Good care (ATF) for 4T60E

[100]

I didn't pay too much attention (I suppose I was lucky when I had an 83 Eldorado, because I didn't need to worry about the transmission!) to how to take care of a transmission (no abuse, though). There is not much you can do, or am I wrong?

Anyway, since my car is 11 yrs old and got 100k+ miles now, I was thinking to replace ATF. ATF looked a bit brownish, but OK to me, so I was not sure, but since I experienced a bit strange transmission behavior recently, I thought changing ATF would not hurt to do now. I can't think of any other "caring" of a transmission... If you have some comments or recommendation on caring (besides changing ATF), please let me know. Anyway, so, what kind of ATF are good for the transmission? Is there an ATF like magic Rotella T 10W-40 for 4.9L?

Thank you!

[zonie77]

I don't know about any "magic" fluid. Just use a good quality ATF.

[HUF]

Originally Posted by 100

I didn't pay too much attention (I suppose I was lucky when I had an 83 Eldorado, because I didn't need to worry about the transmission!) to how to take care of a transmission (no abuse, though). There is not much you can do, or am I wrong?
Anyway, since my car is 11 yrs old and got 100k+ miles now, I was thinking to replace ATF. ATF looked a bit brownish, but OK to me, so I was not sure, but since I experienced a bit strange transmission behavior recently, I thought changing ATF would not hurt to do now. I can't think of any other "caring" of a transmission... If you have some comments or recommendation on caring (besides changing ATF), please let me know. Anyway, so, what kind of ATF are good for the transmission? Is there an ATF like magic Rotella T 10W-40 for 4.9L?
Thank you!

DexronIII is all you need. Never flush the tranny to not introduce someone else's debris in your system. Just drain and replace the ATF. If you do not want to mess up (literally!) with the pan/filter/gasket, you can disconnect the lower oil line to the radiator cooler (the passenger side of the radiator) and start the engine. The tranny pump will pump out the ATF completely. Draining by just dropping the pan will allow you to remove just about 5-6 qtr of ATF (which is still okay though). If you decide to replace the filter, do not remove the old sleeve from the tranny - placing the new one is not fun.

[100]

Thanks for all comments!

I am planning to drop the pan and check inside. If the fileter is not in a good shape, I would replace it, otherwise, I would just leave it there. Clean the pan, put it back on, then, to get the rest of ATF, I would take the hose off and drain from there.

Well, well, because I have done this only once before on my 83 Eldorado, I didn't pay much attention about ATF at that time. What I cared was if it was meeting Dexron III... Now, I checked ATF at an Autozone and found many kinds that meet Dexron III! Just like an engine oil, Mobil 1 synthetic was the one of the most expensive. Although you guys say they are all fine to use, since it will stay in the transmission for long time and I would not mind saving some little money here, I would like to use the best kind. But if there is no point of using expensive synthetic stuff, I would not want to use it not from economical reason, but from technical point of view, you know what I mean?

So, again, what do you think about, at least, differences between synthetic ATF and conventional ATF, still no different? Just getting the cheap one (Dexron III, of course) and pouring it in the transmission would be as good as doing so with synthetic?

Thank you!

[HUF]

100,

I agree that saving a few bucks on ATF does not make much sense. Let's think this way. Your tranny came from the factory with regular (not synthetic) ATF and it worked just fine for 100.000 miles. Do you really want to experiment with something new (and unknown)? I would not and I did not!

Dropping the pan, cleaning it and the magnet definitely makes you feel good! LOL. You will most likely find a very thin layer of metal dust.

[100]

HUF,

Thank you very much for your comments. Good comments, as usual. I will use conventional ATF, but some known brand name stuff, then.

There are too many kinds of ATF (or engine oil) and price variation among them makes me to think there must be a good reason, although I don't know if it makes sense or not. As you said, GM might have designed the transmission with conventional ATF with 99.9 % satisfaction. If you go with synthetic, you will get additional 0.1 % or somesort, which is well within an error and other things (driving habits etc) would affect performance and life expectancy more...

[jonle1]

I recentally change my fluid and filter for the same purpose i used pensoile it looks the best or Q-state derion 111 of course but dont use cheap fluid...

[vanaisa]

if you decided remove oil pan, its wise to change this old (and partly clogged?) filter too.