My husband and I are picking up our new pop-up tomorrow (2005 Fleetwood Yuma). We will be towing with a 2004 Honda Odyssey (which we will be getting the trans and power steering cooler).
The Yuma weighs in at 1,542 pounds-dry weight. My Honda manual states that if the trailer weight is more than 1,850 pounds then we need a weight distributing hitch. Our dealer said a class II hitch would be fine and that we could not go up to a class III. Please let me know your thoughts. We don't want to screw this up and we're totally new AND VERY CONFUSED!
Thanks so much for all your help! This is a great site.
Always trust the manual from Honda. If you don't, you will void your warranty.
Also, you are very close to the max without weight distribution anyway. if you start putting your gear into the camper (food, linens, pots, pans, hoses, etc) you will quickly surpass the limit. I found this weight distribution hitch at etrailer.com for a class III hitch. I also found class III hitches there as well with pictures of what it would look like installed. Weight Distribtution Hitch (http://www.etrailer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=E&Product_Code=66041&Category_Code=WD) Class III hitch (http://www.etrailer.com/products.asp?model=Odyssey&category=hitch&year=2004&make=Honda&t1=&h=e) Don't know why he said you couldn't get a class III.
Last but not least, remember, the salesman at at Fleetwood is trying to sell trailers, not worry about your car. I'm sure somewhere in all the paperwork you signed, it says the dealership isn't responsible for deciding the proper set up for towing on your vehicle, you are.
The tranny cooler is a great idea.
Hello!
We have an '04 Yuma and like it very much. We like particularly that it doesn't have a lot of the expensive items and options, allowing us to outfit it the way we want to for a lot less money.
We began towing with a 1999 Grand Caravan, but very quickly found ourselves in the auto dealerships and ended up with a Jeep Grand Caravan. It does a much nicer job of towing the Yuma. Without a tow package, most minivans would be overweight towing a loaded Yuma. You should try to stay at 85% or less of rated tow capacities on tow vehicles. We do not use a WDH. Check the camper owners manual before getting one. I seem to remember something there about WDH's, but don't remember offhand if it was or was not recommended.
Good luck and have fun.
First - the Honda guy won't be towing the trailer - you will. You need a class 3 weight distribution hitch.
Second - many people have towed with the Odyssey. I have the same engine and tranny pkg and my tow limits are 3500 lbs. You need to go to the honda owners forum (use google). Ask folks there about their towing experience. Always go to the experts for your vehicle. We can only give generalities about tow vehicles unless we own what you do. On the Vue forum there is lots of info on hitches, where to get them, how to do it yourself. I'm sure the Honda forum has the same info for your vehicle.
Third - As to the 75% or 85% or whatever percent rule of thumb for towing - again you are the one towing. I happen to believe that the manufacturers tow rating is set lower than what the vehicle can actually tow to protect manufactureers from lawsuits by folks who don't weigh their equipment. If you have weighed your rig and are within the specs of the manufacturer you're good to go in my book.
I know that I have seen many Class III hitches on Honda minivans (I can't spell that Odddddd...sy name).
The only downside on the Honda hitch setup is that it, at least, seems very, very low to the ground...
Yes, many people tow with minivans. That doesn't make them any better. Minivans are poor tow vehicles. They will work, but at what cost? You might get by and think everything's fine, then find yourself putting a couple thousand into your transmission. Was it the towing or would it have happenend anyway? Hard to tell, but other vehicles that have higher tow ratings, more powerful engines, heavier brakes and beefier suspensions will do the job with less strain to the tow vehicle. And the cost of those other vehicles can be less than the cost of the minivan. Tow with the van if you want to, but I'd recommend going with something with a bit higher tow rating at first opportunity.
