Originally published on 06/26/2014
Updated on 07/27/2022
Depending on your driving habits and the type of transmission with which your vehicle is equipped, manufacturers’ recommendations can be as few as 30,000 miles or as many as 80,000 miles. Waiting too long between changes is very harmful for your transmission and it is wise to check your owner’s manual or with your local AAMCO for the proper time and mileage intervals and the type of fluids your vehicle requires. Today’s cars and trucks are well built to handle today’s driving stresses. But working your vehicle hard can cause your transmission to run hot a lot more often. This repeated heat can cause the transmission fluid to break down faster.
Therefore, the time intervals in between your transmission fluid changes should come sooner, rather than later, in order to keep your vehicle running at peak performance.
A transmission professional or car inspection can help you get an idea as to the current state of your transmission fluid, any issues related to the transmission, and help inform you what is the best course of action for your vehicle. All vehicle owners should make sure to add transmission fluid checks to your regular maintenance.
Not only do your driving habits affect the breakdown of transmission fluid, but so can putting off getting the service done. Even if you do not put a lot of miles on your car and instead you are taking quick drives around town or you regularly drive short distances, you can just as easily put additional wear on your vehicle’s components.
If you have recently purchased a used car with 100,000 or so miles on it, it’s a good idea to have one of the transmission experts at AAMCO Lee’s Summit determine whether it has been serviced or requires servicing. We’ll only recommend the services or repairs you need.
At AAMCO Lee’s Summit, we perform several types of transmission fluid services depending on what your vehicle requires. Transmission fluid services are an important part of preventative maintenance for your vehicle to keep driving at it’s best. All of our fluid services begin with a multi-point check to assess the condition of your transmission.
AAMCO’s Traditional Transmission Fluid Change
With this service, we remove your car’s transmission fluid, sump or pan and about half of the transmission fluid is drained and replaced with fresh fluid, due to the rest of it still being up within parts of the transmission
Power Purge Service
AAMCO Lee’s Summit’s Power Purge service includes using a special machine that connects to the vehicle’s transmission and purges out all of the old, degraded fluid and replaces it with new , fresh fluid. This service is designed to replace all of your transmission fluid, but the sump pan isn’t cleaned and the filter isn’t replaced. However, today’s transmissions don’t wear material down the way transmissions did 30 to 35 years ago. Unless there are already existing issues within your transmission internally and something seems to be coming apart, it isn’t necessary to replace the filter.
This is a specialized service geared towards the minority of vehicles that have transmissions that do not include a removable pan or filter. Without this removable pan and filter, the Power Purge service is essentially the only service available for these cars, which happen to include most of today’s Hondas.
Premier Service
Our Premier transmission fluid service is a combination of our Traditional Transmission Fluid Change and Power Purge services. Your vehicle’s sump pump is removed and cleaned, then the filter is replaced and the pan resealed with a new gasket. The Power Purge machine is then connected and flushes out all of the old fluid and replaces it with fresh, new fluid.
If you have any questions or are experiencing any issues with your transmission, give us a call for a convenient appointment or stop into AAMCO Lee’s Summit today.
