Transmission and running gear service

Thank you for joining in.

 

Was waiting to see if you'd catch on to that one. Be sure to let us know how that dealership coffee taste when you go to get your transmission flushed.

 

Will do, but I’ve got 30,000 more to go before my next, ahem, “fluid exchange”. Somehow my truck is still shifting after the last one.

While I’m there, I’ll have a cup of coffee with Victor Sheppard, while he’s waiting for his tranny flush as well. He’s about to hit another 1,000,000 miles in the 2014 DC Tundra. Remember him? He hit 1M in a 2007 DC 4.7L Tundra in 2016. Still had original transmission. He has every bit of service done at Greg LeBlancs shop in Houma,LA. They use the BG Power Flush unit for ATF. They change Victors rig every 50,000 miles, as he tows heavy loads. So, he had 20 tranny flushes on his 2007, and incredibly his solenoids didn’t disintegrate, and that Aisin tranny made it 1M miles. He did have his 2014 tranny rebuilt (at 860,000), prolly due that power flush.

 

I'm pretty sure flushes on a regular interval is fine. Drain and Fills are preferred method. Using Victors example of a flush every 50k does not help your argument at all. AGAIN, even in extreme situations, it's not guaranteed to destroy a transmission, no one ever said that. History shows though that it CAN happen.

Go continue to flush your transmission whenever you want and live another day to tell about it.

Enjoy that cup of coffee too.

 

Let’s do some math - 15 quarts of WS for a flush = $300 x 20 =$6,000.00 in trans service just for fluid - zero for labor. @Tileguy is at 500,000 miles and hasn’t spent a penny. At this point he could put in a new trans and be ahead of the game.

 

@Terndrerr Thanks for the info. The truck is shifting fine at 200 km but I have noticed a slight burning plastic type of smell after parking the truck. Another reason I was contemplating a fluid change. I have only had the truck for about 3 weeks & driven it about 8 times so still figuring out the bugs.

 

No problem. Welcome to the forum.

I would check around under the truck and in the engine bay to see if you can track down that smell. Something might be touching a hot surface that isn’t supposed to be.

Does it smell like burning oil? A lot of these 5.7s have a slight oil seepage on the cam towers. You can see it with a flashlight through the wheel well. Bigger leaks can burn a bit of oil which you can smell after driving. Many people report that running 5w30 oil slows or eliminates the seepage altogether.

 

Thanks, this is a gold mine for info. Very excited with the truck. It's not perfect, guy before used it for work but it's still pretty clean & most importantly no rust which is huge for Atlantic Canada.
Does not smell like oil burning, smells more plasticity. I'll take a look under and check for oil or maybe a piece of insulation or something touching something hot. Cheers

 

Take a putty knife with you when you go spelunking. My guess is you'll find the remnants of some plastic litter melted on the exhaust system.

 

Actually Tileguy has 2 Tundras one 499k and the daily driver at 322k. Thats 821k total miles with no transmission service and only one tuneup. Not implying everyone will have the same results but just my experience. Both trucks are 4wd and carry heavy loads frequently in our small business.

 

I bet most of the ultra high mileage trucks have had zero transmission servicing. One forum member knows of a 900k-mile 5.7 truck at his dealer. He was supposed to get a call back from the tech who does all the service work exclusively on that truck so he could ask some questions, but no call yet so far.

 

So if we sum it all up for quick reference:

1. Drain and Fill is most commonly preferred way to change fluid
2. Flush is common when normal intervals have been performed
3. Extreme high mileage with no transmission service is also common
4. Everyone has their own opinion on what to do with their truck which is good

OP, Best of luck with your Tundra!