Who uses what brands of transmission fluids for their vehicles? Or does it matter?

As long as you use the correct one for your car you are all set. For example there'* dextron and dextron II probably a III by now.

Be careful of mixing a synthetic and non-syn together. Also I believe Willwren mentioned if you are high mileage syn'* can cause slippage because everything is borken in or blah blah...

You can't get anything other than Dex III [in that, I mean you can't get dex I or dex II]. My car was made for Dex II, and I use Dex III in it just fine. I picked up some valvoline max life, pretty cheap too. Valvoline seems to be the only brand which is non-synthetic, and not cheap, gas-station quality.

IMO, Bill is right.. stick with whatcha got. Don't but reg with syn, and don't put syn with reg. If you don't know what you have, just use reg. You probably [I said PROBABLY] have the factory fluid, and that'll be reg. After flushing my tranny, I want to recommend it to everyone. I had burnt-*** fluid, and it made a huge increase in tranny feel/shift quality and all that whatnot. Your decision in the end, though.

5-7 quarts for a drain 'n fill, 10-15 for a flush. You must remember as soon as you drop the pan, you will need 5-7 quarts to top it off. So don't waste all your fluid on flushing, because you'll still need a good amount.


-justin

dexronIII, I had valvoline do it for me they have some kind of machine that pumps it out so the dirty stuff gets all out

I wouldnt recommend flushing the tranny. Just drop the pan and let the 5-7 quarts come out and then refill with however much came out.

I use GM Dexron III also. Had the GM dealer drop the pan.

Flushing it (especially with a "quickie lube" place) could be murder for your AOD tranny.

rora dude, there are many disadvantages to flushing, yet the biggest advantage, it COULD save your tranny. Like mine. I flushed out 8-some quarts.. and left the pans in my garage overnight, when I came back in, my garage was FILLED with the smell of burnt fluid. It was so overwhelming. It saved mine, extended the life of Bill'*, and there are plenty others. I also did this myself, I would never let a shop do work on my car, especially transmission work.

jr: Coastal? You sure man? isn't that a gas station? Valvoline is the same price here, too. Max life is 35/case [12pack], and coastal is 38/case [also, 12pack].


-justin

I also use Gm dex III

Note: you cant flush your tranny at home, drain it sure. In order to do a proper tranny flush you need to hook it up to a machine that pumps (flushes) the fluid in and out of the the tranny (usually takes 45 min for a few cycles). This is a good idea for newer trannies and if done a regular basis can add life to the trans as it keeps it clean inside. But on older high milage trannies this can dislodge large built up deposits and can actually harm the transmission.

Coastal is Autozones private label and is fine although any Dex III will work.