I took my wife's 1999 Voyager in for service at the dealer last Monday, a couple of components needed replacment, including the water pump, covered on warranty. In fact, the actual bill was less than the estimate. During their usual "check for any possible revenue" scan, I was told the transmission fluid "looked really dark" and they recommended service. However, I had the transmission flushed last October at Valvoline rapid oil change.
I'm now caught. How can I know if my transmission was ever serviced? I feel I'll be in the middle of a "he said/she said" battle with no resolution.
The van's almost paid for, and has about 47k miles. I'd like it to last a couple of more years and since the warranty will expire soon, I'd like to have these things resolved.
Check alt.auto(s?).tech There may be a webring for those transmissions! I would change it and be there to look at the pan when they drop it to look for the normal sludge. Shouldn't be any if it was changed in Oct.
There are some vehicles that when you change transmission fluid you don't normally change 100% of it. The torque converter holds a lot and unless it has a separate drain plug, you have to flush the system with about double the normal refill amount of fluid to get rid of the old stuff. This is usually very time consuming and costly. I would contact the place you had it done and ask them specifically what and how they did it.
Unless a complete 100% fluid change is done, you will still have some old fluid to contaminate the new.
What does the owner's manual say about recommended transmission fluid changes?
My old '90 Caddie says change it at 100K miles. It just hit that milage alst month. Interesting how the Jiffy Lube guys tell you, "Our computer says every 20K miles."
Now that I've said that I just remembered I had to have a rebuilt transmission put in last fall, so I guess I'm good for almost another
100K miles again.
OTOH, maybe if I *had* sprung for a fluid change (a "real" one with a filter change too.) once or twice when some hotshot tried to sell me one, instead of my quoting the manual to him, perhaps I wouldn't have needed that rebuild. I guess I'll never know...
We had a Mitsubishi Eclipse that had all the schedules maint. done by one dealer & had oil changes done by one Jiffy Lube.
One day we took it in to the dealer & there was oil in the brake fluid. Since there was only one place that could have done it, we contacted them (Jiffy Lube). BTW - this car used no oil between oil changes so, there was no chance a third party could have done it. Anyway Jiffy Lube said they couldn't have done it because they don't carry brake fluid in their stores & refused to even consider that they may have made a mistake.
After calling the company president's office & complaining, Jiffy Lube asked that we take the car in so, they could get a sample of the fluid & send it to a lab. Since at this point, I had a great amount of distrust, I video taped the taking of the sample. The man taking the sample had a hand pump that was supposed to suck fluid out of the resovior & put it into a sample bottle. He couldn't get the pump to work (very suspicious). He ends up removing the hose from the bottom of the resovior & letting the fluid drain form the bottom. Brake fluid is heavier than oil. THe oil floats on top. Over time, the oil will get disbursed into the brake system as we found out when the brakes started seizing.
After the sample is sent in the results were received by Jiffy Lube & they claimed there was no oil in the fluid.
We took them to small claims court. To have the car fixed as recommended by the dealer was over $3000. The ABS unit is a little over $1000. The judge found in our favor. - The video was very useful.
The attorney for Jiffy Lube called & said they would give us half or, if we weren't willing to accept it, we would have to appeal to the Common Pleas Court. I figured I beat them once, I can beat them twice so, I so I'll see you in court. The attorney called my wife & got her to agree to the lessor sum and sign a non disclosure agreement on the outcome of the case. She doesn't discuss the case. I do every chance I get.
Dealers have trained people that are far less likely to mess up your car than Jiffy Lube. There is no reason for Jiffy Lube to exist. I strongly advise against using Jiffy Lube.
DO NOT USE JIFFY LUBE-THEY WILL BREAK YOUR CAR AS THEY DID MINE!!
If I'm not mistaken, you have the electronic overdrive transmission in that mini-van. They are prone to making a lot of garbage in the fluid, because they have a lot of inherant problems.
Not to say that yours is on the verge of dropping dead, but they are notorious for problems.
I'm sure Jiffy Lube did the service. Ask the dealer if they're going to use a fluid exchanger, then replace the filter. Or just drop the pan and change the filter and the fluid in the pan.
I would opt for a total fluid exchange with a flush agent, and pay the extra to have the filter serviced after the flush and exchange.
You will see new red fluid come out of the pan, and maybe a blocked filter from the sludge in the transmission and the convertor.
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