Allison 3000 fluid change

Every Trans. sould have an oil cooler. Ours also has a fan.

Snomas wrote:
I paid $250 to have the fluid changed and new filters @ 50K miles. They used a synthetic "Castrol Max Life ATF" trans fluid.

You need to check what they used,Castrol makes Transmax, Valvoline makes Maxlife neither is approved by Allison.
Google each fluid and check the compatability.

I also did mine myself. The mh3000 takes 19 quarts but that doesn't count any external oil coolers. My 2006 Monaco knight ended up taking 22 quarts due to the external cooler.

I paid $250 to have the fluid changed and new filters @ 50K miles. They used a synthetic "Castrol Max Life ATF" trans fluid.

We had it done for $400.00

Cbones wrote:
Oh boy things get cloudier. According to a call I just received back from a master tech at Allison main headquarters, there is no need to change the filters or Transynd on a Gen IV tranny, unless one of two conditions occur. 1) you get the wrench icon or 2) FIVE calendar years from in service. There is no mileage limitation anymore. Ultimately, he convinced me to go another year. As an aside, he was pretty proud to tell me, something that I already knew, these tranny's are near bulletproof and failures are practically unheard of. Then of course the conversation turned to fluid analysis. Bottom line in the motorhome duty cycle, his comment was something to the effect of "if you don't mind throwing money away..." These tranny's aren't even stressed in a typical motorhome duty cycle. Last thing he said to me was what other component in your motorhome has a warranty any where close to the Allison warranty? Enuff said!

The Cummins engine has the same 5 year warranty as the Allison. I certainly don't question the reliability of the Allison in motorhome service. The weakness in most Motorhome applications is the transmission fluid cooler which is usually built into the radiator and is in direct contact with the coolant. Coolant in the fluid is a death sentence for the Allison and will require a complete rebuild if it happens. If I ever see a Trace amount of coolant in a sample test I will shut every thing down & rebuild the radiator. I would also be interested to know if Allison will put those assurances in writing. They certainly have not changed the requirements in their documentation.

Ultimately we all have to decide how to proceed because most of us will make it past the 5 year warrantee period & it will be our responsibility anyway.

Good luck with your change. I wish there was a way to drain the filter cavities before you loosen the bolts and fluid drains out on your hands, arms & off your elbows. Since you are generally laying on your back when this happens, it's pure joy.

Oh boy things get cloudier. According to a call I just received back from a master tech at Allison main headquarters, there is no need to change the filters or Transynd on a Gen IV tranny, unless one of two conditions occur. 1) you get the wrench icon or 2) FIVE calendar years from in service. There is no mileage limitation anymore. Ultimately, he convinced me to go another year. As an aside, he was pretty proud to tell me, something that I already knew, these tranny's are near bulletproof and failures are practically unheard of. Then of course the conversation turned to fluid analysis. Bottom line in the motorhome duty cycle, his comment was something to the effect of "if you don't mind throwing money away..." These tranny's aren't even stressed in a typical motorhome duty cycle. Last thing he said to me was what other component in your motorhome has a warranty any where close to the Allison warranty? Enuff said!

wolfe10 wrote:

Cbones wrote:

wolfe10 wrote:
Sorry, were it mine, at 90,000 miles and XX years, I would change fluid as well as filters. So one 5 gallon pail of Transynd and the Allison filter kit.

I am pretty much in agreement with you. I am way overthinking this. We are not talking thousands of $$$, just a couple of hundred for parts and some time. To put things in perspective, a tank of fuel costs more!

Should be under $240 total for parts and very little more labor to change fluid than to just change filters.

Last question, is there a special procedure to reset the prognostics, or is it automatic?

Cbones wrote:
>>>>>..This quote from another forum seems to indicate the fluid loss may be close to 2 gal. If you decide to change the fluid as well as the filters now, I would still council you to do the sample test. Beyond giving you an idea of the condition of the fluid, it also reports contaminants and wear metals which indicate the health of the transmission itself. It's exactly like a blood test during a physical. It's not just about the condition of the blood.


"You'll get maybe a quart from the main filter and up to 2 gallons from the lube filter depending on fluid temperature."

This was from Tom Johnson. Another quote stated that the poster changed filters with the fluid cold & lost less than one gal.

I guess total fluid loss is not as definitive as I thought it would be....<<<<<

Steve,

I am not looking to start a whole nother discussion, but I am heavily involved in general aviation. Lots of folks feel real strong regarding, oil analysis in aviation, and I used to be in that camp. After many years (almost 40), I have really not seen that oil analysis really made any decisions that we would have made any different from other indicators. Usually, you might see high wear metals one time and then not again. Ultimately we wouldn't pull an engine from service until you would see obvious pieces in the oil or filter. What I am saying is that I can understand the need for analysis, but in the end there are other indicators for making major decisions. As far as the tranny goes, I have no issues, and I really don't see that it is going to save that much money to offset the costs of just changing all the fluid proactively rather than just constantly doing oil analysis to extend the interval. After all each analysis is just shy of a gal of Transynd in cost. I know that there is more info to be gained from analysis, but in reality, if I get a high wear number on the analysis, what am I really going to do short of a failure, and in the alternative, a normal analysis (which is great for piece of mind) is no guarantee that a pending failure is not imminent.

I certainly don't disagree. We all have to decide our comfort level with our maintenance programs. In my situation, unlike aviation, I have 2 indicators. General operation and sample testing which I do on the Allison and the Cummins. I agree that the main thing is to look at a trend. I have that established on mine.

Cbones wrote:

wolfe10 wrote:
Sorry, were it mine, at 90,000 miles and XX years, I would change fluid as well as filters. So one 5 gallon pail of Transynd and the Allison filter kit.

I am pretty much in agreement with you. I am way overthinking this. We are not talking thousands of $$$, just a couple of hundred for parts and some time. To put things in perspective, a tank of fuel costs more!

Should be under $240 total for parts and very little more labor to change fluid than to just change filters.