my experience at Location Garage

[desertdude]

I disagree, it's not a "no touch zone" specially in this climate and if you for example take it off road on a regular basis, if you follow procedure and use the correct fluids and parts you should have no issues.

FYI both my cars are above 200k and my third car which I sold last month was at 320k kms.

[teajay]

Didn't use that car much at the desert, maybe once or twice..

All right, let's agree that it needs a change at something around 150k.

It's not necessaey though as a routine change.

[desertdude]

No one is saying its a routine service item, like every other oil change or so, read the owners manual, look up the manufacturers recommendation adjusting for things like dusty and hot climate just like you do with engine oil.

I've always said oil is cheap, engines and transmissions are not. And I always tend to err on the side of caution in this regards.

Edited November 7, 2016 by desertdude

[Barry]

There is a reasoning behind Teajays logic. If oil in automatic gearboxes hasn't been changed for a long time, say 100k+, sometimes it can be better just to leave it alone. Fresh oil can dislodge all the built up deposits and crap in the gearbox which can then circulate around and block up valves etc which can stop things from working properly. It can and does happen. I recently had a lot of problems on a Dodge Avenger where this was the case. I'm not saying that people should or shouldn't change their oil. They should go and read specific information and reports about their own vehicle and make informed decisions.

There is no such thing as a "sealed for life" gearbox. This is something that was created by the vehicle manufacturer to save money in the short term and sell parts in the long term. If you go direct to the gearbox manufacturer, wether it be ZF, Allison or whoever and check out the specific gearbox model, there will be a service schedule for it. 

No gearbox is unserviceable but sometimes it's not as simple as just dropping the oil out, changing the filter and refilling. It is very important that correct procedures are followed or damage can occur.  These procedures may include special flushing or filling techniques and computer resets or relearning programmes. 

[Rahimdad]

I remember when I changed the oil for My Disco 1, seems the previous owner had not changed it in 300K kms, there were like blocks of mud falling off which was disgusting, we filled in the new oil and changed the filter which was a task and a half. When all was put back together again the Disco ran as smooth as silk, although there was a slight issue of the overdrive gear not engaging and so drove on higher revs for a couple of days, but after 2nd day of driving on the highway the overdrive gear was back, the revs lower and the car drove like a dream.

[desertdude]

On 11/7/2016 at 7:29 AM, Barry said:

There is a reasoning behind Teajays logic. If oil in automatic gearboxes hasn't been changed for a long time, say 100k+, sometimes it can be better just to leave it alone. Fresh oil can dislodge all the built up deposits and crap in the gearbox which can then circulate around and block up valves etc which can stop things from working properly. It can and does happen. I recently had a lot of problems on a Dodge Avenger where this was the case. I'm not saying that people should or shouldn't change their oil. They should go and read specific information and reports about their own vehicle and make informed decisions.

There is no such thing as a "sealed for life" gearbox. This is something that was created by the vehicle manufacturer to save money in the short term and sell parts in the long term. If you go direct to the gearbox manufacturer, wether it be ZF, Allison or whoever and check out the specific gearbox model, there will be a service schedule for it. 

No gearbox is unserviceable but sometimes it's not as simple as just dropping the oil out, changing the filter and refilling. It is very important that correct procedures are followed or damage can occur.  These procedures may include special flushing or filling techniques and computer resets or relearning programmes. 

Operative word being "sometimes" and its very rare and If your box is so down the line that only pieces of gunk are holding it together then its time to have it changed or overhauled anyways, and most probably getting super crap performance out of it anyways.