Quote from: dthurkYes, many people tow with minivans. That doesn't make them any better. Minivans are poor tow vehicles. They will work, but at what cost? You might get by and think everything's fine, then find yourself putting a couple thousand into your transmission. Was it the towing or would it have happenend anyway? Hard to tell, but other vehicles that have higher tow ratings, more powerful engines, heavier brakes and beefier suspensions will do the job with less strain to the tow vehicle. And the cost of those other vehicles can be less than the cost of the minivan. Tow with the van if you want to, but I'd recommend going with something with a bit higher tow rating at first opportunity.
How often do you tow? How far do you tow? How fast do you tow? How much does your trailer weigh? How much money will you have to pay for a new TV? What is the difference in your TV milage. All of these figure into what you tow with. It is nice to have a rear wheel drive TV, and a TV with a higher tow rating, BUT it is not practical for many. The minivan companies allow towing so you are not doing anything against the rules. Yes it is harder on a vehicle to pull a trailer, any vehicle.
We've been towing our Coleman SunValley with our '99 Honda Odyssey for the past 5 years. We use a class 3 WDH. We stay within the towing limits (have weighed the trailer on several trips). I'd rather have a larger, more powerful vehicle but we don't have one and my DH feels comfortable towing with the setup we have. If you have any specific questions, I'll try to get him to answer.
Diane
Thanks so much for your input. We're picking up the Yuma this afternoon. We are both very excited. Part of the reason we're buying the pop-up is so that we don't have to break the bank when we head out for weekends or summer weeks around the Chicagoland area (we camp primarilly in Wisconsin). Doing this will allow us to have one really BIG vacation during the year and will also get us out of town more often.
Reading some of the posts suggesting getting a new tow vehicle was quite a surprise since our pop-up is really on the lite side (1542 pounds). I'm hoping that since we are well within the Honda tow guidlines that this will be fine. Granted I'm sure having an 11,000 pound+ tow vehicle could be more "ideal," I''m not sure that we want to do that at this juncture. All of the sudden our bargain pop-up became a lot more expensive.
Anyhow, see you all in the forums.
E & S Clark
2005 Fleetwood Yuma
2004 Honda Odyssey :D
Quote from: tlhdocHow often do you tow? How far do you tow? How fast do you tow? How much does your trailer weigh? How much money will you have to pay for a new TV? What is the difference in your TV milage. All of these figure into what you tow with. It is nice to have a rear wheel drive TV, and a TV with a higher tow rating, BUT it is not practical for many. The minivan companies allow towing so you are not doing anything against the rules. Yes it is harder on a vehicle to pull a trailer, any vehicle.
All legitimate questions, and all should have a bearing on final decision. Consider, though, from what I've read in this forum, many new posters with minvans will apparently exceed their weight limits when towing. I did it myself. Our (camper) dealer said the minivan would be a great tow vehicle when we bought the camper. So, we followed the same advice and route as OP when we bought our Yuma and were towing with a minivan (3.3 l. 6 cyl., no tow package) and we were unknowingly overweight. I didn't feel comfortable with it towing at any point in time (it just didn't feel right) and began searching for another tow vehicle. After joining this forum and gathering information from other sources, I figured out the minivan just wasn't going to do the job adequately and safely. Since buying the Jeep, we haven't towed a single mile with the minivan, even though it is still set up appropriately to tow our Yuma. The Jeep does such a better job. This will, in the long run, save us money on wear and tear on the minivan and also provide a safer situation for me and my family. Towing safety is always on the forefront of my mind. I will always recommend tow vehicles that are definitely capable of doing the job and appropriate safety equipment (brakes, etc.) on trailers as opposed to not having that.
I have read too many newspaper articles of people having accidents, many fatal, while towing. My heart goes out to those people every time I read of that. The really sad thing is that this is so preventable. Many times the article tells of inadequate towing practices. What a way to ruin a vacation. It seems too many people try to cut too many corners too often because it's easier or less expensive.
