Topic: Just Because It Feels Broken doesn't Mean It Is

[Rocksurfer]

This is an interesting story, it started out as a normal trip but turned ugly about 2/3 the way there but the end teaches a lesson.

Rocks For Brains and I had tickets to the Kings Hockey game at Staples on Saturday evening so after work we headed out from Palm Springs, we got a late start since we were a little busy just as it was time to close so we took care of business and closed up the shop. We jetted home real quick showered and headed out on Hwy 111 and then onto the I-10 towards L.A. I was doing a brisk clip (80 mph.)  and it looked like we may only miss the introductions so we were just perfect.

Traffic!! Not that it wasn't expected, just as we approached Azusa on the I-10 traffic started to slow. So I started to coast and slowly brake, my truck (Durango) started to shake rather violently. Not dangerously but enough to get your attention real quick. I instantly recognized that it was the transmission/tcase causing the problem and of course I was in the fast lane so I was stuck. When we came to a stop I could tell everything was not right and that I was about to have a trans issue. I was able to work my way to the right lanes and started on the exit road at Vincent, but it looked like I was in deep trouble, shifting became erratic and shifting out of gear. [Note: just as I got in the exit lane so did a CHP] So here I am trying to keep moving and to the officer it probably looked like I was just trying to piss him off, but I finally limped off the freeway and into a Chevron station.

I checked out everything that I could in the station and everything looked and smelled fine, there was plenty of fluid and it was bright red and smelled like it should, not burnt at all. Didn't feel hot and I wasn't overheating so I ruled out any of the obvious things that may make an auto trans fail. So I called for a tow and took it back to my shop in Cat City to take a deeper look into what happened. This took the rest of the evening and into the morning to get done, I got home around 2 a.m.

I decided not to do anything until Monday since it was my daughters birthday on Sunday and a NASCAR race was in the cards so on Monday I started checking things out, I did notice when we were stuck that if I waited a couple minutes that I could shift and it would go into gear, I could then drive maybe 100 feet and it would shift out of gear and start whinning. So I started by taking the pan off and found nothing. I expected to find that there were chunks of torque converter but it was clean as a whistle, just the usual shavings around the magnet but clean none the less. I pulled the filter and checked it and seemed OK but didn't feel right, just a little heavy for a trans filter. [Note: when I lived in Arizona I had the trans flushed with a power flush system] I started pulling it apart and it was just crammed with crap, it was so bad it was clogged! So I ordered a new filter and some ATF +4 (figures my shop has 200 gals of ATF but no ATF +4) a special ATF for some Dodges  and put it all back together, fire it up, shift into gear and it goes right into gear. I start by driving it just around the shop and it seems just fine, no issues at all. Next I take it on the road and it is now shifting smoother than before it had the trouble. I take it back to the shop and check the fluid for darkness and there's nothing clean as it came out of the bottle. So for the last couple days I've been driving it while Campfire Girls been driving the Silverado (she's skeerd of it now) and it has had not even the slightest slip.

I've never been a fan of those power flushes since I'm of the old school that the filter needs to be replaced and that a power flush is just going to push the gunk into it instead of removing it. I never got a power flush system for my shop since (and I kick myself for even saying this) believe that the filter must be replaced when servicing a transmission every single time. Guess I should live by my own rules, that was the last time I'll ever get a power flush, I was hesitant when I got it but I was too busy to do it myself but never again that could have cost me a transmission.

[Duffil]

why are you kicking yourself for saying that? I look at it the same way.  If you are in there, change the filter.

Glad is was something cheap.

[Rocksurfer [OP]]

I'm kicking myself for getting that power flush in Arizona, they don't pull the pan when doing a power flush.

[Duffil]

Oh I thought you meant...never mind. I know they don't drop the pan when it's flushed.

[Rocksurfer [OP]]

I've always questioned the Power flush systems for auto trans, thought immediately about the filter but I was in a hurry and needed it done last year and had no time to do it myself so I let them do it. Never, never again. It would be like getting a power flush in your engine and not change the oil filter, just doesn't make sense. Now it is even more evident for me. Thought I was in for an expensive weekend when I was thinking the trans went bye bye. It actually ruined my Sunday since I was all bummed about having to put out a big chunk of cash on a new trans.

[Hammerhead]

I have a friend who works at a tranny shop and you should hear the horror stories he tells of similar situations caused by oil change places and their "power flushes"...

[Cheesemaker]

A co-worker had his 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 power flushed one time.  And he didn't get 10 miles down the road when the engine compartment caught on fire!  And upon investigation, the filter plugged up causing the tranny fluid to start shooting out the dipstick tube all over the engine compartment.  He took the shop owner to court to get things taken care of, since the owner said it wasn't their fault.  During the court session, the judge went and did some online search and found a Dodge online bulletin, that clearly states, "Do not power flush, tranny failure very possible, with reports of fire!" 

Well, he got a new truck out of the deal!  

[Rocksurfer [OP]]

I have a friend who works at a tranny shop and you should hear the horror stories he tells of similar situations caused by oil change places and their "power flushes"...

I have an oil change place and you will not even find a power flush system in the place.

[Hammerhead]

I have an oil change place and you will not even find a power flush system in the place.

[79coyotefrg]

I have an oil change place and you will not even EVER find a power flush system in the place.

fixed it for ya