Doing This Will DESTROY YOUR TRANSMISSION!!

Doing This Will DESTROY YOUR TRANSMISSION!!

Because I had such good results with a transmission fluid flush on my 1995 Suburban 4L60E I decided to do the same to my 2003 Suburban. Both vehicles have similar mileage and both have the 4L60E. The '95 is just, obviously, much older.

Well, the results are in... Did I blow it up?

***This channel is for entertainment purposes only! Do not do what I do. Do not take my advice. I am not a professional. The methods I use may be completely wrong and/or dangerous. Please seek professional help with anything and everything and do your own due diligence (research). Working on cars is extremely dangerous. I am not responsible for any loss of life or limb or property. DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH. THIS CHANNEL IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY!***

FTC Disclaimer: I am an Amazon affiliate. As such, I earn a percentage of sales made through Amazon Affiliate links found in the description of my videos and on my website and other places.

[howlinhog]

As an automatic transmission repair shop owner operator, I can tell you this. The vast majority of people do not service their transmission when they should or even ever. The people who experience failures after a flush were the same ones who did the flush because they were already experiencing problems and wanted it to fix their issues. Transmission fluid is a great cleaning agent and when you send it through a transmission that has large amounts of sediment throughout, it can break it loose and send it into valves that have no tolerance for it. Fluid changes are preventative maintenance, not a recipe for disaster. Do it! Look in your owner's manual and find what the intervals are. You don't want to find yourself towed to my shop, it's rarely inexpensive.

[kingofhearts]

I work in a Transmission shop, and the best thing you can do for your trans is change the filter and fluid.

[josecora]

You are absolutely right ! I change my trans fluid at 30, 000 miles on a Dodge ram 2014, that oil came out black, black, i means black ! at only 30.000 miles. The manual say it to change it at 100.000 miles, incredible ! We do the second change at 60.000 miles and it running better than New, i put Amsoil oil, and it awesome.

[YourTransmissionRepair]

Jimmy, Great video. I've been an ASE Certified Master transmission specialist since 1980 and here's what I've observed during the course of my career. Few, if any, people simply to decide to change/flush their transmission out of the clear blue unless they suspect something is going on. I've seen both changing and/or flushing a transmission go both ways... improvement and failure. The change/flush has nothing to do with a failure unless the procedure was botched, to begin with. The way the urban legend got started was when a change/flush was performed on a transmission already in the process of impending doom. I can count on ONE HAND how many times this process caused the failure of a good working transmission and all of them have to do with fluid starvation. One was run low on fluid from a leaking pan gasket and the others had to do with leaving the filter seal off and the pump sucking air, both of which cases were (like I said) botched jobs to begin with. I have NEVER seen a properly performed change or flush do damage to a perfectly good working transmission. Never.


It took me quite a few years to learn that when somebody asks me for a fluid change or flush, I respond with the question, "What's the transmission doing?" No matter the answer, I ALWAYS road test the vehicle and scan it for codes before we ever bring it into the shop. There have been literally100s of times the road test reveals a transmission malfunction and/or error fault code(s).


Lastly, you may find this hard to believe, but both of your Suburbans can have a harsh shifting problem that has nothing to do with the transmission. A restricted fuel filter (hidden & mounted on the frame rail) will cause harsh and/or late shifts due to fuel starvation. It may also set a lean engine code. Although we only do transmissions, we stock Chev & GMC fuel filters just for that reason. I've seen transmissions replaced/rebuilt by DIYers just for that reason. Because a fuel filter slowly becomes restricted over time, the driver unconsciously gives the vehicle a heavier foot for the same acceleration. The TPS picks up the heavy throttle signal and delays/harshens the shift, as it is designed to do. Just a word to the wise.

[stevo]

I spent most of my career rebuilding auto transmissions and the best thing you can do for your transmission is to flush the fluid every now and again.

[VinnyMartello]

Admittedly, I’ve always just done the old drain and fill. For no other reason that it’s cheap and easy to do. But 1/2 good fluid is better than 0 good fluid.

[chevellenut]

My dad was a transmission expert we had the discussion on transmission Flushing. He told me if the transmission screws up after you change the fluid it was screwed up before you change the fluid. Doing what you did is good for the transmission. Nice video I will be doing the same to my Silverado

[trinifirst]

This is EXCELLENT advice!
When my transmission gave up on me on a highway, the first fear was I needed a transmission job.
Based on a friend's advice. I drained the transmission the exact way presented here. Turns out the filter was also quite blocked.
It's been about 2 years, shifts great!