Quote from: esclarkThanks so much for your input. We're picking up the Yuma this afternoon. We are both very excited. Part of the reason we're buying the pop-up is so that we don't have to break the bank when we head out for weekends or summer weeks around the Chicagoland area (we camp primarilly in Wisconsin). Doing this will allow us to have one really BIG vacation during the year and will also get us out of town more often.
Reading some of the posts suggesting getting a new tow vehicle was quite a surprise since our pop-up is really on the lite side (1542 pounds). I'm hoping that since we are well within the Honda tow guidlines that this will be fine. Granted I'm sure having an 11,000 pound+ tow vehicle could be more "ideal," I''m not sure that we want to do that at this juncture. All of the sudden our bargain pop-up became a lot more expensive.
Anyhow, see you all in the forums.
E & S Clark
2005 Fleetwood Yuma
2004 Honda Odyssey :D
Please do be careful. 1542 would be the dry weight of your camper. Our 2004 Yuma has a GVWR of 2440 lbs. Your camper will weigh close to this when you have it outfitted and loaded for a trip. At that point, you may be exceeding the weight limits of your tow vehicle, depending on how it is set up. Again, please be careful.
A lot of us have towed with minivans (two, in our case), and a fair number of us who towed with minivans have upgraded the tow vehicle without changing the camper.
When we had the minivan, I defended the decision to tow with a minivan. I wouldn't tow again with a minivan, because our tow vehicle gets better gas mileage than the minivan, and is a whole lot more comfortable and capable. But I solidly understand somebody towing with a minivan and wanting to do so.
As long as the minivan owner realizes what their true tow "limit" is, once passengers, cargo, etc., are subtracted (if appropriate) from their towing max - then that decision of TV becomes theirs. Most FWD minivans have a towing max of 3,500 lbs figured with a 150 lb driver (not me, btw, I exceed that!), and then subtract the additional weight, passengers, etc. If this same issue were brought up with a crossover vehicle (Highlander, and whatever else has a 3,500 lb tow limit on a car based unibody) or a Ford Escape, it probably wouldn't cause the same uproar as a minivan.
esclark congratulations on the new PU! I ran out of time this morning, but wanted to say that if you use the WDH you should be fine with the minivan. I now tow with an Explorer and it does a much better job of towing that the 2 minivans did, but I would tow with a minivan again, if that is what I owned. Did you decide to go with the WDH?:)
I've seen a lot of "positive" references to towing with the Odyseys (sic) in particular and heavier pups if I am not mistaken.
Do a search on the name on some of the pop up sites. Here, RV.net, and PUX (Pop up explorer) you will find happy campers.
And nope I don't own one and yep you do have a very light and nice pup. I bet you could get by on the class II, but I am also one for following the manual. There must be a reason...
Kavoom
2004 Subaru Forester X
2006 Flagstaff 176
Black dog, DG and me...
Hi Clarks, This is DiW's DH - we've towed thousands of miles with our '99 Ody and much heavier Sun Valley. My Ody now has 120K miles and is still towing beautifully. Here's my opinion on this - you will be absolutely fine towing your Yuma with the Ody. Sure you'd have more power and capacity with a bigger TV but I wasn't about to spring for an extra $30,000 vehicle (and I can get Ford "A" plan!). I would have opted for the class III hitch for the extra capacity. THe Honda manual does say that towing more than I think 1500 or 2000 lbs without a WDH will void the warranty, hence I have a Mini-350 WDH on a class III with the requisite tranny cooler. Even with the WDH, I wish I had installed my Air-lift air springs sooner (like when I got the camper). We took one trip in our 1st or second year with an exceptionally heavy load in both the trailer and the van and I noticed the rear springs on the van sag a bit permanently without some air in the air springs. I HIGHLY recommend the air springs. They've been in for 3-4 years and are still great. I installed them myself in an afternoon and they're cheap like $70 from summitracing.com.
