What is the benefit of going with synthetic?

 

Generally longer service life, better protection and less breakdown. FWIW, you can read what they have to say about their own stuff here:

http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/atf.aspx

Also their ATF is compatible with Matic-J/S so you can mix the two without any issues (handy since you will never get ALL the old ATF out).

 

It could with a few things. Maybe your X or later model 5ATs have an increase ATF capacity. Or it could be the position of your car. Do you drain on jack stands or ramps? When I drain, I simply jack up the passenger side, remove the plug, lower the car to static ride height and let it drain. It's 3.1 QTs everytime. If the car was jacked up or on ramps, then it's possible you could get some additional fluid out of the TC and other lines. The important thing though is to only add what you take out (assuming the tranny is at the full mark before the drain).

 

I did it on jack stands (lowest setting) as well as wood ramp. I let it drain 20 minutes and then I jack up the rear. Usually with the rear up, only a few more drop comes out so jacking up the rear is really not necessary I think.

 

I wouldn't do the flush!
I did a flush on my 05 g35x (auto) at infiniti. I did a drain and fill at 32k miles and the flush at 73k miles. Both at imfimiti dealership. Now my transmission is slipping! Luckly it's only the reverse gear, so Im assuming I could get couple more miles out of the transmission before it goes. I have 76k miles and infiniti won't fix it for free. They are charging 3500$! Forget that!

 

pressurize the system? our transmission flush machine (B+G) uses internal transmission pressure - the car has to be running to flush the system - in order for it to work. this does not add pressure, this only uses available pressure made by the transmission oil pump. do you even realize that normal transmission pressures are anywhere from 60 to as high as 280 PSI?

I've been doing transmission flushes for a long time. no transmission issues have come back.

more harm than good? prove it.

also, if you have "broken off clutch material" inside your transmission, something has gone horribly wrong. if the clutches are wearing normally, you will see the fluid turn brown. there wont be any chunks as you have implied.

plus drain and fill wont be as effective at removing all the particles caused by normal wear that might be sitting at the bottom of the pan, or in the valve body. a full flush will remove most of those harmful deposits far better than any drain and fill will be able to do.

 

The last time I was overdue for my tranny oil change I had the dealership drop the pan and change the oil. I think this time around I'll just do this method .

 

drop the pan? why?

 

Yes, 280psi is obtained in reverse at full stall speed and 220psi at full stall in 1st, 50-60 psi at idle. Knew that, thanks.

I do environmental assessments/audits and I do them at auto dealerships and bus terminals quite often. Since I'm a gearhead, I'm always shooting the sh*t with facility rep, often times the shop manager, during the audit. On numerous occasions, I've posed the tranny fluid drain/flush question to them and more times than not the response is they use to do flushes with the machine, but more and more manufactuers are saying don't do it and since most of shops do warranty work, they don't do it because they don't want to risk not getting reimbursed for the warranty work or being held responsible for a failed tranny that has record of being put on a flush machine. I'm only the messenger of the information. Your shop is obviously one that does use the flushing machine. I know the three Nissan dealerships and Infiniti dealership in Kansas City do not do flushes on the JATCO 5AT. They all recommend 30K tranny drains (3-4 QTs) or the FSM recommended full drain procedure on trannies with higher miles and few or no changes.

As for the friction material I'm talking about, I'm not saying large chunks or large amounts of it. I'm talking about pieces of material 1mm or less. I've seen this material come out my JATCO 5AT, my Legacy GT 4EAT, and my Z28's 4L60E. None of this trannies failed and/or are showing signs of failing.

 

Well for one, it was around the same cost as the drain and fill.

Also, it was the first time I had even changed the tranny oil. Since the car was already around 65K miles, I was concerned about excessive 'material'. So dropping the pan allowed them to wipe up the inside of the pan and physically clean the filter screen.

 

interesting stuff here. maybe I'll recommend a drain and fill. see how I like it. who knows, I might start a trend at the shop.

 

We have a gear head/racer that I work with and he also owns his own shop. He says they never to flushes, only drain and refills... I did and drain and refill the other day and got damn near 4.5 quarts. That was with the front on jack stand at the lowest setting. I'll probably do drain and refills every 10-15k because I'm a maintenance ****.

 

I figured I'll do a drain after every 30k and then flush after 3rd drain.

 

i had a flush at 30k, and now at 60k, I will be doing a drain and fill

 

Each time I have drained/filled my tranny I get out about 5.5 quarts.

For some reason the early 2003s don't have a tranny dipstick. I need to get one. I have to go to the dealer to get it measured.