[RickM_Titan04]

As the title states, my 04 Titan has not had a good trans flush in, well, ever...... Running fine and not slipping so

Do I leave alone
Do I do a poor man's drain/replce
or do I bite the bullet and dive in for a full flush?

Thoughts? I am leaning towards it ain't broke don't touch but would like to hear from those in the know

 

[AZPRO4X]

Shops don't use flush machines anymore, but they do have exchange machines. Kinda a toss up, really....

 

[wanderMT]

I would do several drain and fills.

 

[ncbartschi]

As the title states, my 04 Titan has not had a good trans flush in, well, ever...... Running fine and not slipping so

Do I leave alone
Do I do a poor man's drain/replce
or do I bite the bullet and dive in for a full flush?

Thoughts? I am leaning towards it ain't broke don't touch but would like to hear from those in the know

I'd take the conservative route and do a series of drain and refills. Too many horror stories of people taking in a high-mileage vehicle with zero problems for a transmission flush only to come out with transmission issues.

 

[carbonduc27]

I did the full monty on mine at 178k. It didn't seem to change much except my trans temps were definitely lower. Shifting felt the same. My old fluid was pretty dark and had a slight burnt smell. Now it is nice and red. Gives me piece of mind since my truck is almost exclusively for towing.


I would maybe to a drain and refill and if it looks like total crap consider doing the "big job" (it wasn't actually bad).

The only thing i read to support NOT changing it is that the old fluid contains small particles of metal from wear and this actually helps with friction and engagement. I did experience this somewhat when i did a full change on my fx45 years ago. Transmission felt like it was slipping AFTER I did a full swap but that also could just be the computer needed to adjust to the new fluid and engagement. IDK

 

[titan14]

Change it. Do it yourself if you can or at least try to find a good mechanic/shop that you trust. Just drop the pan and filter, clean pan, discard filter.... disconnect a cooler line , start it up and pump the rest of the fluid out of the open line (run in into a drain pan/bucket....making sure to shut it off quickly so as not to burn up tranny by running with no fluid, then install new filter, pan and refill.

Your at the time where it should be done soon. I have seen the horror stories of transmissions getting fluid changes at high mileage and failing shortly thereafter, but these were all very high mileage units (250k and up) and im still not sold on why it seems to happen ....maybe in some cases its actually worn out and all the metal shavings keep it working?

FWIW, I've been researching a tranny fluid change on the girlfriends BMW, which she just bought and has 110k on the clock. BMW states that it comes with a "lifetime" fill from the factory, but digging a little deeper, it states to change it when the computer tells you to, or at 100,000 miles, whichever occurs first.

So that means BMW considers 100k miles the life of an automatic transmission, or at least when a oil change should occur.

 

[deerhuntermn97]

Do the poor mans flush or just change the fluid and filter. Transmission flushes can knock a bunch of gung lose and cause problems. Most shops dont do it anymore. i did the poor mans flush on my 06 with 60k. Just drain the pan unhook the lower hose if i remember corectl,start it, put it in neutral and poor fluid in until new fluid starts coming out. I think it took me 2 quarts to see fresh fluid. Only use nissan or eqivilant fluid. Idemitsu makes the fluid for nissan and it is relativaly cheaper if you want to go that route.