ATF To change or not to change?

Ok so i purchased a 95.5 rodeo in January. It now has 160,000. I dont know the history of the tranny. I've read a lot of post about fluid/filter changes then the tranny starts acting up. It shifts fine.......do I change or leave it in. I plan on keeping the truck through September. No towing or long drives. 1.5hrs will be prolly be the longest drive this truck will ever see with me. 3.2 v6. I dont want to drain the gunk thats holding everything together and then have the thing go to pieces on me. What do I do?

If you're only keeping it til September, and everything's good, why bother??

If you're keeping it for the long-haul, which by the way, you could easily probably get another 40k out of the transmission; and another 100k or so out of the engine - what I would do, is start up the cold engine, let idle for 2-3 minutes, slowly loosen the refill bolt on the transmission, WITH the engine running & in park, let a tiny tiny bit of fluid drip out, say into a small container. Tighten the bolt back-up.

Take a look at the fluid, and whether or not if it's burnt/black and/or pink/healthy looking.

If it's pink/healthy looking, I would drop the pan, replace filter/gasket, and refill with about 5qts of new fluid; should be good to go for 15-20k miles or so.

If it's black/burnt, choice would be yours. I honestly don't know what I would do, either, these tranny's are SOOO very picky about having clean, fresh fluid, that if mine ever got that bad, I'd be paranoid either way.

Then again, it's actually somewhat rare, to have this tranny last that long with never having ATF service intervals.

Thanks will do that this week........ My truck has a dipstick.....could this be an aftermarket tranny?

Thanks will do that this week........ My truck has a dipstick.....could this be an aftermarket tranny?

Not a chance, it's the original GM 4L30E transmission. My Rodeo has a dipstick as well.

I had my fluid changed at the dealership 15,000 miles ago for about $125.00.

I now have 145,000 miles on my Rodeo.

The old fluid was replaced by their machine and the transmission has been working fine ever since.

How many miles were on it when you first did the change though? I dont know if this fluid has ever been changed. I dont wanna change it, loosen things up in there and then have it go bad before I get rid of it! Also did that $125 include a new filter?

holy crap! You have a DIPSTICK on the 95.5yr?? I'm JEALOUS!!

In that case, change away the ATF all you want.

Heck, if I had a dipstick on mine, I'd be doing partial fluid swaps every other oil change - seriously!! Mine is a _ _tch to do - without the dipstick.

How many miles were on it when you first did the change though? I dont know if this fluid has ever been changed. I dont wanna change it, loosen things up in there and then have it go bad before I get rid of it! Also did that $125 include a new filter?

tony -- have you read the posts on this by JLEMOND a genuine isuzu expert ... look for his ALL CAPS posts
http://forum.planetisuzoo.com/viewtopic.php?p=65192

//bc