I have a 87 non turbo. When I took it in to be serviced, the guy told me that I need to have the transmission fluid changed because it's brown. I wasn't prepared to pay for it to be done right then and didn't have the time to wait for it to be done. That was almost 6 mos ago.

Since then I have called several shops. Half say to change the fluid and the other half say to leave it alone because it could cause my car to start having problems.

What should I do? Leave it alone or get it changed. I haven't owned this car that long so I have no idea how long the fluid has been brown.

 

IF it is an automatic, then leave it alone. New cluid, at this late date, could cause problems that wouldnt otherwise have come up.

IF it is a 5sp, you're not gonna have any problems at all, at least in my experience. Change it out. Put some nice redline MT-90 in there to help with worn synchros and smooth shifting. IT costs $8/qt. but its worth it.

 

Are there any problems I can expect to see in the future because of the burnt fluid?

 

Exactly why would new trans fluid cause problems in an auto?

 

Well, Im no AT mechanic or anything, I dont know *that* much about how they work. I do know that there are many friction-dependent parts inside, adn that the fluid is supposed to be changed regularly(roghly every 40K or so?) from the day it was new. But, most people neglect to do this until well over 100k. By now, the old fluid is dirty enough(when atf gets dirty, it is metal shavings from wear) that if you put in new fluid, since atf is so high-detergent(cleaning) it will "eat up" what remains of the friction surfaces in said autotranny and you can easily accelerate the wear process. Whereas, if you had left the old stuff in there, it would not be "good", yet it would not be "as bad" as doing the above. Thuis it has been explained to me by AT mechanics local who do rebuilds.

However, I have been told that you can do it a little at a time, and reduce this risk...drain 1qt, and replace with 1qt. new, drive a couple of weeks, drain 1qt, replace with 1 qt new, repeat... until you have changed it all, this reduces the detergent effect of the new fluid while removing the metal shavings from the old fluid.

 

Thanks man, i was thinking something similar to that, but wasnt really clear on the whole thing, btw, you know where any TII's are for sale? thanks

 

How many quarts does a 5sp trans require

 

5 Speed manual trannies require two quarts.

 

Thanks!