I've got 86k and and seems like the tranny is getting a little catchy in the low end. How often should the fluid be changed and anything else I could do to keep it running smooth?

 

if the fluid has never been changed before throughout the life of the car, changing it now leaves a good chance of it starting to slip. not good.

what do you mean by "catchy"? you should figure out exactly what the problem is before you go changing the fluid. our cars should go much further than 86k miles without having to flush and change the fluid.

 

yeah, but not changing it leads to failure as well. Best chance is to change it and hope it's fine. My brother just changed his atf and that atf was at least 80k also. But if he didn't change it, it would eventually be in trouble.

This may help you. http://www.filtercouncil.org/techdata/tsbs/98-2.html

 

I changed mine for the first time at 131k miles when I got the car. No problems, it shifted a little better after that, and since has performed great. I've put 20k miles on it since then.

-Ryan
1995 GLE auto, 151k

 

Most factory manuals recommend changing atf every 30k (at least a drain & fill), while I've heard that a full flush (drop pan, change filter/gasket) should be done every 60k. Auto trannies have kind of a bad reputation on these cars, but like any auto tranny, if you keep it cool it will last a long time. Keeping fresh fluid in there is the best thing to keep your tranny cool, as the fluid breaks down with time/heat/use.