[Dick Schneiders]

I just re-read your original posting, and saw where the fluid change job cost you $100. That would indicate to me that they did not use the proper fluid, as it costs anywhere from $20 to $28 a liter, and if they simply do a drain and refill, even if they drop the pan to check or replace the filter, it will still take about 6 or so liters for the job. That adds up to more than the $100 just for the fluid.

It is not a given that your tranny will be damaged from using a different fluid, in the short run, but after a long period of time the possiblity of damage certainly increases. If I were you I would first have a serious talk with the shop that did the work and find out exactly what type of fluid that they used, and if they changed the filter. If the wrong fluid was used, then I think you really need to have the job done again with the proper fluid.

There are a other issues here, if the fluid is the wrong stuff. If they do a drain and refill, even if they drop the pan, they will only get out about 2/3 or less of the old fluid, as the tranny holds about 9 liters. The rest will stay in the torque converter. There are ways to get more of it out, but not all of it unless they do what is called a flush of the transmission (which I would never have done on one of my cars). If they added a different fluid to what remained of the original fluid, then the two fluids will most likely not mix well at all, and could cause your tranny to work improperly. If this is the situation, then at this point you will have a mix of two different fluids and really need to have as much of the old fluid removed as possible and replaced with the proper fluid. I really don't know if you should have a complete tranny flush to insure that all of the old, improper fluid is removed, but that might be the only way to get all of it out. You can do several drain and refills, with the proper fluid, while driving the car a bit between them and that will dilute most of the old fluid and you would end up with a high percentage of new fluid. However, you would still never quite get all of the old stuff out and it would be very expensive to do this over and over with the "liquid gold" that these transmissions use.

The correct Esso tranny fluid is a clear liquid, so you might be able to take off the fill plug (not the drain plug) and check the color of the fluid. The proper level of fluid should be right at the point where the fluid will drip out of the fill plug hole when the plug is removed.

I really don't have enough information to determine if the so-called complete tranny flush is bad for our transmissions, but have seen enough warnings from mechanics and techs to be leery of them. What they are concerned about is the possibility of the flush dislodging some particle or something that might get into a sensitive part of the transmission. I have been unable to prove to myself if this is a possibility or not, so I have avoided this process for my cars to date. It might be perfectly safe, and really is the only way to get all of the old fluid out of these transmissions.

Good luck with this.