what can I do to my automatic to help prolong its life? I have 50k miles on my 98 GXE, and I was thinking a tranny cooler. What else?

 

Replace the Automatic Transmission Fluid every 60K miles. Refrain from abusive driving practices.

 

is replacing auto transmission Fluid self "doable"? Any links you can help me do this step by step? thanks

 

a tranny cooler is helpful as it will keep the ATF slightly cooler. Don's VB mod is also helpful as it will make the tranny shift faster thus putting less wear and tear on the clutches that are used by the A/T to shift gears.

And of course like Daniel said changing your ATF is a must at the recommended intervals.

Ant

 

it's very doable depending on what type of car knowledge you possess.

To change all of the ATF, in other words, to do a flush can be difficult.
i would say if you haven't changed your ATF for a long time then do a flush.

Ant

 

Yes. There is a drain plug in the transmission pan, similar to the drain plug in the engine oil pan.

There are two methods for changing the Automatic Transmission Fluid.

Method 1) An ordinary drain-and-refill may be done by the home mechanic. This method changes only about half of the fluid, but is easy and inexpensive. The cost is 4 or 5 quarts of ATF, plus your time.

Method 2) Most commercial service facilities use the Magic Sucker Pump which changes all of the fluid. The cost is about US$80.

My Maxima is a 5-speed so the issue of ATF change does not apply. I maintain a Honda Accord for a family member. On that car I do a drain-and-refill ATF change with every oil change. It is not a big deal, as the car is already up on jackstands and my hands are already dirty. This costs about US$8/year in ATF and the car is always running on almost-new ATF.

 

I think I am just gunna go with a tranny cooler and a fluid change for now.

 

All the suggestions in this thread are good ones. To summarize, you can do the following things

1) Change the ATF (I change mine every 15k miles, no big deal)

2) Switch to synthetic ATF (I use Redline D4 ATF, which is quite expensive at $8/qt compared with $1/qt for conventional fluid)

3) Add a transmission cooler (I installed mine this weekend, not too hard, but I did scrape up my hands pretty bad)

4) Don's VB mod (an expensive option that probably isn't necessary if all you want is longer transmission life)


You can either do a drain and refill of ATF, which is quick and easy (uses around 3 quarts), or go to Jiffy Lube for their T-tech service, which replaces all of the 10 quarts your transmission holds. I had the T-tech done using Redline D4 ATF...very expensive.

 

First of all 15k is unnecessarily too often.

Secondly you failed to mention that when one goes from regular to synthetic, it is NOT a simple drain and fill. One should do a complete flush. After that, as long as you stay with synthetic, a drain and fill is fine.