Transmission Fluid Additive

[HondaManDan]

I just puchaced some Lucas Transmission Additive.. it's said to smooth out shifts, prevent wear, and reduce heat and slip within an Automatic tranny... it also says on the back that it's good for All Transmissions and All Transmission Fluids...

Has anyone ever used a Transmission Additive in the 3800 Park Ave Tranny?

I'm getting the thing flushed out tomorrow and having the pan dropped to have a new filter and pan-gasket installed as well... I figured this would be cheap insurance against pre-mature wear and tear on the 108,000 mile transmission.

Is this a good idea?

Any experience?

Thanks for the help!

Dan

[cadauctions]

The Lucas Transmission Fix is a spectacular product with amazing results. I would NOT flush that tranny if I were you! Drop the pan and change the filter and fluid ONLY!!! Then add the Lucas. If this tranny has never been done before then flushing it can cause problems. Believe me, I learned the hard way. I changed the fluid and the tranny started slipping. I suggested that I flush it on here, and I was told not too, so I will warn you away from flushing as well. But if you change the fluid yourself, you will be only changing 7 - 8 quarts of the 20 quarts of fluid your tranny holds. When a tranny gets to the mileage that yours is at, it actually starts to depend on the grayish sludge that has built up in it, and the lucas will revitalize the rest of the fluid that is left unchanged. Believe me, this will be just as good as a flush if not way better.

[imidazol97]

The transmission holds about 13 quarts unless it has a larger volume sump than the 98 and 03. I found that I put back in 6-7 quarts, so 55% of the fluid gets changed. That puts in lots of new additives in the replacement fluid.

If I wanted to do something to clean the trans coatings out, I'd use a partially synthetic fluid or add some synthetic fluid to the mix. I used a Pennzoil partial synthetic for the first replacement at 80K and drove about 8-10K and then changed again with regular fluid without replacing filter and changed again another 6-8 K later. My service manager had recommended that instead of trying the then popular but potentially trouble causing flushes. When I was done less than 10% of the original fluid was left. I had earlier changed at 65K which the service manager said was too late; it should have been changed at 36K.

I am at 140K now and ready to change half the fluid again.

My advice would be just start changing the fluid every 10-15 K. Use the replacement of your choice but I'd think about gently removing buildup with fresh additives in each replacement and draining them out rather than trying to shock it with high additives in a flush with, hopefully, total replacement.

Does a flush actually get all old fluid out. Does anyone have proof where someone put in a marker then used the flush and tested quantitatively to see how much marker was left?

[HondaManDan]

Well, I just got it back from the dealer today and here's what they did.

First they drained all the fluid from the pan.
Dropped the pan.
Changed the filter.
Put a new gasket on the pan.
Replaced the pan.
Flushed the filter with a pressurized flushing system they use.
This gets ALL of the old fluid out.
Next, they filled it up with new fluid... ran it.
Then topped it off.

So, I notice the car has a huge difference already. Shifts much smoother and hardly any clunk when moving from D to R or P to R or anything like that.

Now that it's done and clean, I want to put some of the Lucas Additive I have in it to not only keep the viscosity of the oil, but to also prevent slippage and hard-shifts.

I'm not an overly-aggressive driver, and most of my time is spent on the highway.. so it's mainly to prevent breakdown due to excessive heat.

So far, so good though. Hopefully the previous owner changed the fluid at somepoint during the car's life because I'd hate to run into problems due to the clean fluid.

Thanks for the help, I'll update you on how it goes after I get a chance to take it out on the highway.

Dan