I do not have any codes....yet. I will check on the condition of the fluid later and let you know. At the time being my car is covered with 7in of snow... gotta love New England!!

If in doubt about the length of time since the last transmission oil change, err on the safe side and change it.

Yup x2 on that.
Anytime I have a new to me no history car, it is time to bring the car up to my standards & change them all including power steering, brake, diffs (if applicable) transmission,oil,etc.
Then it is on to all filters, fuel,air, cabin etc. Then a full tune up with new plugs. wires etc.
alignment too.
Oh ya Derek, you can take a photo of the regal buried in snow & post it here!
https://www.gmforum.com/lounge-99/le...photos-304271/
Some folks get mega snowed in! woh!

The link below allows one to exchange their trans fluid in 7" of snow. Super easy....

https://www.gmforum.com/how-127/how-...-tools-302585/

Very creative. Thank you for that!

Me personally i would change the fluid no matter the mileage. It dont bother me if i gotta put a tranny in. I am going to change the fluid and filter in my truck and car. The truck has 160000 and the car 100000. I am going to use dex 6 when i do, do it. I just dont have the extra cash right now to do it. Me personally say change it. The dex 6 might make a difference compared to the dex 3 in bringing the tranny back to life.

I must admit, other than how easy this is I don't see the benefit. Flushing the transmission has the advantage of getting all the fluid throughout the entire system, but does not change the filter and can disturb things that don't want to be disturbed in an older transmission. Doing a pan-drop change has the advantage of changing the filter, but you don't get all the fluid. You can argure flushing versus pan drop all day, but in my opinion it comes down to a matter of personal choice. Sucking the transmission fluid through the dipstick has none of the advantages of either of the other methods. You don't get all the fluid and you don't change the filter. Doing it three times over a three week period to make sure you get most of the fluid costs more money, and takes more time than doing a pan drop or flushing the system.

I haven't had any problems with the tranny on my '03 Malibu, since I've had it. It had just under 94k when I got it, now, it'* got 103K. Tranny shifts fine, but, I'm wondering myself, if I should have tranny service done, even if I'm not having any problems? I have the 4T40 trans, btw...

That'* like asking if you should change engine oil before you start having problems. Preventive maintenance is less costly than repairs. Change the transmission oil, particularly since you don't know when it was changed last.

I dont suppose anyone knows off hand how much Tranny fluid I should have on hand before taking on this project.