I had the oil change shop do a flush and change on my transmission about a month ago. And ever since then, the car's developed a hard shift when it gets up to operating temperature. I took it back and made sure they'd put the right fluid in, which they did, and it it is topped off perfectly? Not sure what the hell went wrong but it's highly agitating. I do not like the transmissions in these cars at all, and hope to God it isn't going out now. There is no check engine light or anything on in the dash either and I plugged in a diagnosis tool and it didn't throw any codes. The car has always had a slight whine coming from the front when accelerating and I noticed that the whine gets real loud when it starts shifting hard. Thoughts? Has 181 thousand miles on it.

 

A flush on a high mileage transmission that hasn't been regularly flushed throughout it's life can be bad. The flush could remove gunk or other things in the lines that keep the transmission working properly, a pan drop/filter change is better with high mileage transmissions.

 

x2

It's not a good idea to do a tranny flush on high mileage cars.

 

X3 on that

I learned that one the hard way to the tune of $1300 clams lol
99 s10 blazer drove great. Got bored one day decided 160k miles I'd change trans fluid and filter. Drop pan, cleaned all the gunk and put new filter and fluid in. Backed off of ramps, wouldn't pull in any forward gears
Guess all the old fluid and gunk was keeping the clutches and all together.
Never again will I change fluid on a high mile trans. Just keep it checked and if needed add a little. If it quits it will be on its own then I'll fork out for a rebuild

 

Mare than once I have read where we are to NEVER get a tranny FLUSH!

Doing the filter and fluid is as far as one should go. The lube shops just have to already know this is ausing problems with many cars as people probably come back more often than they should with a complaint. The shops make money pouring in a cheap $3 can of a cleaner and charging you $45 plus the $100 for a filter and fluid change. Money money money.. Pour in some Lucas tranny "Stop Slip" this may help you get through a few more months with a bad tranny. My 96 GMC's tranny is living on this for almost 2 years now.

 

Well shoot, this sucks. Hope the tranny isn't going out now or the car's gonna probably go bye bye. Probably cost more to replace the trans than I paid for the car. But, we'll see. Really hope not because I LOVE this car and want to keep it! I did put some of that Lucas stuff in it and it helped a little.

 

I put 3 units of the Lucas in my truck tranny, try 2 in yours. Can't hurt only another $10.

 

Maintenance is key to these cars as well as the transmissions...

Every 2 yrs I do a filter/fluid change on mine... and it has proven over the last 15 yrs of ownership (I'm the original owner) To be the way to go for me! A trans "flush" should only be done professionally and only when your having the trans rebuilt! Its called a "HOT" flush... which clears the lines as well as the coolant tanks of all contaminates that happen over time as the trans fluid starts to break down over time and usage.

If they did a "flush" on your trans... and didnt pull the trans and converter out .... and only changed the filter and added fluid... Guess what? That crap is still in your trans,lines,converter,tanks! Which is still adding to the problem..

I do however,
Agree with Greg (Zippy 02) possibly adding a 2nd can/bottle of Lucas transmission fix...May help remedy the situation temporarily... Just don't over fill it.. You may need to remove some of the fluid in order to fill it to the proper level. Over filling a trans.... Is a Bad Idea.. and causes more harm than good! Something to consider when adding trans fluid/additives.

FYI
I have 168,000 on mine

 

Ok, I will add more. Just need to make sure that it can take more, idk how to drain it out without dropping the pan.

 

I remove excess fluid out through the dipstick filler tube. Walmart sells a small siphon pump in the automotive section. Insert the sucking side hose down the tube, have an empty container to insert the discharge hose into and pump away.

I'm doing this because I know I have a bad tranny and yet have squeaked over 2 years of free miles from it with about $75 worth of the Lucas Stop Slip. I know someday it will give up the ghost, so it is not intended to be the ultimate fix. Just suggesting if your tight on cash and your having obvious problems with your tranny the Stop Slip could possibly get you by for a few months or more. I would try to extract 2 or more quarts of fluid and replace it with 2 new quarts of the Stop Slip. It's a $20 experiment...