PSA: I used to flush every transmission with the machine, now I just do a simple drain and fill

Everyone said I was crazy for skipping the machine flush on a 2012 Honda Accord with 150k miles, but a guy at a shop in Austin told me high mileage units can get damaged by the pressure. The fluid came out dark but after 3 drain and fills over a month it shifts smooth and no issues. Anybody else stop using the flush machine on older cars?

3 comments

3 Comments

ruby65913d ago

Yeah man that "high mileage units can get damaged by the pressure" thing is real. I had a 2005 Camry with 180k miles and the shop pushed me to do a full machine flush. Next day the transmission started slipping bad. Had to sell the car for scrap. Should have just done the drain and fill like you. The flush machine forces fluid through at high pressure and can knock loose all that gunk and sediment inside old transmissions. Then it clogs up the valve body and you're screwed. A simple drain and fill is way gentler and lets the old stuff come out naturally over a few changes.

fisher.thomas13d ago

Learned that lesson the hard way myself, though my car was worth about as much as a good pizza.

jason_stone5913d ago

Actually Ruby, that 2005 Camry had a known issue with the transmission fluid pump seal. At 180k miles, the seal was probably already brittle and the flush just finished it off lol. I've seen it happen on a bunch of old Toyotas in forums. Not saying the flush helped, but the real culprit might've been that aging seal letting go when it got hit with fresh fluid and pressure. @ruby659 you're right that drain and fills are safer for high mileage cars, but that specific Camry generation had a design flaw where the seals would fail around 150-200k regardless of what you did. Still sucks that you had to scrap it though.