Thread: To flush or not to flush?

What Spencer says is pretty much on the money. If a problem is hiding, the fluid being fresh and full of additives, will clean any hidden problems. Dave at TEP and any other trans guys will tell you basically the same thing. A flush will not hurt a healthy transmission.

Issue is..most of the time when people are asking about flushes, their transmission isn't healthy.

Personally I do pan drops. Because I don't own a flush machine. It's easier, cheaper and usually less intrusive to simply pan drop, filter change and fill the 7 quarts up.

Same thing is said of switching to synthetic oil with a decent amount of miles on a motor. Many people will say it causes oil leaks. Truth is.. there's a buildup inside keeping the gasket from leaking. The additives break down the build up and you have leaks. Same would be true over time with regular quality oil changes too.

These are the myths that we have. They are common myths based on the stories of many that hoped for magic from a flush or trans service. Well there is no magic as Slow said, if you have a problem....don't expect past due maintenance to fix it.

FWIW I bought a 98 Regal 2 years back and when I drove it ..the trans slipped on high throttle. Tossed a can of Lucas in (thickens and swells seals) and that car is still daily driven today. Trans works great. I bought my current Regal with 161K and clearly a lack of any maintenance. I did a pan service and it ran/shifted great. 6 months later it started having an odd issue where the rpm at highway speed might jump 1k and slam back into gear. Not often, but enough to have picked up on it. I drained the fluid only (got a plug..lol) and it literally pooped clutch mud. Refilled with one bottle of Lucas and regular fluid...at 189K I'm still driving and still abusing it until I get off my butt and swap it out. The fluid is disgusting. A flush at this point would finish it off. A pan drop at this point would finish it off....heck at this point...I'm amazed it's still driving. Every transmission is different, but they are all still transmissions.