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checked the fluid today and it is brownish.....still a little red but not much. shop says 100 for the flush. there are mixed reviews of flushes and i'm not having any noticeable trans issues. so do i
flush
basic change
or
leave well enough alone

Just do the change. Flushes on higher mileage vehicles tend to do more harm then good.

would a "high mileage" fluid be the best?

what do shops normally charge?

themadness wrote:checked the fluid today and it is brownish.....still a little red but not much. shop says 100 for the flush. there are mixed reviews of flushes and i'm not having any noticeable trans issues. so do i
flush
basic change
or
leave well enough alone

100 is not bad or a trans flush, we charge 180 or it.

How many miles are on you car? If your fluid is starting to turn brown and is still a little red like you said a flush would not harm it, I do it all the time at my shop. Its when you fluid is black and or gritty is when a flush will do more harm that good

pushing 112k soon. i am just a little cautious of the flush since there are so many different opinions on it. this is my daily driver and i have quite a few other things to do as well (bearings, trans mount, struts) so i have to decide which is the most important. is the basic change hard to do? i dont trust my mechanical abilities that much....

Do you know the history? Has it ever been changed? If you do not know and it is at 112k and turning color on you I would just go with change and let it go, drive it "normal" and don't abuse it and I would think all would be ok.

dont know the history or anything. how serious is the color starting to change?

my driving habits are very similar to that of a 65 year old man....

once it is not red anymore I would not flush. Not that I am anyone, but I have been around many diff make/model car sites/forums like this since 2000, common theme I always saw was on a higher miles car, NO HISTORY specially, play it safe and not flush.

Also, smell (yes, smell) your fluid. If clutches are burned they will make the fluid smell burnt.

I would just do the change if it were me.

yea i sniffed it. got weird looks from the neighbors too. it didnt smell "sweet" but it didnt smell burnt either.

I'd just skip the flush and chage it. Maybe take it to a GOOD SHOP that you know or someone you know that uses them and have them pull the pan. If there are no FORIEGN particles in it, they seems to think it does not smell of burn clutches and the fluid is red a little still and they say they would flush then maybe do it. DO NOT take it to a chain store and have them say what they would do. HA HA HA.
Try to find an independant that has a little rep to keep up in the community.

Flush = Bad for trannies over 100k in most cases.

Change it out and the filter. This will get about 60%-70% of the fluid. That's enough. And then you don't risk an unclean flush machine at the shop injecting dirty fluid into your undamaged trans.

Your car should take about 7 quarts and a filter. Should be around $50.

Also remember... What does the shop mean by flush... Some say that and then all they do is drain the fluid, fill it, run it for a few min, drain it again, fill it, run for a few, drain again and fill again...... Not too often do they actually mean hooking the trans up to a machine through the cooling ports and forcing fresh fluid all the way through. Also in doing that type of change, they don't do your filter unless they drain and change filter, top off then flush.

Either way you'll never solve any transmission issues by changing fluid or flushing the system, so just drain it and do the filter and fill it back up.

my dad told me the flush would help the overall ride by smoothing out the shifting. i dont have any problems that i know of with the trans. will the basic fluid change do any thing for transmission performance?

No and no... Most harsness of shifting first off is a problem, and secondly is typically caused by a valve body wearing out and the flush will do nothing to help with that.