Towing with the minivan is indeed stressing it more than regular driving so you need to take some extra care of it. Brakes (front pads) will go sooner (check at 25K mi) if you do a fair bit of towing. Honda trannys need extra TLC do you know about their long standing issues? -- see ODYCLUB.com for tremendous information on this and every other Odyssey issue. Be religious about the oil and transfluid changes - Change the oil every 3K mi to make the engine and trannny last. I change the transfluid (3 qts) every other oil change during the towing season as cheap insurance against problems (but this topic is a whole 'nother thread, see odyclub.com).
As far as towing weight with the van - it can handle it if you're nice and gentle and treat it right --- no uphill 4th gear pulls. I'm in and out of overdrive if the roads are hilly. Only on flat roads do I pull in fourth gear and then I pull a little fast (70) to keep the engine in it's sweet spot (2200 rpm) where it could pull all day. Your engine is 40 hp stronger than mine so you may be better off there. I've maxed out our Gross vehicle combine weight rating on one trip (our max for van and camper is 8160lbs and we were right there. It was a tough tow but again, I babied the van.
If you want any more specifics I'll be glad to share my experiences. All in all, you'll be fine with the van and the weight/size of your camper --- have a blast!!
-- Chris
Quote from: DiWI change the transfluid (3 qts) every other oil change during the towing season as cheap insurance against problems
Chris how do you change just 3 quarts or transmission fluid? In our Explorer you have to drop the pan to change the fluid, so it isn't possible to change just 3 quarts.:)
Ahha, that's the question! Although the Honda tranny holds 6.2 qts of transfluid and there is a handy-dandy drain plug, when you drain the trans, only three qts actually drain from the pan. The remainder of the fluid is captive in the torque convertor. In order to truely change all the fluid, you have to change 3 qts three times which results in a change of ~90% of all the fluid. All the maintenance threads on Odyclub.com talk about this. When I do a full change I do the three 3qt changes a few hundred miles apart. After that I change the 3 quarts every other oil change to keep the transfluid fresh. '99 to '05 Odysseys have reliability issues with transmissions so I err on the side of caution and change it frequently - it's cheap insurance.
Thanks for all your input! We went with the class III hitch. We put the Yuma on the Odyssey and it didn't move the van which is good. I think having the electric brakes is also a huge help.
Anyhow, looking forward to seeing you all in the forums.
E&S Clark
2005 Fleetwood Yuma
2004 Honda Odyssey
So when and where will your first trip be?:)
We really like it up in Peninsula State Park (Fish Creek, Wisconsin). It's in Door County which is just a really neat area with lots to do. It reminds us of New England but it's close to home. Before we head up there, we will take the pop-up out somewhere close to home. It will all be weather permitting because it is northern Illinois and it's only March.
How about you?
Quote from: tlhdocChris how do you change just 3 quarts or transmission fluid? In our Explorer you have to drop the pan to change the fluid, so it isn't possible to change just 3 quarts.:)
Tracy,
If you get 3 qts out of a normal automatic dropping the pan, you've gotten a fair amount out. Most fluid stays up in the torque converter, and only my one vehicle has a way to drain it as well.
Most traditional places have only ever dropped the pan and cleaned the screen for tranny fluid changes. Now, most of them are hooking up to a pumping arrangement (and charging you for a LOT of fluid, most of which is not staying in the transmission - because it is used for flushing the system).
OK, so here's a question for my own learning.
With an engine oil change, if you don't get out all the old oil, it reduces the effectiveness of the change. That is, if there's "pollution" left in some oil left in the oilpan, it continues to circulate in your new oil, causing wear. For this reason I always change the oil filter at the same time I change the oil. Some folks say to change the filter every other time, but it doesn't make sense to me to leave a pint or so of old oil circulating.
Is this different with transmission oil? If you are only removing 3 quarts out of the 9 or whatever, aren't you wasting your time? Wouldn't there be bits of metal and such continuing to circulate in the "changed" transmission oil?
Trans oil is a lot different than motor oil. It does not get the contaminates that motor oil does. Most of the contaminates in motor oil are derived from combustion not wear. It is a very good idea to change the filter each time.
