Flush or Drain

I was at an oil place getting it changed and they suggested that I
flush & fill both the power steering and autotransmission. My toyota
camry 4-cylinder le 1996 has 160,000 and I don't remember the last time
the powersteering was changed and its been at least 40,000 miles ago I
had the transmission drained. I should probably have them both changed
and wanted to find out if Draining the fluids would be safer then
having them hook up there machine and flushing it. I figure flushing
would get more of the dirt but it also puts pressure in the system
which I figure could cause damage if there are any week parts. So
whats the opionion of this group should I do the flush or should I just
have the fluids drained?

Thanks,
Craig

On Thu, 09 Nov 2006 14:56:27 -0800, Craig wrote:
[color=blue]
> I was at an oil place getting it changed and they suggested that I
> flush & fill both the power steering and autotransmission. My toyota
> camry 4-cylinder le 1996 has 160,000 and I don't remember the last time
> the powersteering was changed and its been at least 40,000 miles ago I
> had the transmission drained. I should probably have them both changed
> and wanted to find out if Draining the fluids would be safer then
> having them hook up there machine and flushing it. I figure flushing
> would get more of the dirt but it also puts pressure in the system
> which I figure could cause damage if there are any week parts. So
> whats the opionion of this group should I do the flush or should I just
> have the fluids drained?
>
> Thanks,
> Craig[/color]


Oh my God, did you flush!!!???

Sorry, old joke.

But, don't! At 160,000 and you can't remember the last service, flushing
my not be the thing to do.

But, a few questions first. Is the tranny fluid red, or brown, or worse,
black? One of the things that makes tranny fluid change is the fact the
friction material is getting eaten off of the clutches and brakes. If you
flush it out, you HAVE no friction material, and you stop moving!

If it is still a light red, you may be ok. Brown or black, jut change it
and clean the screen. This will replace 4-6 of the 12-16 quarts in your
tranny. If this works OK, drive it for 20,000 and do it again.

As far as the power steering, I've never heard of this. I guess you can
drain it and fill it. I've never done it.

You can drain about 1/3 of the trans fluid yourself for $10 - they probably
want $150 for their power flush. I'd rather drain and fill for next 4 oil
changes. Turkey baster can be used to suck out power steering and brak
fluid for a change.

"Craig" <craig_wilson_p@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1163112987.507518.19870@f16g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...[color=blue]
>I was at an oil place getting it changed and they suggested that I
> flush & fill both the power steering and autotransmission. My toyota
> camry 4-cylinder le 1996 has 160,000 and I don't remember the last time
> the powersteering was changed and its been at least 40,000 miles ago I
> had the transmission drained. I should probably have them both changed
> and wanted to find out if Draining the fluids would be safer then
> having them hook up there machine and flushing it. I figure flushing
> would get more of the dirt but it also puts pressure in the system
> which I figure could cause damage if there are any week parts. So
> whats the opionion of this group should I do the flush or should I just
> have the fluids drained?
>
> Thanks,
> Craig
>[/color]

I remember hearing a song about a lady having her windshield washer fluid
changed too!
I have a "thing" about flushing radiator and transmission ONCE about 40 or
50 k miles and then just change. I also do diff's, transfer case every
couple years or 30-40k miles. This is probably overkill but then I also do
oil/filter at 3k or 3 months too. a few hundred bucks every couple of years
on a 30+k car/suv is pretty inexpensive. I had radiator coolant changed
today at about 62k. This is my thing but you probably won't go wrong
following owners manual recommendations for severe service. Probably
replacing brake fluid and power steering in reservoirs not bad idea either
every few years.

Ron


"Hachiroku" <Trueno@AE86.gts> wrote in message
news:HAQ4h.3647$Ue.1883@trndny03...[color=blue]
> On Thu, 09 Nov 2006 14:56:27 -0800, Craig wrote:
>[color=green]
>> I was at an oil place getting it changed and they suggested that I
>> flush & fill both the power steering and autotransmission. My toyota
>> camry 4-cylinder le 1996 has 160,000 and I don't remember the last time
>> the powersteering was changed and its been at least 40,000 miles ago I
>> had the transmission drained. I should probably have them both changed
>> and wanted to find out if Draining the fluids would be safer then
>> having them hook up there machine and flushing it. I figure flushing
>> would get more of the dirt but it also puts pressure in the system
>> which I figure could cause damage if there are any week parts. So
>> whats the opionion of this group should I do the flush or should I just
>> have the fluids drained?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Craig[/color]
>
>
> Oh my God, did you flush!!!???
>
> Sorry, old joke.
>
> But, don't! At 160,000 and you can't remember the last service, flushing
> my not be the thing to do.
>
> But, a few questions first. Is the tranny fluid red, or brown, or worse,
> black? One of the things that makes tranny fluid change is the fact the
> friction material is getting eaten off of the clutches and brakes. If you
> flush it out, you HAVE no friction material, and you stop moving!
>
> If it is still a light red, you may be ok. Brown or black, jut change it
> and clean the screen. This will replace 4-6 of the 12-16 quarts in your
> tranny. If this works OK, drive it for 20,000 and do it again.
>
> As far as the power steering, I've never heard of this. I guess you can
> drain it and fill it. I've never done it.[/color]