[ze_german]

I purchased a used Honda Transmission with 200k miles, I didn’t know it at first, I got a bunch of transmission solenoid codes and what seem to be water contamination from being exposed to the elements. I did what you did, I purchased 15qt worth of fluid, dumped the old fluid from the cooler lines into a 5gal bucket while filling up new fluid, after 11qts is was all clean fluid coming out. The nice thing about this, you get all the fluid from the torque converter that is usually trapped inside. I drove this car for another 40k miles before I sold it to a friend. $100 worth of fluid well invested

[adampinczesgarageandfabric]

great topic and you are right to have done these services. I've been a technician for 10+ years, worked on cars all my life and what I have found is. the complexity of an automatic transmission scares people, so alot of technicians will do services on them never actually understanding how they really work. I am naturally curious and need to know how everything works so I can see how something failed, why it failed and how to stop it from failing again. what I have concluded in my experience is that there are 3 scenarios that have caused misconceptions in the entire industry. first one someone comes in for a trans flush, the tech doing the flush doesn't understand how the transmission works and proceeds to backflush the transmission causing on some cars the filter to pop out or lose it's seal at the top of the filter. tech is done with the flush but vehicle won't move so tech thinks trans is toast, but actually it's just sucking air because the filter is popped off. next scenario tech flushes trans and gunk gets jammed in the valve body causing valves to stick. trans then gets driven with sticking valves until it eats its own clutches. next scenario the tech flushes the trans but it was already dead before it came in and the clutch material suspended in the fluid was the only thing allowing enough friction for it to grab gears. trans flush machines are only useful to clean trans coolers unless they have a dipstick service function where you pull the fluid out the dipstick hole. best way to service is to do a pan service with a new filter or a drain and fill/dipstick service. your transmission will thank you.

[coolguy]

Flushed my fluid in my 1988 grand Marquis and shifts perfectly fine

[halldorra]

My trans has 275.000 miles on it, still working fine (regular fluid changes)

[BlitzkriegProjects]

Think about it this way: a fluid change will not damage any parts. The condition of the parts of your transmission is what it is.
Here is where people get that idea: if the clutch of your automatic transmission is worn down, and you have never changed your transmission fluid, all the particles from your clutch are in that fluid, thus making it thicker, and "grippier." That may give your clutch just enough friction to engage.
Flushing or changing your transmission fluid at this point rids all of those loose particles, thus causing problems.
If you change your transmission fluid, and then you have more problems than before, your transmission was damaged before the fluid change.

[sragga]

i did my '88 bmw different. i put the rtn line in a big bucket to drain, and put the intake in a big bucket of new atf. hopped in, fired it up, and changed through all the gears to get the torque converter cleaned out too. then was good to go

[jimsanders]

Great video!! I have a 2003 F150 with the 4R70 trans. It’s got 282k+ on it. I have the trans serviced about every year and a half (actually, it’s about due), and keep the engine oil & filter changed. I’m the original owner and the truck runs fantastic! MAINTENANCE IS THE KEY!!

[cronn]

When reconnecting the cooler line, I would recommend putting the clip in place first, then pushing the cooler line back in place. You can feel/hear it click into place. Otherwise the line might not be all the way back in. Good video.

[michaelfrick]

Well done! Well explained. Thank you for your courage....I think you have displaced the myth of damaging a transmission by doing a flush. Viewers, please note: this was not a "power flush" which is a service offered at quick lube stations. I believe that technique can cause debris to get into the valve body, thus causing shifting issues. I believe this method is a gentle and efficient way to flush the old fluid out, without creating a "cloud" of friction material to be deposited into the valve body of the transmission.

[Todd]

On a sealed transmission like most new cars where you cannot change the transmission oil filter there really isn't ever a need to do a transmission flush a drain and fill every 30 to 60, 000 mi is perfectly fine in fact it's pretty much doing the same thing. Personally I do mine every 30. Also I will say it is even more important to change your transmission fluid more often on sealed transmissions because of the fact that you cannot change the transmission oil filter so you want to keep that filter as clean as possible by simply changing the fluid.

[blackrockbrewing]

Not a bad way to do this. Better way is to take the return line off the transmission, use the same clear hose and attach to the return line and place in a ketch pan next to the driver's door. You can see the fluid coming out from under the car below the driver's door, so you can keep an eye on it in the driver's seat and turn the key off the second you see bubbles. Pump the fluid out once and then drop the transmission pan while it is low on fluid, clean the pan and replace the filter. Then reinstall the pan and fill with fresh fluid. From there keep starting until you see bubbles, stopping and refilling with fresh fluid until it comes out clean and fresh in the clear hose the reattach the line to the transmission. This process also reduces wasted fresh fluid that is lost from dropping the pan when it is full of fresh fluid.

[joelcrow]

Great work! I feel really lucky having the knowledge of flushing fluids for quick improvements! Lots of people give up on good used cars or pay thousands at dealerships for replacments when a flush (brakes, tranny, fuel, coolant, oil) can make all the difference!