Trans oil is pretty well in a sealed system and doesn't suffer from contaminates and acid build up (as much) . The big thing that effects trans oil is heat. There is a small amount of wear particles in the oil but not enough to be concerned about.
Changing as much of the trans oil as possible is good. The detergents break down over time and the other additives burn up with heat. Adding fresh oil, adds new additives and detergent, keeping the trans clean. If you see your trans oil getting brown, that is the additives that have burnt. If you see that, get all of the trans oil out. The burnt additives become gooey over time and will cause the tiny little valves in the valve body to malfunction. It also cause excessive wear and increases the temperature instead of acting as a coolant. If your trans oil is black, it's time to get rid of that vehicle. Chances are, there is significant damage to the trans.
I highly recommend switching to synthetic oil. The cooling properties are far superior and therefore the additives don't burn and everything, including the fluid, lasts much longer.
I would avoid having your trans flushed unless you have less than 25K miles on your car. Even if you use the flush, make sure that they drop the pan, clean it and change the filter afterwords. They will tell you that it isn't necessary but that is simply NOT true. That filer still has trapped contaminates and it falls apart over time. The flush actually increases the degradation of the filter.
If you have ever changed a trans filter or seen your trans being serviced, you will have seen that the technician takes the pan over to a solvent tank and cleans it out. Most of the contaminates in your trans end up on the bottom of the oil pan, not in the filter. That is why most manufacturers don't put a drain plug in the pan. It is essential that the pan be removed and cleaned.
During the trans flush, all of the sludge that has settled to the bottom of the pan is disturbed and circulated through the trans and gets trapped in the filter. If the pan is not propped, cleaned and filter replaced, a flush can do more harm than good.
Quote from: SpeakEasyOK, so here's a question for my own learning.
With an engine oil change, if you don't get out all the old oil, it reduces the effectiveness of the change. That is, if there's "pollution" left in some oil left in the oilpan, it continues to circulate in your new oil, causing wear. For this reason I always change the oil filter at the same time I change the oil. Some folks say to change the filter every other time, but it doesn't make sense to me to leave a pint or so of old oil circulating.
Is this different with transmission oil? If you are only removing 3 quarts out of the 9 or whatever, aren't you wasting your time? Wouldn't there be bits of metal and such continuing to circulate in the "changed" transmission oil?
As someone who changes his own motor oil because he doesn't trust anyone else to do it (lest they leave a quart of dirty oil in there), you have hit the nail on the head. I think the ATF should be able to have a complete change too, but the very nature of the A/T prevents it being done easily, unless you have a way to pump the fluid through it.
Automatics are funny creatures. If you don't really abuse the tranny (like towing...), you can ignore changing the fluid and probably sell the car before the tranny fails, often in excess of 150,000 miles. If you are religious about changing the fluid, the tranny will probably last the reasonable life of the car - and this is with the "part change", because that was the way we did it for most of the years that the automatic transmission has been in routine production.
Heat and slippage are what normally cause the ATF (and subsequently the A/T) to fail. I think the number commonly used is that dropping the ATF temperature 20 degrees DOUBLES the life of the fluid. If the transmission slips, it overheats; if it is low or high on fluid, it overheats. And the "smoother" the A/T shifts, the hotter it will run (smooth = slippage). One of the reasons that people doing performance mods to their cars use a trick transmission fluid with friction modifiers, to firm up and speed up the shifts.
If I remember correctly, ATF was one of the first "synthetic" fluids used in vehicles, so if that is correct, it probably has a certain amount of durability built in.
I think the short answer is that:
- It's better to change at least some of the fluid, and hope that you get out the older fluid next change...
I also believe this is why the quickie lube places recommend 3,000 mile/3 mos oil changes for engine oil - because they know they can't drain the oil oil completely in 3 minutes, and if they get you back in, you will have a majority of clean fresh oil every 3K miles.
