My mechanic told me changing transmission fluid in my 2000 DII may cause problems due to the detergents added to the transmission fluid may break up or dissolve seals and dislodge the gunk built up. A mechanic at AAMCO told me they wont change transmission fluid filters in LRs for the same reason.

Has anyone had a similar experience?

 

I've done it twice with no issues. The first time I changed the filter, the second time, recently upon inspection the fluid was still pretty clean so I just drained and refilled... The first change was 50 or 60k miles ago.

 

I have done a flush and replaced the filter 20k miles ago, no issues. I think a lot people here do this regularly and I haven't heard of such problems.

 

Thank you Dave. Unfortunately I don't have a rack to change filter & fluid myself. I'll call the dealer to see how much they charge, probably an arm & a leg. Thank you for your feedback.

 

Thank you Discorama. Unfortunately I don't have a rack to change filter & fluid myself. I'll call the dealer to see how much they charge, probably an arm & a leg. Thank you for your feedback.

 

What’s the reason for the fluid change? General maintenance or do you think there is a problem with the transmission? Sometimes flushing or changing transmission fluid on a damaged transmission could make things “worse” since all the junk that was flushed out is not added extra friction for the clutches to grab.

 

I changed the fluid in the driveway with no jacks or jack stands... But I have a 2" lift... There was plenty of room to get to the needed plugs. Using the bottle jack and a jack stand you would be fine.

I would not go to a dealer for that around here... It would cost more than an arm and a leg... Lol, and I doubt if the dealers have seen a D2 in years!!

There are Atlantic British and You Tube video's in addition, the RAVE instructions and several threads on this forum...

It is one of the easier services to do and a good one to build your confidence and skills at maintaining your Rover.

And that is a good question above, why do you need to do this again?

 

The conventional wisdom is that a "flush," whatever exactly that is, can cause problems as your mechanic noted, but a simple drain and refill should not do that because it should not dislodge anything. Be careful, though, to be sure whoever refills the transmission REALLY knows what they are doing because refilling the trans on a DII is an uncommon procedure.

I'd welcome anyone who really knows what a transmission flush is to share that info here.

 

A flush is a procedure whereby all the fluid is changed at once. They disconnect the transmission cooler lines and connect a machine that accepts all the fluid the transmission pumps through the cooler and sends back new fluid.

If you think of a transmission has having a closed loop fluid system, the pump sucks fluid out of the pan, through the filter, pumps it through the torque converter, through the cooler (the order might be different depending on vehicle, I don't remember the Discos order), through the rotating assembly, and through the valve body and back to the pan.

The risk with the flushes is that transmission fluid is very high detergent and if you replace it all at once on a older transmission the detergents can dislodge the clutch material from the clutches. If you drain and refill you are not replacing it all, so the detergent in the fresh fluid is mixed iwth the old fluid where the detergent is somewhat used up, so does not have the same effect. If you drain and refill twice, with some miles in between, you replace approximately 75% of the fluid without overloading the clutches with detergent. The main thing that happens with non-synthetic transmission fluid is that the viscosity breaks down over time and the lubrication qualities suffer potentially allowing bearings and bushings to wear. Castrol makes a fluid named Transyd that is full synthetic and does not suffer the breakdown over time, however it is $34/gallon.

 

Drain, filter, and fill. DO NOT DO a 100% flush like they do at Jiffy Lube!