Transmission oil change due to time?

twodownzero wrote:

JimR 1 wrote:

twodownzero wrote:
If the trans pan has a drain plug, I would drain and refill the pan every time you change the oil.

There is no reason to do that and it would be very costly. Allison has a maintenance and change schedule and that is what should be used. My changes are based on time and not milage and at a cost of 310 for parts and about and hour of labor that is a cost of about $435.00 parts and labor.

Jim

If you think spending $435 at every factory interval is superior to spending $50 every oil change, I wouldn't argue against that.

Sorry, I am confused: $50 for a transmission fluid change on an Allison 3000. And, yes, that IS the transmission the OP has.

You are not going to get the gallons of Transynd needed for even just a fluid change (not dropping filters) for $50.

JimR 1 wrote:

twodownzero wrote:
If the trans pan has a drain plug, I would drain and refill the pan every time you change the oil.

There is no reason to do that and it would be very costly. Allison has a maintenance and change schedule and that is what should be used. My changes are based on time and not milage and at a cost of 310 for parts and about and hour of labor that is a cost of about $435.00 parts and labor.

Jim

If you think spending $435 at every factory interval is superior to spending $50 every oil change, I wouldn't argue against that.

I also never change fluids due to time and not mileage. My experience with oil analysis has shown that running the fluids way past the time interval has shown no adverse amount of wear and it would be a complete waste of oils to change them after a year when the oil is still protecting the engine.

I am not suggesting that you should second guess the engineers who designed the product, but if you have data to back up why you'd do that as I do, you may think it's cost effective to do as I do.

Ram also recommends no service of diffs ever on my truck for standard service and 15k mile intervals for severe service; there's a long way to split the difference between those two.

map40 wrote:

deandec wrote:
I have used a fluid testing service to start a trend on the fluids.

You have a unique opportunity to get the fluid analyzed to see the wear on the transmission before before you change the fluid.

I use Blackstone Labs for my coolant, engine oil, and transmission fluid analysis.

FWIW most of us change the fluids long before they wear out. If out of warranty, perhaps the lawyers' version of frequency can be ignored?

That's a good idea. How much do you send and how do you send it?

Go on their website and order a sample kit. Get your sample like the videos show on their website and it costs about $2 in postage to send it in. You include a piece of paper with your sample and they email you the results.

Bruce Brown wrote:

twodownzero wrote:
If the trans pan has a drain plug, I would drain and refill the pan every time you change the oil.

Thats a bit excessive, isn't it? :E

I don't drive automatics, so I'd really be the wrong person to ask. The last time I changed the oil in my pickup, it had 14,227 miles on it, and oil analysis showed the TBN was 7.8 and I could have left it in there for at least another 3,000 miles. So perhaps you think it's excessive because you change your oil way too often and so you think I'd be talking about a more frequent interval than I'm actually talking.

Your trans pan probably holds 4-6, maybe 8 quarts of transmission fluid, which is 1/4-1/3 of the actual capacity. Changing a bit of it every time will eventually get all of it out, and you could change the filter every 3rd time or something. That's how I'd do it anyway.

Fluid is cheap compared to serious transmission work. The fluid in an automatic transmission is the life of it. It's not like a differential or a manual transmission where the fluid, in theory, could last nearly indefinitely.

twodownzero wrote:
If the trans pan has a drain plug, I would drain and refill the pan every time you change the oil.

There is no reason to do that and it would be very costly. Allison has a maintenance and change schedule and that is what should be used. My changes are based on time and not milage and at a cost of 310 for parts and about and hour of labor that is a cost of about $435.00 parts and labor.

Jim

JR45 wrote:

map40 wrote:
I'm buying an Alfa with a C7 and an Allison 3000. The tranny had an oil change 4 years and 25k miles ago. Do you change the trans fluid due to time?

Here is the right way to change the trans oil, and use TranSynd TES 295 Fluid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5PbOg9x4qo
JR45

Ditto on this

Also go to the Allison Transmission web site there you can find what the oil and filter change schedules are,

I do mine every three years using Transynd Transmission Fluid and as of two days ago the cost of materials, 5 gallons of fluid and filters, was $311.36, the filters were about $72.00 the rest was the fluid. This was from Detroit Diesel in Fresno Calif.

JimR

ps for Alfa related questions this web site is specific to that brand alfaseeya

I'm always wondering why people don't just follow the instructions in the owners manual. Even if you don't have one they can be gotten on the web by searching.

There's a lot of information in them if one takes the time to read it, and will answer just about all the questions one might have. Most new diesel pushers have a feature on the transmission key board that can give you a bit of information as to the status of your trans by pressing the numbers in a sequence.

Of course that's if your interested in following the manufactures instructions. Anything else is merely opinions. Some people are proactive and change ahead of the required maintenance specifications, and some just throw caution to the wind.

No pan on an Allison 3000.

Yes, a drain plug and two internal filters. A 5 gallon pail of Transynd and a filter kit from Allison has everything you need to change fluid and filter and will leave you with about one quart of extra fluid. Under $200 and worth a lot of "peace of mind".

Bruce Brown wrote:

twodownzero wrote:
If the trans pan has a drain plug, I would drain and refill the pan every time you change the oil.

Thats a bit excessive, isn't it? :E

If the filters last 150k, I don't mind the extra expense, and this would far exceed the requirement it is far less work, right?

twodownzero wrote:
If the trans pan has a drain plug, I would drain and refill the pan every time you change the oil.

Not a bad suggestion. Thanks!