Your analogy of "smooth=slippage" is true but it is not necessarily a bad thing. You want the trans to shift smoothly because it reduces the amount of impact on transmission gears during shifting. This is a good thing not a negative. Fast rough shifting causes premature failure due to warn "Hard parts" like gears and shafts.
Logic might tell you that faster shifting will eliminate wear on the fiber clutches because there is less friction. However, that is the very function of ATF. The ATF acts as a buffer between the clutches and most of the shifting is a hydraulic friction as apposed to a fiber material contact friction. When you change the properties of the ATF to cause harder shifting, you are actually causing more fiber friction, not less.
The hard shifting may be cool for getting 2nd gear rubber while shifting but not so cool if you want a transmission to last and definitely NOT cool when towing.
Quote from: waveryYour analogy of "smooth=slippage" is true but it is not necessarily a bad thing. You want the trans to shift smoothly because it reduces the amount of impact on transmission gears during shifting. This is a good thing not a negative. Fast rough shifting causes premature failure due to warn "Hard parts" like gears and shafts.
Logic might tell you that faster shifting will eliminate wear on the fiber clutches because there is less friction. However, that is the very function of ATF. The ATF acts as a buffer between the clutches and most of the shifting is a hydraulic friction as apposed to a fiber material contact friction. When you change the properties of the ATF to cause harder shifting, you are actually causing more fiber friction, not less.
The hard shifting may be cool for getting 2nd gear rubber while shifting but not so cool if you want a transmission to last and definitely NOT cool when towing.
Personally, I DON'T want to feel the transmission shift, which is why I let up slightly when it's ready to shift. When I had my tranny serviced a few weeks ago, they put some trans conditioner in my normal driver which has firmed up the shifts slightly, and I wish they would have left well enough alone.
I never recommend additives to ATF. They often have chemicals to "Rejuvenate" seals. The fact is, they cause the seals in the transmission to swell. Although that may cause some seals stop leaking (temporarily), they also change the pressure regulation inside the trans (by swelling seals that should not be swolen) and often cause more problems then they cure. Hard shifting is a symptom of changing pressure regulation to the clutch-pack. There is NEVER a good reason to put additives in your trans IMHO. If it leaks, you have a bad seal(s), replace it. It just doesn't get any more plain than that.
The fact is, all of these garages, dealerships, etc make $ by selling chemicals. In most cases, there is some sort of incentive scheme that goes all the way from the purchasing agent, management, service salesman and even the technician. I have always hated these schemes. They are dishonest, deceptive and often time do more harm then good because they "Dump" the stuff into vehicles that don't need it. That goes for engine oil additives, fuel additives, trans additives and P/S additives. It is not uncommon for some places to dump all of the above into every vehicle that goes through the shop. If the customer complains, they simply remove it from the bill. 90% of customers not only don't complain, they have no idea how to read the charges on their bill.
Quote from: esclarkWe really like it up in Peninsula State Park (Fish Creek, Wisconsin). It's in Door County which is just a really neat area with lots to do. It reminds us of New England but it's close to home. Before we head up there, we will take the pop-up out somewhere close to home. It will all be weather permitting because it is northern Illinois and it's only March.
How about you?
We were out for a long weekend in February and our next trip will be 5 or 6 nights at Assateague Island National Seashore for Easter.:)
With Hondas and Mazdas the trans filter cannot be changed without removing and dismantaling the transmission. :eyecrazy: The people who design these things should be made to work on them.
Quote from: aw738With Hondas and Mazdas the trans filter cannot be changed without removing and dismantaling the transmission. :eyecrazy: The people who design these things should be made to work on them.
That's true of most all of them. I'm sure you don't mean removing the transmission, but instead removing the pan, then removing the screen from the valve body...DON'T you? I have a rare thing in my Audi's tranny, it's called a drain plug... Of course, it doesn't come with a dipstick - heaven forbid you don't have a specialty scan tool to tell whether you have enough fluid at 75 deg C.
