advice on transmission fluid change, go all the way?

My Reatta has a judder when shifting from 2 to third. Sometimes, once or twice a week it does it. Has 148,000 miles on clock. About a year ago I put in a can of seafoam transmission conditioner, seemed to help. Should I do the 6 quart filter magnet clean or find some place that will replace all 12 quarts fluid change. Much more expensive. All advice, tips or ideas gratefully accepted.

Thanks,

Richard.

PS. Letting off gas pedal for a second or so clears the problem until next week. :confused:

I recommend the full flush and pan magnet cleaning plus new filter, but if it hasn't been well maintained up to this point you may not gain much (in terms of remaining service life). If the current fluid is fairly clean and unburnt, a full flush is probably not needed. Still, I'd do the filter.

KDirk

I think when you get to a "shudder" it is time to consider swapping out the tranny, either with a rebuild or another used tranny. The car is warning you that you are on borrowed time and one day it just won't shift anymore and that will happen at the most inconvienant time.

On my Black mine would "spin free" on the first 2nd to 3rd shift, so I would let it sit for a minute or two after starting to allow the fluid to pump up. That worked for about 2 years [20000-25000 miles] then it started shuddering on 2nd-3rd shifts. As I have stated on other occasions I use the Black as my "winter" car. We swapped it out in mid December early January in my buddy's garage forcing me to inconvienance him [his car had to sit out]and me driving the Red [a pretty nice Florida car].

Your tranny is on "life support" I would decide what you would do if it went out and get started on that plan. There is nothing to be gained by prolonging the inevitable.

imo a membership to triple a is a good idea for our cars.if it does die somewhere at least you and it will get home without a hassle.

imo a membership to triple a

I wholeheartedly agree. If you travel over a hundred miles, even occasionally, I'd recommend the AAA Plus package.

Once, my GMC pickup suffered a fuel pump failure near DeKalb Illinois. Called AAA and they sent me a flat-bed tow and took me and the truck all the way back to Valparaiso, IN. (time to get out your Google Maps) My out of pocket portion of the bill was about $76.00. Not bad... not bad at all.

Re., the Tx. flush. I think Dave said it best. But, I might give a pan drop, filter and another can of SF a try. Might buy you some while you decide on a more permanent course of action. This would give you an opportunity to see the quality of the fluid and weather or not there are any chunks or other debris that have fallen into the pan. This is something that I'd do because I'd be doing it myself and that's just how I roll.

John F.

Do the fluid flush...... I would also replace the filter, which brings up the question, do you change the filter then flush or flush then change the filter. Since these new machines say they "back flush" the transmission, they also claim this cleans the filter. But during the process how much debris gets caught on the inside of the filter?

I am also a strong supporter of the auxiliary transmission cooler. Mainly if you live in the areas of the US that get hot during the summer. All transmission data says heat accelerates failure. You can often find Rivieras in salvage yards with factory coolers and this can be easily fitted to the Reatta.

before you do anything else - check your rubber vacuum lines going to the trans! i had a similar "clunk" and it turned out to be a cracked vac line.

always best to do a full flush & filter - but - if your fluid is nice and red, i'd pull the pan and check the filter and magnet for excessive metal particles. that may show if the trans is worth saving. if ok, replace the filter, clean the pan and don't forget a new pan gasket.

when i did mine, it took 7 or 8 quarts.

When I took the Black in several years ago for a complete flush and fill with a filter, I was able to look through a mirror at the tech doing the work. When he got the pan down he reached into it and pulled out a part of a seal. I knew then that it was only a matter of time. However I did get about 25,000 miles out of it. It was the major reason for not selling it to John [Machiner55] when I was thinking about "thinning the herd". Now I would have no problems selling it to anyone, however I now of course want to keep it as it is once again in great running condition and a very nice 10 footer..

Thank you to all. It will be 4 months or so before I can afford a tranny rebuild, at 148,000 miles it does not owe me anything. I will do the filter and pan clean and hope it gives me 4 to 5 months. Putting the finishing touches on my new 1972 Buick Centurion will be ready Wednesday then I write the BIG CHECK.

Best Regards to all,

Richard

For what it's worth. I called two transmission shops and asked about a fluid change or flush. Both said that GM had sent out a blurb saying not to do a flush so they only do a change.

I did take my 90 in for a fluid change to one of these and when they dropped the pan, it was full of plastic pieces. They broke apart the filter and that had plastic in it also. Seems like there is a plastic bushing in the trans that disintegrated. The only way to fix it is to rebuild the trans. The car has just over 93000 miles on it. The shop said they didn't know why I wasn't have any shifting problems with the broken bushing and that if I had driven it until I did have problems, I probably would have ruined the case and other parts costing more money.

Ed

I used to have a '90 Regal with the same transmission as the Reatta. I dutifully had the pan drop/filter change done at 30k and 60k. But at about 75k the 1->2 shift would sometimes get a little hard. They dropped the pan and found a bit of thrust washer in it. The advise at the time was to drive it until it died. Funny thing is that I kept doing the normal fluid/filter changes and the car went another 12 years before I sold it. Still sometimes had the hard 1->2 shift, but never got any worse and we never found any more thrust washer in the pan.

Postscript is that about 1.5 years later, I came across it at one of the local Pick-N-Pulls - awaiting its fate.