No Tranny Cooler

[zdkaiser]

So today I went to get my tranny fluid drained and re-filled today. It cost $93 at the GM dealer. Before I had it done, I asked how much? He said, $95. Sounds reasonable from what I have read. Anyways, I asked if it would be better to do a tranny flush on the 07 auto Vibe. He said, "You cannot do a flush on a Vibe because it doesn't have a tranny cooler." Does that make sense? I don't know much about the topic, but people on this board have debated to "flush or not to flush" the vibe tranny.Can anyone clear this up for me?My fluid looks nice and pink now. I decided to have it changed at 38K miles because it was starting to darken a bit.

[lovemyraffe]

You can "flush" the tranny without a cooler on it. Flushing the tranny isn't much different then a drain and fill. If you flush it you might get a bit more junk out of it. $93 is a pretty good price for it though. We used to charge much more then that to service the tranny.

[djb383]

Your dealer is an idiot. The Vibe auto tranny has a tranny cooler built into the radiator just like any other vehicle with an auto tranny. There are 2 fluid lines that connect between the tranny and the cooler in the radiator. The Vibe does not have an external auxiliary tranny cooler but then few vehicles do. Several of us members have added external auxiliary coolers just for a little added insurance. If you do any towing, it is a must, IMHO. There's a big difference between a fluid flush/exchange and a simple drain/refill......like replacing all of the old fluid with new vs replacing half or less of the fluid. Any tranny shop or quick lube that has the fluid exchange/flush machine will simply tap into a tranny fluid line where it enters/exits the radiator and replace virtually 100% of the old fluid with new. Once the fluid exchange is complete, the machine is disconnected and the tranny fluid lines are reconnected to the radiator.Personally, I don't think a flush/exchange is necessary and only do a drain and fill once a year.

[blue_can]

Yes, the dealer does not sound very clever. The Vibe tranny does have an oil cooler. In fact for that matter does any auto transmission not have a cooler. I've never come across one without but maybe there are ones?? How is the fluid that is getting thrown around in the torque converter going to get cooled. Let's say you get 90% energy transfer from the engine to the transmission due to TC slippage. If you engine output is say 100HP (about 75kWatts) around 7.5Kwatts will be disspated in the transmisison and in the fluid. How will the fluid be cooled without a cooler.If anyone has seen an auto tranny without an oil cooler of any sort please post as I'm curious.

[ned23]

Quote, originally posted by djb383 » There's a big difference between a fluid flush/exchange and a simple drain/refill......like replacing all of the old fluid with new vs replacing half or less of the fluid. Any tranny shop or quick lube that has the fluid exchange/flush machine will simply tap into a tranny fluid line where it enters/exits the radiator and replace virtually 100% of the old fluid with new. Once the fluid exchange is complete, the machine is disconnected and the tranny fluid lines are reconnected to the radiator.Personally, I don't think a flush/exchange is necessary and only do a drain and fill once a year. In my younger, poor days I did a fuild change on one of my old cars when I lived in an apt. I used a rotary pump to suck the old fluid out through the filler hole. I "changed" the fluid that way two times a couple thousand miles later just to be thorough. Each time it took roughly 3/4 of the amount specifiied in the manual.