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Old 10-03-2020, 02:12 PM   #1
Danial

 
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Ugh. Metal Flakes in Tranny Fluid

Took it in for an oil change and tranny service and the guy just called me and said the tranny fluid was very dark and there were metal flakes in it. It was his opinion that changing the fluid wouldn't make any difference at this point.

Thoughts?
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Old 10-03-2020, 02:29 PM   #2
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Auto or manual?
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Old 10-03-2020, 02:37 PM   #3
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Auto or manual?
It's an auto with 88K miles.
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Old 10-03-2020, 02:44 PM   #4
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If it’s actual flakes or fragments, versus a powder, doesn’t sound good. Maybe an actual transmission shop would be the way to go for a diagnosis.
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Old 10-03-2020, 03:00 PM   #5
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If it’s actual flakes or fragments, versus a powder, doesn’t sound good. Maybe an actual transmission shop would be the way to go for a diagnosis.
Yeah, we're headed down here in a bit and will get more details. I've done two tranny services over the years and encountered "powder". Did the services and moved on without issue. We shall see.
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Old 10-03-2020, 03:21 PM   #6
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After 88K of "therapeutic" usage I would expect some excessive debris. Certainly wouldn't hurt to have a known GOOD trans guy look at your fluid particles but if you haven't been experiencing any unusual performance I would just change the fluid and filter and move on. If it continues to eat at you psychologically you can drop the pan after a month or so and look for abnormalities.
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Old 10-03-2020, 03:22 PM   #7
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The times I have changed my fluid I don't remember seeing anything large enough to consider them flakes. But my magnet was covered in metallic sludge, or powder. It surprised me at first with how much was there, because it seemed like a lot. Also the fluid was black as night. This was at 110k miles and I think was the first time it was ever changed based on the appearance of the fluid. I bought it at 64k miles and should have changed it immediately, but I put it off like an idiot.

I changed it again 10k miles later with Dexron VI. Then another 10k miles later that Dexron had gotten very dark again. This time I upgraded to the 'widemouth' truck filter and used Valvoline Max Life ATF. With the Max Life my 2-3 shift flares I had been dealing with since I got the car had completely disappeared. When I swapped my engine at 153k miles I had dented the trans pan pretty bad with the trans lift. So I changed the pan with a brand new one and noticed that the Max Life still looked great and bright red with very little powder residue in it, magnet was in great shape. Refilled again with Max Life. Has been great ever since and will change again at 160k miles.

It would be great if the person that told you it had flakes had taken a fluid sample for you or some pictures so you can see what they consider as 'flakes'. Hopefully they are just being a bit overzealous and it is the typical powdered metal you expect to find in the trans. If you find out it is just powder and not large flakes I would suggest changing the filter (or upgrading it) and getting on a strict trans fluid change schedule until you are getting clean bright fluid after 'x' amount of miles. This way you are doing a 'flush' but over several thousand miles. That tech would have said the same thing about my transmission had he seen my fluid, but without opening it up or noticing any shifting issues or slippage, you really won't know for sure. I took my chances and got it straightened out and it performs better than when I got the car.
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Old 10-05-2020, 10:50 AM   #8
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I'm somewhat confused. The service manual doesn't list a tranny fluid change until 97.5k miles, so I was planning on waiting until around that time. However, if you're at 88k and were instructed to forgo it do to excessive wear, are you guys thinking that we should change our fluid much sooner than recommended, or are you simply saying that your tranny seems to be wearing out sooner than expected and has reached the point of no return?
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Old 11-02-2020, 06:57 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Danial View Post
Took it in for an oil change and tranny service and the guy just called me and said the tranny fluid was very dark and there were metal flakes in it. It was his opinion that changing the fluid wouldn't make any difference at this point.

Thoughts?
Some metal on the magnet is completely normal. Metal sparkles all through the oil in not.

Just to warn you back in the 70's I worked in a "shop" If we did a trans service there was ALWAYS metal in the pan and dark burnt fluid EVERY TIME. Most every time we got paid for a trans rebuild and did nothing to it! Didn't even change the filter if it looked ok. Nice clean place. Some people were smart challenged the opinion and never came back. After a year of that I got smart and went to work for a Chevy dealer. There everything was honestly done right. Tough to find a honest shop today. Most places hire self taught mechanics who in actuality are high school drop outs. Scary to think you car is highly engineered to have high school drop outs working on them.

If your trans was working well why wouldn't it now? Just because they looked at it with xray vision and a high school diploma?

Also don't count on GM certificates, we had salesman that took the tests and were fully GM certified! they never turned a wrench in their lives. I was just at a local GM dealer for a opinion on my transmission. Now they didn't know who I am or that I ran that shop years ago. Without even looking at my car they recommended a GM rebuilt transmission. I asked them don't you repair them? NO we don't have anyone that can fix them working here! WOW
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Old 11-02-2020, 07:56 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ElderJ View Post
I'm somewhat confused. The service manual doesn't list a tranny fluid change until 97.5k miles, so I was planning on waiting until around that time. However, if you're at 88k and were instructed to forgo it do to excessive wear, are you guys thinking that we should change our fluid much sooner than recommended, or are you simply saying that your tranny seems to be wearing out sooner than expected and has reached the point of no return?
It all depends on usage. Just normal driving, follow the manual. I change mine every 5000 miles.
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Old 11-03-2020, 08:51 AM   #11
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If you want trouble free automatic transmission operation for the life of the car have it serviced PROPERLY (drop pan replace filter and fluid) every 30-50k miles. Doing it @ 97k is really taking a chance. 1st I changed mine was @50k and it needed it badly. Fluid was in bad shape. 2nd time was @96k and it looked much better, the 1st time is most important especially if you bought a used car. Same with the differential 1st change 30-50k if you want trouble free operations.
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Old 01-13-2021, 10:39 AM   #12
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Fluid can almost always look dark due to different driving conditions/ materials inside transmission. Every pan i have ever pulled has always had sludge on the magnets just like rear differential plugs. I live in a smaller city and have been at my dealership for almost 17 years and only the dodge dealership up the road still rebuilds transmission. Its just too time consuming and dealers don't want to pay a tranny guy 2 grand a week to do it. Toyota does not even recommend services on world standard fluid. Its inspect at 100k. Of course management in their infinite wisdom made their on maintenance guide that it needs to be flushed at 60k.
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