Looking at a 2010. Service records indicate multiple trans fluid flushes due to bad looking fluid. Also that a new trans cooler was installed which I understand is rare. Wondering is there is a transmission bomb waiting to explode.

Is a transmission problem something a pre purchase inspection should easily find? Or is it one of those things that is inconsistent enough that it could easily be missed in a cursory inspection?

 

Seems subjective as to what "bad looking" fluid is. Was it burnt, full of metal, etc? I've seen it darken but that doesn't mean it's bad.

 

Seller indicates it was “nasty” whatever that means. If I move forward with the pre purchase inspection, it would be with the same independent who changed the fluid in the first place, a Land Rover independent, LeMorna in Seattle. But the seller then went somewhere else to have it looked at again. Said it was surging when leaving from a stop and the first fluid change helped. Then he went to the other place (not a LR independent), had the fluid changed again with new filter and new transmission coolerand now it is running great.

If problems still exist, would the prepurchase likely pick them up?