Tranny Fluid Check

[smokey]

Hi,
I have a 2002 3.4L alero. I need to check the tranmission fluid on it. I know there is a red cap near the engine but my hands are too big to squeeze in there, is there anyway to check it, also will my car warn me if its too low?

[CactusWill]

Yeah your car will warn you, once the transmission starts slipping.


The check plug is underneath the car behind the passenger side cv axle. You have to get the car into the air to check it.

[Redog]

Car has to be level too

[smokey]

is their a light that warns me? or just when the tranny starts to hard shift? also isnt too late by then?

[lonnie]

It would be nice the next time someone puts their car in the air to take a few pics of what everyone should be looking for. Allot of places around here won't even check it because its a seal system.

[CactusWill]

Theres no light.

[smokey]

Theres no light.

will the tranny get damaged premenantly if starts hard shifting or if its low on fluid? or can i reverse the damage by a proper flush? sorry i have no experience with american slush boxes............

[CactusWill]

Usually a tranny will slip if its low on fluid, and may shift hard if its overfilled. If the fluid goes low you're going to know about it long before any damage occurs, unless you just continued to drive it when its not shifting right. But thats not to say that the transmission couldn't go bad for other reasons unrelated to fluid level.

[Psyfox]

The check plug is underneath the car behind the passenger side cv axle. You have to get the car into the air to check it.

^That is correct. I did mine myself and that's what I had to do (dropped the pan and everything :P).

And to give you a time frame, the trans fluid should be changed every 50k miles or every 5 years...whichever comes first. If you stick to that, you shouldn't run into any problems unless you drive your ho hard all the time.

[smokey]

all right sounds good, I'm taking the car to my mechanic so he can flush it, my car is 7 years old with no history and 143km so i guess its time to flush it, i heard flushing it ur self wont get all the crap from the slushbox..

[CactusWill]

You don't want to flush it, unless you want to replace the transmission. The only safe way to do it is changing the filter and replacing the lost fluid.

[smokey]

You don't want to flush it, unless you want to replace the transmission. The only safe way to do it is changing the filter and replacing the lost fluid.

really?I thought it had to changed sooner or later:huh:

[Psyfox]

He's right, a flush really isn't worth it unless you're dropping in an entirely new transmission. Just drop your pan and change everything and you'll be in business.

If you weren't in Canada I'd offer to do it for ya for a cheaper price, but oh well. :P