Speaking of working on them, the engineers designing the vehicle and those designing the engine should also get together. I've had several vehicles where the oil filter was in a relatively inaccessable place - one from GM (remove the fender inner liner), and two from Ford (where the oil filter is located over a wide subframe mount, and not accessible easily from either side.)
We towed our 1999 Towlite 19TL for 2.5 years with our 2002 Odyssey. Definitely use a WDH and you will likely want to install airlifts in the rear of the van. The van towed our rig just fine up through the Sierras to Tahoe and down Hwy 5 to Pismo (got 14 mpg!). It does ride low though and the 7 pin connector was THE low point and suffered road damage on the way back from Pismo :yikes:
I became very familiar with the wiring on that trip as I needed to make repairs at the reststop with makeshift tools/materials! :cool:
QuoteThat's true of most all of them. I'm sure you don't mean removing the transmission, but instead removing the pan, then removing the screen from the valve body...DON'T you? I have a rare thing in my Audi's tranny, it's called a drain plug... Of course, it doesn't come with a dipstick - heaven forbid you don't have a specialty scan tool to tell whether you have enough fluid at 75 deg C.
I've sold parts for over 11 years and have confirmed this with a local transmission shop. Most of the ones that I have seen are like that and yes you do have to remove the transmission and dissasemble it to change the filter. They don't have a pan like most transmissions. They do have a drain plug so you can get the fluid out. On some older Honda SUVS you have to have the vehicle off of the ground in gear and remove a sight plug to check the fluid level.
Quote from: aw738I've sold parts for over 11 years and have confirmed this with a local transmission shop. Most of the ones that I have seen are like that and yes you do have to remove the transmission and dissasemble it to change the filter. They don't have a pan like most transmissions. They do have a drain plug so you can get the fluid out. On some older Honda SUVS you have to have the vehicle off of the ground in gear and remove a sight plug to check the fluid level.
Incredible...
But on the other hand, Audi introduced a transmission the same year as my car that no longer requires fluid changes or maintenance (unless of course you damage it). But breaking an engine and tranny apart to either clean or replace a screen/filter?
QuoteIncredible...
But on the other hand, Audi introduced a transmission the same year as my car that no longer requires fluid changes or maintenance (unless of course you damage it). But breaking an engine and tranny apart to either clean or replace a screen/filter
I was talking about this with the owner of the transmission shop today about this thread. He also told me that the transmissions in Ford Contours (probably uses a Mazda transmission) are of the same design. As far as the Audi transmission I don't and wouldn't believe it. ALL mechanical devices require maintainance.
Quote from: aw738I was talking about this with the owner of the transmission shop today about this thread. He also told me that the transmissions in Ford Contours (probably uses a Mazda transmission) are of the same design. As far as the Audi transmission I don't and wouldn't believe it. ALL mechanical devices require maintainance.
Mercedes and Audi took a path about 10 years ago which was to seal their transmissions (seal being kind of a loose wording, but that's what is used). Their argument was that they were now building to such fine tolerances AND that the fluids used were of high enough quality, that in the normal course of driving that it should not require routine servicing.
The somewhat unspoken message was that it kept untrained service folks out of underfilling, overfilling, and putting in things incorrectly (wrong fluids, screens, etc.), which they determined caused the majority of the problems that these companies were encountering. People putting Dexron into Mercon V systems, etc. Or something similar.
Anyhow. On my vehicle, I am the switchover year. My manual says to change every 45K, and it uses Dexron III. People looking up the service requirements tell me it is lifetime fluid and never needs to be changed - UNTIL they look up the serial #. I really got scared when after telling my independent foreign car place three times that it used Dexron, he called me up after changing it without my permission (having told me he couldn't perform the service 2 weeks prior), and said, "I started draining it and it had Dexron in it - did you know it was the older style?". I think that is exactly WHO Mercedes and Audi want to keep away from it.