Quote:
Originally Posted by Daves55Sedan
Oil and hydraulic fluid becomes contaminated by metal wear of moving parts and in the case of oil, un-burned fuel and carbon adds to the contamination.
I am sure that your owners manual does include a variety of scheduled services for different components of your vehicle which they recommend be performed at the dealer for a premium $$$.
My 2007 Ford F150 pickup with AOD does have both a dipstick and fill port and does tell the exact type of transmission fluid to use (Mercon V).
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I send my engine oil samples from my work truck ('97 Dodge/Cummins) to a lab for analysis every 15,000 miles. If it is not high with contaminates (wear metals, silicon, soot, fuel or water) I don't drain it. The current oil is at 34,000 miles. I also sample gear box oil, but not nearly as frequently. The owners manual for it specifies 48 months or 48,000 miles for automatic transmission drain and adjustment. Thankfully I have a manual transmission in it. It also specifies 3000 mile engine oil changes. That is a throwback to the 50s when oil was in bottles next to the gas pumps and of poor quality. Technology improved the oil but hasn't changed people's perception that it has to be drained long before it is actually unserviceable. The oil companies are happy to prolong the myth that oil "wears out" when it fact it never wears out. Contaminates are what makes oil unusable and proper filtration captures those contaminates. Using bypass filtration there are 18 wheelers that go over 300,000 miles between oil drains.
As I stated the owners manuals of the minivans or my 2019 Ram do not show any service criteria for the transmissions. Perhaps it is planned obsolescence, or perhaps the filtration and quality of current transmission fluids has made scheduled drains obsolete. I guess I'll find out because I keep vehicles until the wheels fall off. My '97 Dodge has 1.4 million on it, I customized my '67 Chev 30 years ago and still have it and I believe the computers in the Ram will fail long before the transmission does. The '67 has a turbo 350 in it that hasn't had an oil and filter change in 20 years.