on my 02 sunfire that i just got. it has the 4 spd, should i do a filter/fluid change? it has 96k on it and i dont really know the history of it but i dont think it was beaten on.
Yes. Do a pan drop/filter change with Dexron VI.
Many people say changing the tranny fluid shouldnt be done at all if you have a lot of miles on the car. This is because the old fluid binds to metal and stays behind after the flush. What you get is old fluid stuck to the gears with new fluid in the pan and you get lots of slippage. 96k is high, but you should be okay doing a flush so long as the car wasn't beat on. I'm sure someone will disagree with me here, but this was what my mechanic told me with my last Cavalier (wanted to flush the tranny @ 145k), looked it up and found that it does have some precedent.
Are you the original owner? its possible it might have even been done before while the car was still in warranty.
ive heard bad stuff about flushes so i wont go that route.
and i dont consider under 100k high miles. the girl that owned it before me drove it in boston traffic and also on the highway for a one way drive of about 3 hours or so (not sure how often though). and i dont know how she drove it either.
Dustin Ouellette wrote:ive heard bad stuff about flushes so i wont go that route.
and i dont consider under 100k high miles. the girl that owned it before me drove it in boston traffic and also on the highway for a one way drive of about 3 hours or so (not sure how often though). and i dont know how she drove it either.
96k really isnt that high, but the manual says to change the tranny fluid every 50k or 3 years. My '04 is at 60k and i had the trans fluid flushed recently, Wasn't giving me problems then, still no problems now, just hoping that it'll stay that way. Definitely your call, I mean, I've heard of cars going to 300k without any TF changes. Guess its really your peace of mind more than anything.
If the car has seen a lot of in town driving I would stay away from trying to change or even flush the system. ATF once it reaches a high enough temp looses 1/2 of its life. If I remember correctly its 160*f which more than likely it has seen those temps being driven in town with a lot of stop and go traffic.
I would flush it, it is part of the maintenance
if they find metal on the pan, then you know you have a problem but you probably don't have a problem yet
i would recommend flushing it, i have had several gm techs told me its fine to flush it, because if you have a problem start, then most likely the problem was there before.
2000 Cavi, tinted out maybe more to come
