Newbie question on transmission fluid
 

Ive been reading on this fourm, a lot of people are changing their transmission fluid at like less than 10k miles. I just bought my BRZ used at 27k miles and it feels great. I always thought you changed transmission fluid at 100k miles. Why are people doing it earlier than that? Are these transmissions not reliable? Thanks :)

Hello AutoNewb ........ :) Assuming you are talking about a MT.

Some folks change the manual transmission oil for several reasons:

* they feel that their transmission shifts "notchy" and a different oil allows it to shift smoother

* they are freaked out because they see (or suspect) the see metal shavings on the drain plug

* they are just obsessed with changing fluids

* they think it's necessary because they read it on the Internet

* the transmission had to be pulled because they screwed up the clutch

IMHO, the transmission in these cars is reliable as long as:

* you don't try to put too much power (like from a boosted engine) through it

* you don't "hammer" on it

* you don't drive it like some damn "fast & furious" driver

My 2013 has 16,000 miles and I don't figure the transmission oil is "broke" so, I haven't changed it

Ol @Tcoat ha many more miles and reportedly hasn't changed his ..... he is going to wait till he has to open up the case and scrape it out with a putty knife ..... :D


humfrz

Hum pretty much nailed it all.
People seem to like to change fluids for the sake of changing fluids.
Engine oil needs to be changed more often because of heat and contaminates from fuel combustion (carbon and unburnt fuel for example). The oil in your tranny is not subject to the same abuse and takes far far longer to break down. If all is working well there is no need to change it early. The engineers that set the schedule know what they are talking about when they set the timing.

Ok here come the dozens of experts to say why I am wrong...

Lol "fast and furious" driver. Alright I thought so. All these threads seemed odd, it made me think the transmission isnt reliable. I previously had a 2008 ford focus 5 speed. And I went through 101k miles with one clutch, no transmission oil change, and general maintenance lol. Thank you sir

Makes total sense! Thank you.

Oh I hope they don't say you're wrong lol.

Oh they will. Rest assured they will. You will get all sorts of weird and wonderful rationalizations. You have to really beat the crap out of a tranny to need to change the oil early.

:lol:

I think humfrz and tcoat covered it pretty well as always, but one other thing. If you track the car, you'll want to change the trans and rear diff fluids on an accelerated schedule. Some guys have been seeing 290 F readings off the rear diff after 30 min track sessions, so that's another reason you might be hearing about early fluid changes.

Yes! Hum and I were talking regular usage. Performance use requires all fluids too be changed more often.

Cold shifting did feel much better after I switched fluids.
I was surprised at the large amount of metal shaving sludge on the diff drain plug.
It's fun! :D