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Re: transmission filter Posted by Ari [Email]  (#2847) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Ari) on Mon, 29 Mar 2004 13:47:12
In Reply to: transmission filter, Mak, Mon, 29 Mar 2004 00:51:51 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
The Saab autobox is fragile, and frequent fluid changes are helpful in keeping it in one piece. A fluid and filter change every 15-20K miles is a good idea.
Just draining the fluid from the drain plug only gets you about half of the fluid in the tranny. The rest is 'hidden' in the torque converter. The three reasonable choices (not counting removal and disassembly of the tranny) are-
1- Power fluid flushes that some shops offer. Probably the best approach. Lines are connected to the tranny and fluid flushed through.
2 - Repeated drain/fill. Drain out what you can, replace filter, and refil (note - don't add the capacity listed in the manual - there's plenty left in the tranny). Drive the car for a few days/couple of weeks, and drain and fill. Doing this twice or three times effectively flushes the tranny.
3. One drain/fill. Not ideal, but better than nothing. Probably fine if the tranny has been having regular (15-20K) fluid replacement. If the fluid is original to a 80K mile car, probably not ideal.
As to fluid - check the manual. I don't know what is listed in the 97 manual. Older cars listed Dextron II, and since you can't find it, Dextron III is just fine. The '97 may call for something different.
The Saab manual says not to use synthetic. That's because Saab didn't test the transmission with synthetic fluids. Why not? That kind of testing costs money, and the 9000 design was on the way out. So be it. Many folks have claimed good results with synthetic, and there is no question it has superior lubricating qualities and resists breakdown. You could say that folks have tested the autobox with synthetic, using their own cars as test subjects.
So, should you use synthetic? Damn fine question. I'll give you my personal opinion - I'd use a good quality non-synthetic per the owner's manual, and replace it every 15K miles. In that time, unless you're towing or otherwise stressing the tranny, the fluid isn't going to break down in 15K miles. The short fluid change interval is there to remove crap floating in the fluid, crap that will build up just about as fast in synthetic as regular. I'd take the money I save over synthetic and put it into the tranny repair fund for later. Again, just my opinion.
However, if you did want to run synthetic for that extra bit of coverage, check the archives for folks experience/compatibility. I wouldn't just buy any synthetic tranny fluid and assume it'll work. Royal Purple is probably fine, but check. And still replace the fluid (and filter) every 15K miles.
Yes, the filter can be cleaned - flush it with clean fluid.
posted by 192.249....
, Mon, 29 Mar 2004 13:47:12 <-- Viewing This Message
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