> I guess I also don't understand why this just isn't done on a regular basis when serviced if it can be so expensive to fix if not done.

It'd be kinda like performing a full body cavity search on every airline passenger in a misguided attempt to deter 'terrorism'.

The fact that a failed AT is expensive to repair really shouldn't influence your failure deterrence strategy unless/until it has been conclusively shown that spending more on more frequent maintenance/deterrence can really keep the boogey-man (be it mechanical failure or a terrorist) away.

These ATs function best when left alone (ie, treated as a sealed system). Kinda like a wristwatch with a lot of small moving parts -- the less often you open it up and do stuff to it and expose its clean insides to the dirt in the environment, the better. The fact that the wristwatch might be very expensive to repair/replace should not alter the best-left-alone strategy. If a commodity, such as a transmission, is so expensive, but it needs to be maintained every year, what's the point, anyway? (Capitalism would have already replaced it with either less expensive disposable or more durable goods anyway. Even Rolex watches [logic does not always pertain to jewelry] would not be valuable/expensive if they lacked durability.)

But back to cars (and terrorism):

The power of the internet (and mass media) to amplify way out of proportion the fear (terror) of expense (sudden death) from one distant occurrence should be well-known by now. This is doubly-amplified by automotive service professionals, who only see the rare failures, and then go online...

Some -- a very few -- of these ATs are born to fail, and will fail no matter what the end-user does or tries to do. It's a fact of life in an imperfect world. The ATF will undoubtedly be the first to know, and the first to show signs of abuse, so, naturally, the ATF will be blamed!

Well, the ATF (sky) is not falling.

You have nothing to fear but fear itself.

The last three words of yours, "if not done", constitute, in my opinion, a superstitious (fearful) belief.

These ATs were designed/intended to be seen/treated as sealed systems. Not literally forever, but for extended intervals. I will say, however, that I do not believe the ATs started out (back in '93) as robust as they eventually became in succeeding years.

Still, changing the ATF every day will not force any AT to last forever, any more than daily blood transfusions cure leukemia. You don't want to leave nose-curling-burnt-smelling ATF (sniff the dipstick!) in your AT, but if your AT is burning up its ATF, changing the ATF frequently (and/or using more expensive ATF) is not much of a solution.

And if your AT is not burning up its ATF, it should be left alone in there for a good long time (years).

- Dave; '95 854T, 143K mi


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