hello
i have about 103,000 miles on the car,should i change the transmission fluid and filter with a new filter and fluid?i dont know if it was done befor i got the car at 49,000 miles on it, fluid looks good and runs great still i have a 97 bonneville se 3800 n/a eng. k

and dont know what type of transmission (60 or 65 )

thank you robert

what kind of shape would you say your tranny is in now? i know that a flush, and change has a tendency to finish off some trannies, while helping others.

I would drop the pan, replace the filter and pan gasket, clean the magnet at the bottom of the pan, add new Dexron III oil and you should be good to go. I think we have a good procedure in Tech Info. Just don't over tighten the pan bolts (approx 12-14 ft lbs is all it needs).

and, be sure to take pics along the way, and ask questions. you can learn a lot about your tranny when you drop the pan.

Here is one with pictures.
http://www.grandprix.net/upgrades/tranfluid.html

Another one out there with pictures but I can’t find it now.

A couple of things I noticed. First, I would stick with Dexron III Xmission Fluid. With over 100K on the Xmission, I don't think going Synthetic at this stage of the game is a good thing unless you rebuilt the transmission and you started out with Synthetic. Unless things have changed since 1991, you are not going to get 8 quarts when you drain the transmission. It'* closer to 6. Next, If the old O-Ring comes out with the Old Filter, then by all means replace it with the new O-Ring. But DON'T stick screwdrivers in that hole trying to remove the old O-Ring if it'* stuck in there. Leave it alone and just push the new filter into the old O-Ring. I've never had a problem reusing the old O-Ring. And finally, when your adding the new Xmission Oil. Do not add more than 6 courts of Dexronn III before warming up the car and checking the oil level. You do not want to over fill the Xmission

The factory gasket is re-useable if it is in good condition and is of better quality than the cork based gaskets that come with most filters.

Also, I believe the torque-spec is 12 or 13 ft lbs. (I'll need to double-check) and the bolts CAN be broken easily if overtorqued.

My friend and I were both doing fluid changes at the same time. He was using a poor quality torque wrench, over-tightened , and ended up with two broken bolts. (one broke while tightening and the other broke while re-removing all the pan bolts to replace the rest of them after the over-tightening fiasco. It had been stretched by the over-torquing and broke when trying to remove it). So, on my car, I finger-tightened all pan bolts, first, in a criss-cross fashion, then I went back and tightened the bolts in the same fashion with the torque wrench to 10 ft. lbs. Only, then, did I reset the torque wrench to 12 (or 13...again, I will double-check) and tightened to final spec.

Also, I broke my old filter at the neck during the removal process which added some time since I needed to remove the broken plastic neck. Just take your time and wiggle while gentley pulling, and eventuallly it will come out.

x2

Here is another link with pictures.
http://members.aol.com/regal231/xmission.htm

Like the other link use it just for the pictures.
Fallow the instructions in Techinfo
http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/techinfo/?article=37

and what every one said above.
Have plenty of rags or paper towels on hand this is a messy job.

Delco filter # A42TF304
GM # 25313825