So I just bought this car and just starting to get a feel for everything. I have no maintenance history from any previous owners. The car appears to be in great shape, well taken care of, and everything is in good working order. The car has obviously been well maintained from the looks of everything. I have changed the oil, and am wondering about servicing the tranny. The car has 80,000 miles on it. The fluid looks clean on the dipstick, but that is all I have to go on.

How are the trannies in these cars? Should I have it flushed and serviced now? I haven't modded the car yet obviously as we have only had it a week, but mods are definitely in its future, so I was thinking about purchasing one of the "home built" shift kits a couple of the guys have advertised on here and installing that at the same time since I would have the pan off anyway.

Thoughts?

I'd say go ahead and drain the trans oil, put a new filter in and be done with it. Rip the old filter open and check for nasty'*. That'* just one more thing checked off your list that you don't have to worry about. If the previous owner took care of it, that trans should last another 100K. Of course, pending any mods you do could reduce its life unless you hook the trans up.

It'* time to change the fluid and filter. Adding a shift kit will add a bit more punch to the shift. Well worth doing at the same time you change the filter and fluid.

Don't flush! Flushing can make things move that are just fine where they are and you might not like the results. Drop the pan, wipe the pan out, change the filter, add the shift kit, fill er up, and go drive her.

Fluid change and filter only. Not knowing the previous maintenance make me cautious of a flush. Install a shift kit while you're in there and add a little pep in your step

If you go to a Jiffy Lube, they have a machine that is a Fluid Exchanger, that will exchange all the fluid but let the trans do it at its own pace and pressure by going inline on a trans cooler line, so it dosent unsettle any particles that are in the transmission. A trans flush can take anywhere from 15 to 45 mins, so its nothing forceful. That is the best way to replace all the fluid, because with a pan drop, you are only getting about 15~20% of the fluid changed, and even if you change the fluid in the pan 5 times in a row you wont get it all replaced with new fluid.

I worked with the machine for about a year before I left for college and can say its the way to go as long as the person working it knows whats going on. lol

Great, that'* all I need is for some uneducated kid to snap a cooler line off my trans because he didn't know what he was doing.
Does the machine change the filter at the same time?

Thats the problem. TOOOOOOO many horror stories with X companies screwing up customer vehicles. That'* why most of us on here will not go anywhere near these places. I for one was a victim with Quaker State once.

My preference is a pan drop. It drains approximately 7.5 quarts of fluid. Dry, our transmissions hold 13 quarts. That'* approximately 50%. When you drop the pan, the filter is changed. You resuse the gasket if it is a factory gasket and is in good shape. The factory gasket is expected to be a lifetime gasket. You can tell it is the factory gasket by the ridges on the surface and feeling of metal inside the rubber. It is a stout gasket.

Like mentioned, most flushes are done by oil change flunkies. These guys torque oil filters to 500ft lbs, pissing off the next guy who does a change. I don't trust them past an oil change and I check the level of oil as soon as I can if I must use one of these places. A flush isn't necessarily bad, but typically doesn't change the filter, therefore making it negligible in my book. I think of a transmission filter the same as an engine oil filter. You change it.

Shift kit would speed up the shift a little and firm things up. It'* one of the best things you can do if you plan to mod or would like to lengthen the life of your clutches in the transmission.

Thanks everyone. I was leaning twords dropping the pan and doing a filter and shift kit myself, but just wanted to check.

I know our mechanic at work has taken some vehicles over to the local shop here for tranny servicing because they have a machine that exchanges all the fluid. I'll call over there and find out if it works using pressure, or is something like rockstar mentioned. I trust that guy over there, so if they have a fluid exchanger I might have them do it, otherwise I'll drop the pan.

I'm getting tires put on this week, so hopefully next week I can get a shift kit bought and get this done. Christmas time puts a real damper on the car funds.

Thanks again.

If you plan the shift kit, I'd suggest skipping the flush. Why pay the money for that to dump the fluid out right after? Since your fluid looks good, do the pan drop, shift kit. That changes 50%. Then in a year or so, do another drop and filter.

I do it once a year and have great success.