, and contributes to why flushing can get a bad rap, in addition to the filter not being changed.
Dropping the pan, changing the filter and adding a drain plug so that you can easily drain and replace 4.xx quarts a few times every few days or weeks is the best long term solution. Dropping the pan also allows one so clean the magnet and see how much debris is there.
Also one of the bands can only be adjusted with the tranny pan removed.
I think the average expected life of transmissions in Vans is around 130k miles.
Also It is unlikely that whoever did the flush 5 years ago used ATF +3 or +4, which are the only recommended fluids for our trannies, and contributed to your current issue.
Burnt smelling fluid is bad. Also transmissions do not consume fluid, they leak it, or can push it into the engine in rare cases, so if you had to add some (because you checked it while running in neutral of course?) and do not see a leak, then check your engine's oil dipstick and see if that is too high.
So you want to replace as much of the ATF as possible, with the correct fluid(ATF +4) and change the filter, and inspect the pan. But if the fluid is dark, smells burnt, and there is a lot of debris in the pan, then you might be better off putting the money toward a rebuild.
Last edited by landyacht318; Feb 9, 2010 at 01:53 PM.