"Craig" <craig_wilson_p@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1163112987.507518.19870@f16g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...[color=blue]
>I was at an oil place getting it changed and they suggested that I
> flush & fill both the power steering and autotransmission. My toyota
> camry 4-cylinder le 1996 has 160,000 and I don't remember the last time
> the powersteering was changed and its been at least 40,000 miles ago I
> had the transmission drained. I should probably have them both changed
> and wanted to find out if Draining the fluids would be safer then
> having them hook up there machine and flushing it. I figure flushing
> would get more of the dirt but it also puts pressure in the system
> which I figure could cause damage if there are any week parts. So
> whats the opionion of this group should I do the flush or should I just
> have the fluids drained?
>
> Thanks,
> Craig
>[/color]

At that mileage, drain and refill the transmission.

Pass on the power steering fluid flush, if you really want to, you can drain
and refill.

You should change the brake fluid as well.
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

On Fri, 10 Nov 2006 03:18:30 +0000, thisbemomma wrote:
[color=blue]
> I remember hearing a song about a lady having her windshield washer fluid
> changed too!
> I have a "thing" about flushing radiator and transmission ONCE about 40 or
> 50 k miles and then just change. I also do diff's, transfer case every
> couple years or 30-40k miles. This is probably overkill but then I also do
> oil/filter at 3k or 3 months too. a few hundred bucks every couple of years
> on a 30+k car/suv is pretty inexpensive. I had radiator coolant changed
> today at about 62k. This is my thing but you probably won't go wrong
> following owners manual recommendations for severe service. Probably
> replacing brake fluid and power steering in reservoirs not bad idea either
> every few years.
>
> Ron[/color]

I used to just drive them till they drop. With a Toyota, this amounts to
250,000 miles or more.

However, I am a little more maintenance concious than I was. New cars are
too expensive! This sounds like a good idea to me!

I changed the brake fluid in my '85 Corolla once...at 248,000 miles! The
pedal was so hard I had to brace myself against the seat to stop the car!!!
New brake fluid and it was like brand new again. Now I change it when it
starts getting dark!


[color=blue]
>
>
> "Hachiroku" <Trueno@AE86.gts> wrote in message
> news:HAQ4h.3647$Ue.1883@trndny03...[color=green]
>> On Thu, 09 Nov 2006 14:56:27 -0800, Craig wrote:
>>[color=darkred]
>>> I was at an oil place getting it changed and they suggested that I
>>> flush & fill both the power steering and autotransmission. My toyota
>>> camry 4-cylinder le 1996 has 160,000 and I don't remember the last time
>>> the powersteering was changed and its been at least 40,000 miles ago I
>>> had the transmission drained. I should probably have them both changed
>>> and wanted to find out if Draining the fluids would be safer then
>>> having them hook up there machine and flushing it. I figure flushing
>>> would get more of the dirt but it also puts pressure in the system
>>> which I figure could cause damage if there are any week parts. So
>>> whats the opionion of this group should I do the flush or should I just
>>> have the fluids drained?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Craig[/color]
>>
>>
>> Oh my God, did you flush!!!???
>>
>> Sorry, old joke.
>>
>> But, don't! At 160,000 and you can't remember the last service, flushing
>> my not be the thing to do.
>>
>> But, a few questions first. Is the tranny fluid red, or brown, or worse,
>> black? One of the things that makes tranny fluid change is the fact the
>> friction material is getting eaten off of the clutches and brakes. If you
>> flush it out, you HAVE no friction material, and you stop moving!
>>
>> If it is still a light red, you may be ok. Brown or black, jut change it
>> and clean the screen. This will replace 4-6 of the 12-16 quarts in your
>> tranny. If this works OK, drive it for 20,000 and do it again.
>>
>> As far as the power steering, I've never heard of this. I guess you can
>> drain it and fill it. I've never done it.[/color][/color]

On 9 Nov 2006 14:56:27 -0800, "Craig" <craig_wilson_p@yahoo.com>
wrote:
[color=blue]
>I was at an oil place getting it changed and they suggested that I
>flush & fill both the power steering and autotransmission.[/color]

That's part of where they make their money is on the, um, "added
services".
[color=blue]
>I should probably have them both changed
>and wanted to find out if Draining the fluids would be safer then
>having them hook up there machine and flushing it. I figure flushing
>would get more of the dirt but it also puts pressure in the system
>which I figure could cause damage if there are any week parts.[/color]

My regular shop doesn't like the idea of a powerflush; regardless,
when I had some work done at a local dealer some months back, I let
them do what they called a flush. I was pleased that I had no
problems afterwards, despite all the horror stories; after relating
the tale to the mechanic at my regular shop, he thinks that what they
did was unplug the hose going to the tranny cooler, start the engine,
and kept pouring in fresh fluid up top until the fluid coming out of
the hose turned red. That way, no extra strain on the parts.