Thread: Transmission fluid replacement interval...

On another site a member posted that his dealer had chastised him for not having had his automatic transmission fluid replaced at the 30,000 mile interval.
When the owner pointed out that his Azera driver's manual had a 105,000 mile interval for the change, and only periodic inspections before that, the dealer was surprised and disapproving of the manual.

A quick i'net search shows a recommended range from a low of 30,000 miles to a high of 60,000 miles (as well as the standard "what your manufacturer recommends"). I do believe I'll request that that service be done when I next take my car in at about 38,000 miles, as I intend and hope to keep the car "forever" (15-20 years-ish) without major mechanical expenses...

I checked with my dealer and the work was indeed done on my Azera during the 30k mile service...

Maintaining fresh automatic transmission fluid by frequently changing out several quarts is the single best thing you can do to insure the transmission will never fail. On my GM cars, I used a vacuum bottle with hoses to suck 6 quarts of old transmission fluid out and replace it with new fluid every 10K miles. My 86 Olds (with a poorly designed) transmission was still going strong at 250K miles because of this treatment, my 98 Pontiac was still smooth as silk at 150K miles when I traded it because of a suspected recurring intake manifold gasket failure.

I haven't tried this with my car yet, mainly because it has less than 20K miles on it and the specified fluid isn't yet readily available in places like Kragen or AutoZone.

Yeh, I bit the bullet for 6qt. of Hyundai's own ATF juice for the first service. For future services however, I'd rather use AMSoil synthetic ATF, plus LubeGard Platinum. AFAIK that meets Hyundai's specs (realistically... probably a much higher quality lubricant than the factory uses!) I'll definitely check first to make sure it doesn't void the warranty. Whatever happened to the old torque converters, where you could change out ALL the old fluid? Just guessing the factories decided they could save a quarter by eliminating that converter drain plug. Bean counters vs. engineers vs. vehicle owners. Beaners win again!


J.R.
SoCal

I have changed the tranny fluid in my Azera @ 9900 miles to Amsoil and never looked back. I've got 25000 miles and it still is red.

I have a 2003 Accent and changed it @ 24000 miles and now has 65000 miles no problems with it or the Azera.

By the way both cars have been good. No major problems. They run good and get good gas mileage. Accent about 33 on the highway and the
Azera about 27 @ 70mph...31 @ 60mph. But on long distances hard to go 60 for very
long.

jaybirdjh

I checked to change it on my Cabrio and discovered that it is synthetic. Do not worry about it since. If a filling tube in an automatic, I would consider Pela suck with my new hood, I bought People. It worked great on my lawn mower and air compressor.

Just changed mine this weekend at 37,725 miles. Did the "drain and refill" It took almost exactly 5 quarts of SP III fluid to refill. And the drain plug magnet had quite a bit of gunk on it.

Bill
Hagerstown, MD

Originally Posted by Bill2008Ltd

Just changed mine this weekend at 37,725 miles. Did the "drain and refill" It took almost exactly 5 quarts of SP III fluid to refill. And the drain plug magnet had quite a bit of gunk on it.

Did you do this drain and refill yourself? There IS a drain plug on the transmission? Specifically where would I look for this? Was it a simple drain and fill just like the engine oil? Where did you get the fluid (dealer, car parts store, brand)?

Yes there is a drain plug on the transmission , also there is a fill plug up top, but it is usually best to use the OEM Spec'd ATF for you car, but if your in a manual car it opens up a TON of options such a Motul gear 300 or amsoil syncromesh or redline mtf, there are tons of diffrent top end fluid

I'm a personal fan of the Amsoil ATF. Draining your transmission oil shouldn't be that hard to do yourself if you have the tools. Just make sure you use jack stands.