No one will fault you for that. But you should drop the pan entirely one of those years, change the filter and clean the "crud" off the magnet at the bottom of the panl. There'* a write up in the Tech Info section of this forum on how to.

We had a previous discussion about our habits(good and really bad) of changing the transmission oil

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...hlight=shudder

h1081dan and jrs 3800 believes changing the oil every year will prevent transmission failure and KEOTOK, who has NEVER changed the transmission oil in 248,000 miles(and counting) is the right choice for him. There is no right answer, just what makes you sleep better at night(I wonder if KEOTEK ever sleeps???).

I decided I am going to stick with the Valvoline Maxlife fluid I have been using for the past 2 changes. Just wondering here though, how many of you are using a synthetic trans fluid? If you are how your trans doing on it??

It should be FLUSHED every 50 000 miles or 80 000 km and topped up when necessary

I have never heard of synthetic tranny fluid...thats new to me :?

yeah Valvoline and amsoil has synthetic ATF. I think Mobile 1 does too

I have heard more good about MaxLife than I have the synthetics.

I've HEARD, but never experienced......that the fully synthetic trans fluid is a bad idea on higher-mileage transmissions that may have already lost too much friction material on the bands. It'* too slippery. That'* enough of a warning for me to stay away from it.

I run the maxlife, too, and just had a full flush a couple months back. I also run the stock cooler AND an aftermarket. My trans temp gauge rarely climbs above 190°F, unless I'm doing some summertime mountain passes. (The day I warped my rotors, the trans reached 230°. I'm wondering what it would have been without that extra cooler. Would it have been the end?)

I did my first trans fluid change at 10,000 miles and while the pan was off I put a drain plug in it along with new filter. Now every few oil changes I can just drain the trans and do the filter once a year. A lot of the oil companies are coming out with a multi-vehicle trans fluid covering many types of transmissions. It is a semi-synthetic fliud and I will probably start using it soon.

Yes, I welded the drain plug in the pan and I did it myself. I did this with all my cars because like you said it makes life so much easier

[quote="willwren"]I've HEARD, but never experienced......that the fully synthetic trans fluid is a bad idea on higher-mileage transmissions that may have already lost too much friction material on the bands. It'* too slippery. That'* enough of a warning for me to stay away from it.quote]
This was enough to keep me from trying syn. ATF.

I just had my xmission fluid changed on my 01 ssei with 22k, I had an Intense shift kit installed. When my pan was dropped I was amazed to find a fair amount of sludge on the bottom of the pan and the magnet was filthy. Wiped everything down and cleaned the gasket too. Also another thing that made me go was that one of the bolts holding the acumulator cover 3/4 in, un threaded Factory like that from GM.
Also threw in a new tranny filter that cam supplied with the intense kit for $129. Also included 8 page full color directions. Pretty darn easy, all nuts and bolts and tranny fluid everywhere.

Shifting much firmer now. Going to get a cooler put on also before the summer.