To change ATF or not? That is the Question...

[MikeC5]

My Dad has a 95 Legacy with AT and 137K miles and although it runs fine, he wants to get the ATF changed and a new strainer installed. The local Sube dealer is telling him that it isn't a good idea to change fluid on an old AT as it is likely to cause problems. I did some searching here and found one thread where a tranny shop guy said the same thing. I'd like to hear from others - I have a hard time believing it is bad to do this and I doubt AFT oil has changed radically from what is was in 95...

[Murphy]

i listen to Car Talk (if you dont know what it is, your taxes are paying for it, shame on you), and they had a lady wondering the same thing and they said it was a myth that changing old tranny fluid would harm the car
although from what i hear it is true for a complete tranny flush, it may dislodge junk and stop up fluid lines or tear up gears, but a simple drain and fill wont hurt it, i dont think i would change the strainer
when draining, use a catch pan with measurements on the side, how ever much comes out is how much you put back in

btw, (off topic) a year or two back a man with a first gen Legacy who had a 5mt swap was asking questions on car talk, this wasnt any of you was it?

[MikeC5]

Thanks. I do listen to Car Talk when I get the chance. According to NPR, only 9% of their funding comes from the gummint....

[AWD_addict]

Did they answer the 5mt swap guy's question?

My garage radio only gets NPR now (time for a new radio!), so I was listening to Car Talk and thinking I could stump them with a legacy-specific question.

I changed my ATF by draining it a few times, seemed to extend the life a little. Clutch packs died later though.

[Murphy]

i thought my clutch packs went out a while back, they would lock up and i thought they were gone, but i had an offsize tire on my car for about 3 days since i had a blow out, when i got new tires it started working again, maybe a computer problem, idk


i cant remember the question or the answer, but i believe it was something to do with his transmission
if your going to call tell us so i can be sure to catch it on the radio, not sure how all that works though, might be recorded

[IronMonkeyL255]

Changing old, brown fluid is OK, but once the fluid is black, then that means you have far worse problems.

[SemperGuard]

The reason the fluid is dark is because it has clutch material in it. If you drain and fill, you get rid of clutch material. If the transmission is in extremely bad condition you will have nothing after this. If it just has a lot of miles you probably won't notice anything, but it will still be worse off. If you do a flush you are getting rid of most of the clutch that is left in the tranny. So you lose your transmission if it's in bad shape, and if it's horrible you pretty much just wasted time and money.

For a 95 with 137k miles you should be okay to drain and fill. Flush it and you'll kill it or weaken it a lot. No need to change the filter, it's lifetime. This isn't a chevy.

[Bheinen74]

i think the reason your subi dealer recommended against the ATF change is because they really want to sell you a newer subi, or they want to sell you a new tranny when yours goes bad from old worn atf.....due to not changing the fluids. i would get a different dealer if they won't change it for you.

[SemperGuard]

Or maybe they're trying to inform their customer of possible outcomes. Would have been better for them to just do it, and have the tranny die if it was on its last legs right?

[MikeC5]

I think it was because they wanted to sell the $200 wiz bang tranny flush. After he said no to that he then gave the story that it might be bad to drop the pan, etc. Not enough profit in taking the pan down I guess...