Its ''Change the Filter and Fluid'' vs ''Change the Transmission''... Which Way to Go

French Muffins , Saturday, 7th of August 2010 03:49:34 PM

l have the 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais, 2.5L Auto. l have a Used

French Muffins

Transmission with 80,000 miles from a 1988 and Same Engine, Same TH-125c w

Registered User

Torque Converter, in the Trunk.

l am on a LIMITED BUDGET.

Joined: Sunday, 13th of June 2010, 01:23:11

/>
l am PURSUING getting ''New ATF Fluid 4 to 6 quarts to Blend with

Posts: 295

what is already In there (New Filter, l heard Flush is NOT what you wanna

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do!) (Valvoline MaxLife, also a little Synthetic for Strong-ness) to put
in when changing the Fluid (Dropping Pan, New Filter) to TRY to REJUVENATE
the CURRENT TRANS!!! (Will Cost Less.)

MY TRANSMISSION HAS NO
REVERSE ALTHOUGH WHEN l PUT IT -IN- REVERSE THE LIGHTS COME ON.
/>People are telling me l may have a ''Fried Clutch Pack'' or ''Blown
Seal''... But l ALWAYS thought that Reverse and First SHARED a Clutch
Pack!!!

l had to Top Off my Fluid the other day, after much
Highway Driving at 70MPH. Car Pulls, Perfect, Forward, Shifts good and
smooth, not ''Hard'' but Smooth, ... NO REVERSE.

Now... DO
REVERSE AND FIRST -SHARE- a CLUTCH PACK (Discounts ''No Reverse due to
''Fried Reverse Clutch Pack'' Theory..) OR NOT??

This is the GM
Turbo Hydra-Matic 125c.

Let me c/p what l had as Advice to
MAYBE bring the Trans Reverse back to life BEFORE PULLING A TRANS!!:/>
Begin cut and paste
changing the fluid & filter will surly
help and there is a very good chance that reverse will work again. />1st & reverse use the same clutch pack and you will soon lose 1st gear
if you continue to drive in its current condition.

losing
revese does indicate that your tranny is fairly worn but you can still get
thousands of miles out of it if you are vigilant.
there will be a lot
of sludge (which is the clutch friction material) in the pan which you will
have to clean, dish soap&water or a can of brake cleaner will be the best
thing for this.(do not use degreaser or any other oil based product)/>there is also a magnet in the pan which you will clean.
ARE YOU
READY TO DO THIS ? YES YOU ARE!
go to NAPA and buy
5 qt dextron
IIl ATF
1 filter/gasket kit.

1 remove the pan bolts. />2 remove the pan (you might have to use a screw driver to pry it loose.

3 clean the pan and scrape off any old gasket material that stuck to
the tranny.
4 remove the filter & seal.
5 replace the filter &
seal.
6 place gasket on pan and start a few bolts to hold gasket in
place.
7 loosley hang pan on tranny with the few bolts then add the
rest, then ''snug them all.
8 working clockwise tighten them all to
10ft lbs (if you do not have a torque wrench, just hold the ratchet at the
head with the socket between your middle & ring finger make them tight as
you can.)
9 put 3 qt in it, start it, let it warm up, shift through
the gears then check the dip stick, if not in the cross hatch area add 1/4
qt at a time till it is.

P.S. l said go to NAPA because their
tranny gaskets hold the bolts in place so you dont need 3 hands or a
gasket adhesive.
End cut-and-paste.

WHICH ONE WOULD YOU
DO???

THANK YOU!!!
..''l had to Top Off my Fluid the other
day, after much Highway Driving at 70MPH. Car Pulls, Perfect, Forward,
Shifts good and smooth, not ''Hard'' but Smooth, ... NO REVERSE'' -- The
Fluid was a Brownish, with SOME Bubbles in it.

''SLIGHT BURNT
SMELL'' Very Faint

The New Synthetic MOBIL 1 is a Deep
Purple... it is now TOPPED OFF and STILL feels VERY STRONG Forward!!/>
... Next Fluid that goes down that tube will be to Refilling New
Fluid to the Proper Level, Valvoline MaxLife ATF its compatible to GM
Dexron/Mercon Il and IIl and Greater....
ken k: Lol, my No Reverse
Driving Style has been serving me -Well-... but WINTER IS COMING!! OH
NO!!!
Hmmm... Yes l was thinking a Lucas Product. :)

Still
sounds liek taking Pan off (seeing what we see) and Putting NEW Filter in
THEN Flushing MAY HelP!!!

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starr , Sunday, 8th of August 2010 02:31:37 AM

I'd say exhaust all options regarding replacing fluid/filter &

starr

adding additives before you decide to get a new transmission. You might

Registered User

get lucky. I had transmission issues on my 95 Suburban where the gears

Joined: Sunday, 16th of May 2010, 14:15:28

wouldn't shift out of first gear. I thought my transmission was gone

Posts: 550

(270,000+ miles at the time). But I changed the filter & changed the fluid

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to Valvoline High Mileage ATF & I am still driving the truck today & it now
has 293,000+ miles on it.

However, losing ur reverse gear is the first signs that something is wrong
internally with ur transmissions. Usually if it is a fluid issue it will
affect all gears (either they won't shift at all or they will take a long
time to shift), so since it is only affecting ur reverse gear, I am going
to guess (and most others would guess the same to) that something is
broken. My neighbor has a 1996 Tahoe & he told us a few weeks ago that his
reverse gear was gone (not that big of a problem since our driveways are
fairly steep.lol) But he just took off the pan to change the fluid & he
said he found pieces of one of gear wheels in the bottom of the pan. His
transmission is dead.

However, it is worth to try the fluid because I also have a 94 Suburban
that lost reverse gear, but when I checked the fluid levels, it wasn't
even registering, once I filled it up, my reverse gear came back
immediately. I wasn't able to test the other gears as I was just backing
it up out of the way of another car.

Good Luck!!

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TwinKie , Monday, 9th of August 2010 06:42:48 PM

Reverse takes double the pressure of any other gear.you are

TwinKie

loosing your tranny. Try Lucas Trans Additive to top off. Where is the

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leak? All ATF flush machines flush trans through backpressure...all crap

Joined: Sunday, 2nd of May 2010, 07:54:20

in the pan and in the fllter is flush backwards through the trans. This

Posts: 878

can cause issues on transmissions never serviced. But can also save a

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transmission as a last resort. At this point its a gamble. With the cost
of trans. replacement $150 is alot better than $2,500.

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Honey , Tuesday, 10th of August 2010 04:01:59 PM

honestly can not tell u but i do know most trans shops give

Honey

free test drives....only prob is u need to get some 1 honest that doesn't

Registered User

just want to sell u a trans or rebuild..

Joined: Sunday, 2nd of May 2010, 11:55:46

Posts: 1010

but I myself would try changing the fluid/filter & i would also consider

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getting the trans flushed afterwords..

and after that i would add either lucas trans fix or trans-x...but only
the ones that don't ''help seals''..cas those are just asking for
trouble..

also i wouldn't waste my money on synthetic until u had reverse working
again...and had it flushed..then swap it to syn if u want..good luck

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Private , Wednesday, 11th of August 2010 11:09:44 AM

I am sorry. Is this really a question? Check the shift

Private

linkage for proper detent when attempting reverse gear.

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Joined: Sunday, 18th of April 2010, 03:56:04

Posts: 1503

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jelly :) , Thursday, 12th of August 2010 03:58:53 AM

either get a no reverse driving policy or replace trans/clutch