Autobox fluid change.

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milleplod
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Re: Autobox fluid change.

Post by milleplod »

I've just had a reply from Mark Lightfoot Ltd -

"Due to the age and the specific gearbox fitted to your car it is only possible to change a small amount of the gearbox oil in your car. We have spoken to several auto transmission specialists and they have said it is not worth the bother."

I'm beginning to think that rather a lot of these so-called 'specialists' are anything but! :roll:

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Re: Autobox fluid change.

Post by milleplod »

I've just had a reply from Mark Lightfoot Ltd -

"Due to the age and the specific gearbox fitted to your car it is only possible to change a small amount of the gearbox oil in your car. We have spoken to several auto transmission specialists and they have said it is not worth the bother."

I'm beginning to think that rather a lot of these so-called 'specialists'* are anything but! :roll:

* I'm referring to transmission 'specialists', not Mark Lightfoot - I realise a lot of garages would farm out gearbox work.

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Re: Autobox fluid change.

Post by demag »

I started changing the Dexron in my BX and have done 3 partial changes. It still needs quite a lot more, it's a muddy brown colour now but should be cherry red. Looks like I might be doing the C5 myself as well.

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Re: Autobox fluid change.

Post by 411514 »

To the OP:

It does seem that there are two ways of changing the fluid for auto 'boxes generally; a) pressure flushing fluid through the box to force all the fluid to be changed (I think this is often called a hot flush) and tends to be quite expensive; or b) partially draining the box simply by removing the drain plug (a quantity of oil remains trapped in the TC).

I would agree with an earlier poster that the £160 quoted by the main dealer will just be draining and refilling a couple of litres. In this respect, £160 seems pretty pricey for just doing a couple of litres.

If it were me, I would certainly change the oil rather than leaving it. I would probably do as the last poster has done though and just do a series of partial changes myself spaced over a month. I seem to recall another member doing around five partial changes before the oil reached an acceptable degree of cleanliness. I imagine that this will have taken twenty litres or so. I understand that the correct oil for your gearbox is relatively expensive, and I bet the oil for five changes will likely cost almost the same price as quoted by the dealer for one change.
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Re: Autobox fluid change.

Post by van ordinaire »

Service intervals for changing ATF/filter are quite long & I have never seen any suggestion that it isn't necessary to do it other than in accordance with that.

Of course, if the trans. has been neglected/abused/known to have problems, e.g. slipping bands, then there may be some merit in changing it 'til the proper colour is restored.

Common or garden ATF goes for about £20 for 5 litres (possibly less from an independent) but while more esoteric ones will be more expensive, you should still stop a long way short of £160 for, say, 3 changes. Always bear in mind that there are further savings to be had by buying in bulk, say a 25 litre drum.
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Re: Autobox fluid change.

Post by milleplod »

Well, I just had a callback from Citroen in Mansfield, and its a good job I was sitting down. The very nice lady told me that they could do the job - 7 litres of fluid, 2.5 hrs of labour....that'll be £647 all-in please.

I've not stopped laughing since putting the phone down! :lol:

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Re: Autobox fluid change.

Post by demag »

I'm not sure what standard atf is. Dexron 3 or something? But its not compatible with a lot of boxes used on Citroen.

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Re: Autobox fluid change.

Post by demag »

No doubt you're taking it Pete? Pete? ;-)

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Bx 1.6 TGS Auto 50k A rare beast by all accounts. A bit tired but getting better by the day. Gone.
'96 XM 2.5TD VSX.......Sadly sold. What an idiot! I should have held on to that.
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Re: Autobox fluid change.

Post by milleplod »

demag wrote:No doubt you're taking it Pete? Pete? ;-)

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Sorry, I'd passed out with all the laughing.....! :-D

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Re: Autobox fluid change.

Post by 411514 »

milleplod wrote:Well, I just had a callback from Citroen in Mansfield, and its a good job I was sitting down. The very nice lady told me that they could do the job - 7 litres of fluid, 2.5 hrs of labour....that'll be £647 all-in please.

I've not stopped laughing since putting the phone down! :lol:

Pete
Crikey, that isn't cheap. I seem to recall that the correct oil to use (and the boxes are quite particular) is an Esso product, maybe someone can advise as to the correct spec, and that it costs around £10 per litre. You might then expect for the oil to cost best part of £100, particularly if you are doing partial flushes, but I hate to think then how much the main-dealers hourly charge rate is.

On the other hand, assuming that Citroen were offering a 'hot flush' type service, I understand that this uses a lot more oil than the actual capacity of the box, say two or three times the capacity, and so this may account for a small portion more of their quote.
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Re: Autobox fluid change.

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

I think to help you out the exact details of your vehicle and box are required. Some of the members have access to Service Citroen, technical manuals etc and from your Vin number can precisely identify the box, and the recommended spec fluid for it which is vitally important, and possibly even post up a link to the service procedure.

The drain and refill procedure isn't that complicated although it will no doubt specify particular temperatures for the oil level checking process. I can't see how the main dealer would only use 7 litres of fluid in a flush process unless all they did was 2 or 3 drain and refills on the bounce. I would like to know what they do for the other 2 hours :-D

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Re: Autobox fluid change.

Post by elma »

How much for a whole new gearbox with fresh fluid in it? Please call them back and ask.
That quote is exactly £97 more than the most I have ever paid for an entire car in my life. I'd want a gold plated Xantia V8 Activa twin turbo for that much, with fresh gearbox oil.
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Re: Autobox fluid change.

Post by van ordinaire »

demag wrote:I'm not sure what standard atf is. Dexron 3 or something? But its not compatible with a lot of boxes used on Citroen.

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D3's probably still the commonest - although what it's called seems to depend on who made/marketed/packaged it, & when.

Fully expected Citroen to be different (according to my handbook, the C15 requires its very own brake fluid & antifreeze) although they are not alone (e.g. Ford Zetec engines apparently requires its own, specially formulated, oil). All that means is it may not be so readilly available & will certainly cost more. A fact I thought I'd covered.
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Re: Autobox fluid change.

Post by Xantippa »

Here in Finland it costs around 200€ to change ALL of the oil on AM6. That's what they promised me at local automatic transmission specialist. They repair and fortify automatic transmissions and so on, so I think they know what they are doing. Main stealer prices for same job are astronomical too here.
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Re: Autobox fluid change.

Post by ekjdm14 »

elma wrote:How much for a whole new gearbox with fresh fluid in it? Please call them back and ask.
That quote is exactly £97 more than the most I have ever paid for an entire car in my life. I'd want a gold plated Xantia V8 Activa twin turbo for that much, with fresh gearbox oil.


And exactly £347 more than I have ever paid... Also, I second the getting a quote for a new gearbox... :rofl2:

For my money I'd do as others have said (and I have done, with the Xantia) and do a series of "short" changes around 100 miles apart until it comes out looking like it went in. It took me 4 changes (although the first was a very good drain with the TC off!) and the oil has gone from thin black/brown/GREEN! foul-smelling gravy, through the muddy water stage described above, to looking like I'd expect of a 97k autobox. couple more goes and it'd look like new, but I'm calling it acceptable for now.
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