This information is false. Many GM / Chevrolet dealers purchase after-market flushing machines and use a "cleaner" as part of the flush, which is not a GM approved chemical. They also use after-market transmission fluid and not GM fluid.I have an 06 Impala with 51000 miles and I have been reading up on the controversy of flushing or not flushing A/T fluid. I spoke to local chev dealer & service guy says there is no way to change fluid without flushing. Is this true? Any advice given is appreciated.......
Be sure that who ever does the work that they use DEXRON VI fluid!
Flushing an automatic transmission is generally a way to get a more complete exchange of fluid. Your dealer may have been telling you that there is no way of getting a COMPLETE fluid change without flushing. He surely would know that you could drop the pan and service the filter and then add several quarts of new fluid. Flush machines typically force new fluid in while forcing the old fluid out. If your current fluid is showing signs of distress (discolored, just beginning to smell burned or been in use for way too long) I would consider a flush. Then the question comes up about the filter. Some transmissions use a screen and not a paper element type filter. If your trans uses a screen you probably don't need to be concerned about it unless of course you have big pieces of fiber and metal cloging the screen. If that is the case a flush isn't going to help much! If you have a vehicle that uses a paper element type filter and want to re-new most if not all the fluid and start out with a perfectly clean filter, ***IN MY OPINION*** I would flush the trans and then drop the pan and install the filter. Yes you are going to waste a few quarts of fluid this way. If you are certain the trans shouldn't have a large amount of fiber and metal accumulation, you could change the filter first and then flush. In a trans that is in good shape I don't feel there would be big differance in doing it either way. One of my vehicles has a trans pan drain and I drain the fluid every 10,000 miles, refill the trans, drive it a few miles and then drain it again. Total fluid usage is about 4 quarts. This is overkill but it just gives me a good feeling knowing I shouldn't have a fluid related failure. I probably could do this every 20,000 miles and be just fine! If your pan has a drain, (doubtful, however one could be installed) you could do a flush and then do a drain every so ofted based on how your vehicle is used. The biggest enemy to transmission fluid life is heat. Getting your vehicle stuck and overheating the trans fluid just once will drastically cut the life of the fluid. As I mentioned, be sure that whoever does the service uses the new DEXRON VI fluid which was factory fill on 2006 and later vehicles. The new fluid has a very long normal service life so you can decide for yourself if it really need to be changed. Personally, I tend to do service well before the recommended service life is is reached. I just spoke to a dealer service manager friend of mine and asked about the GM stand on fluid flushing. He said GM is cautious about recommending it in fear that some dealers would over recommend it and use it as a service recommendation on vehicles that really didn't need a service, of course this could happen with any service recommendation if the dealed is more concerned with making money than properly caring for a vehicles needs. There should be no great risk in doing a flush on a vehicle that really needs one. There is always a very, very small risk of disloging some small bit of crap and that causing a problem but that risk is practically non-existant. I hope this answeres your questions and gives you some guidence.
