Hello all;

Recently I had my transmission "flushed" at a transmission shop with one of their dialysis machines that supposedly evacuated all the old fluid and put in the 9 quarts of Castrol import fluid I brought . The fluid that came out was dark but not black.

A few days later I drained the fluid myself opening the drain plug and it still came out dark red. I refilled the trans with 3.5-4 quarts of Castrol again.

Yesterday I drained it again. Still burgundy. Again refilledand drove around 100 miles.

Today drained again. Still not bright red:


The transmission has never slipped or jerked. The shift points have been different from other cars I own, maybe a little stiff but no slipping or jerking. The car has 63k miles.

Why after all the fluid changes is it still not bright red? Is it normal for it to turn that color that quick? Is it just the detergent in the fluid cleaning? It's super easy to drain and refill the tranny, like 20 minutes, but I am getting tired of doing it.

 

Makes me wonder if you got the flush you paid for...
assuming you did, then other options:
a)there's nothing wrong
b)your torque converter is on the way out
c)it's ok for your fluid to look like that after its been run a bit.

Two out of three ain't bad.

 

Well I hope it not the torque converter ! Wouldn't I be having all sorts of problems with a bad torque converter? The fluid has never been black but rather the maroon color on the bucket. Even the first ever drain (previous owner never changed it) was not a dark red. Never black

I am going to change it one more time and then leave it alone for a few months.

 

The only time I ever had fluid turn black in an auto trans it was caused by the torque converter going out. So that is why I mentioned it. If you've never had black or even dark fluid, if you can't smell clutch in the fluid (you'll know when you do, smells nothing like trans fluid, nothing at all like it), if everything is running right, shifting good, no slipping, you are probably just fine.