alright i have no idea when the last tranny fluid change was on my car, more then likely never. my fluid looks pretty much like motor oil, still clearish but at the very end of the dipstick its pretty dark. is it completely cooked? would doing a fluid change be bad this late in the game? its a 1990 v6 firebird, pretty sure it was a chick/mom car early in life so probably hasnt seen the most abuse. it shifts perfect as far as i can tell, all my gears are working. only problem i can see is that when i got WOT, the shift from 2nd to 3rd seems a little late/lagged tho, it'll almost hit 6k rpm then shift, tv cable needs adjustment maybe? under normal driving tho, the shifts are right where they should be and actually pretty firm. Is harder/firmer shifts a bad sign? its not violent but a nice clean shift on the harder side. Also when movign from park to drive with my foot on the brake, the car jerks. i hear this is normal on 700r4's tho. im not sure how many miles, since the odometer doesnt always turn. every 50 miles or so it'll have a couple miles where it doesnt click. its reading about 73200 now but figure its got close to 100k at least.

anyway, is there anyway to see how bad the fluid really is right now? what should it smell like and what does it smell like if its been burnt? should i just follow the old "if it aint broke, dont fix it" saying and leave it alone? or will the bad fluid thats in now be more of a gamble then flushing it out and putting new fluid in?

need advice from the pro's! help me out

 

Anytime you can "improve" on something (changing dirty transmission oil to clean oil) it can only help. I would do a "complete" change of oil (fluid) and a new Sealed Power/Filtran filter. This should keep it going for awhile. I know there are "horror" stories out there, but it coincidence or other reasons that cause things to fail, so changing to good oil should not be frowned upon. Use Mobil, Aamco, or AC Delco Dexron III non-synthetic.

 

any other opinions before i go through with this? what would be better for the tranny at this point, synthetic or regulare?

 

As far as the "good maintence or instant death" part, I'll agree completely with Dana. Here's a good way to get all the old fluid out http://www.amsoil.com/faqs/faq8.htm . Also gives some ideas about determining the present quality of your ATF. If it's burnt, your nose will definately let you know (my sniffer doesn't work all that well, and I can still detect the stuff w/o any problems).

I believe Dana was assuming you were thinking of conventional petroleum-based ATFs. Synthetics are generally better (got to be careful about general recommendations, though), with AMSOIL, Redline being the front-runners. There apparently were some problems with Mobil 1 ATF in the past, not sure if they've fixed them.

If your friction discs are already worn, you may see increased slip with synthetic ATF. If they're in good shape, though, you won't have any problems.

 

so i should just use a high quality non-sythetic? besides a new filter and pan gasket, is there anything else i should replace while the changing the fluid? any seals in there that go bad?

 

yes, the best thing for a tranny that is "going south" is a good quality regular fluid and a new filter. the fluid should be a nice transparent red, not dark. you can smell a burnt tranny withought even checking the fluid, it wreaks.

 

just smelled my fluid, doesnt smell burnt or anything. smells like oil pretty much. it isnt nearly as dark as i thought either, even at the tip of the dipstick. must have been the lighting yesterday or something i dunno.

theres nothing besides a new gasket and filter i should get for the tranny when i do the fluid change?

 

A filter "kit" will have a new pan gasket and filter seal along with the filter.

I didn't read your original post very carefully before I replied, I'm afraid. Your late WOT 2-3 shift is symptomatic of the 3-4 clutch pack wearing out (I really know about that, mine won't shift at all WOT). That the fluid doesn't smell and isn't as dirty-looking as you first thought is good, though. However, did you check it warm or cold? (The wear particles could settle out and the fluid appear cleaner if you pulled the dipstick w/o the engine running after the car sat overnight.)

So, "regular" ATF is probably a wise choice at this time. Go ahead and do the flush thing, though. If all is well after that, then perhaps consider synthetic.