Atf Change Issue

GayanR · January 23, 2015

Hi all,Yesterday I went to A**M***j to change My car ATF.and to do a radiator flush.I strictly told the chaps there not to do a machine flush but to do a manual change.Anyway the supervisor forgot the advise and had to re inform the mechanic guy not to do it.Next the guy showed me the oil I have ordered and went to change it.I went to check the car again and then he was adding this small bottle called "BG quick clean" to the transmission.I had a sniff of the bottle and almost fainted due to the strong smell of it.It was too late to stop, the guy told that they are doing this for years for manual fluid change not to worry and let the car idle for around 10 minutes with that cleaner inside and drained.Also they have added an Additive bottle to the new transmission oil as well.The 2 additives alone cost 5000/=rs.I was not in a mind to make a mess so came back home.Car seems fine.But I have heard that some quantity of old oil remain in the transmission,I"m worried what if that cleaner stuff still remain inside the transmission.Is this the normal proccedure?

Edited January 23, 2015 by GayanR

Rumesh88 · January 23, 2015

Yes, when you do a manual oil change some oil (around 1 Ltr) is left inside the trans-converter. A normal manual transmission oil change requires you to remove the oil pan, inspect/change oil screen, clean the magnets fixed to the pan. Sometimes you will have to change the pan seal as well. But if this has been done during the previous oil change you need not worry about removing the pan. However, when you remove the pan and inspect the screen and magnets you will find evidence of possible abnormal wear and tear. BG quick clean is meant for fluid exchange not for this kind of manual change of oil AFAIK. I do not see a reason for any additives in transmission oil. Instead of spending Rs. 5000 on additives one can change transmission oil more frequently to get the same protection. Why not get a BG brochure on the product used and challenge the service manager to prove his case?

Edit: http://www.petrotech.co.il/PetroTech//userdata/SendFile.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=2&GID=525

Edited January 23, 2015 by Rumesh88

The Don · January 23, 2015

On 1/23/2015 at 2:10 AM, GayanR said:
Hi all,Yesterday I went to A**M***j to change My car ATF.and to do a radiator flush.I strictly told the chaps there not to do a machine flush but to do a manual change.Anyway the supervisor forgot the advise and had to re inform the mechanic guy not to do it.Next the guy showed me the oil I have ordered and went to change it.I went to check the car again and then he was adding this small bottle called "BG quick clean" to the transmission.I had a sniff of the bottle and almost fainted due to the strong smell of it.It was too late to stop, the guy told that they are doing this for years for manual fluid change not to worry and let the car idle for around 10 minutes with that cleaner inside and drained.Also they have added an Additive bottle to the new transmission oil as well.The 2 additives alone cost 5000/=rs.I was not in a mind to make a mess so came back home.Car seems fine.But I have heard that some quantity of old oil remain in the transmission,I"m worried what if that cleaner stuff still remain inside the transmission.Is this the normal proccedure?

First and foremost you should have gone for an ATF change with the machine. I've heard of issues with valves when this method is followed, but on this advice I had a manual change done (at my regular garrage) and quite frankly there was a noticeable lag between some of the gear changes. So after a year of use I took it to pit stop (run by A*W) and adviced them to do it via a flud exchanger. The result has been very satisfactory (The car in question is a Swift HT51S).

So while I aggree with Rumesh that it is best not to use too many additives, the results in mine frankly speak for themselves. They used the quick clean before, and then used a conditioner after. My cost was around 13K but that included the replacement of oil filter packing which had caused an oil leak (a completely separate issue). As I know the ATF fluid itself was probably around 6000 Rs I felt that was fair value considering the service I received (the car has a doctor badge as its my sister's so perhaps I got treated better than I should have )

As for a manual change, the question is whether they took the oil pan off and cleaned the marget as described by Rumesh. In that case it probably would not have been an issue.

Rumesh, it is true that changing oil more frequently will solve the problem, but if you bought your car second hand, you have no idea how its been maintained before and sometimes you find a little bit of sludge has developed within. I think the cleaner in this case is used as an insurance policy against that. In my experience these guys are not the types to try to rip you off, and quite reasonable with their charges as stated above.

Rumesh88 · January 23, 2015

On 1/23/2015 at 10:21 AM, The Don said:
Rumesh, it is true that changing oil more frequently will solve the problem, but if you bought your car second hand, you have no idea how its been maintained before and sometimes you find a little bit of sludge has developed within. I think the cleaner in this case is used as an insurance policy against that. In my experience these guys are not the types to try to rip you off, and quite reasonable with their charges as stated above.

I do agree with you The Don. My point is that if they used BG Quick Flush then they should have used the fluid exchanger or if the client asked for a manual change of transmission oil they shouldn't have used it. Only the time will tell if the remaining bit of the cleanser inside would cause any trouble. If car was bought second hand and the maintenance record is unreliable, OP should have gone for a manual oil change including an inspection of the filter and clean up of magnets etc.

The Don · January 23, 2015

On 1/23/2015 at 11:36 AM, Rumesh88 said:
I do agree with you The Don. My point is that if they used BG Quick Flush then they should have used the fluid exchanger or if the client asked for a manual change of transmission oil they shouldn't have used it. Only the time will tell if the remaining bit of the cleanser inside would cause any trouble. If car was bought second hand and the maintenance record is unreliable, OP should have gone for a manual oil change including an inspection of the filter and clean up of magnets etc.

I take your point about BG Quick flush being unnecessary but whether it causes harm is the question. If you use flush in the manual method its customary to flush out the flush with a bit of ATF, but don't know if this was done.

But as I said before, I don't really believe much in the so called manual change as much. Perhaps its good to have the filter, the sump and the magenet cleaned from time to time, but I'd prefer an machine change after that anyway.

NRX · January 24, 2015

On 1/23/2015 at 10:21 AM, The Don said:
First and foremost you should have gone for an ATF change with the machine. I've heard of issues with valves when this method is followed, but on this advice I had a manual change done (at my regular garrage) and quite frankly there was a noticeable lag between some of the gear changes. So after a year of use I took it to pit stop (run by A*W) and adviced them to do it via a flud exchanger. The result has been very satisfactory (The car in question is a Swift HT51S).
So while I aggree with Rumesh that it is best not to use too many additives, the results in mine frankly speak for themselves. They used the quick clean before, and then used a conditioner after. My cost was around 13K but that included the replacement of oil filter packing which had caused an oil leak (a completely separate issue). As I know the ATF fluid itself was probably around 6000 Rs I felt that was fair value considering the service I received (the car has a doctor badge as its my sister's so perhaps I got treated better than I should have )

As for a manual change, the question is whether they took the oil pan off and cleaned the marget as described by Rumesh. In that case it probably would not have been an issue.

Rumesh, it is true that changing oil more frequently will solve the problem, but if you bought your car second hand, you have no idea how its been maintained before and sometimes you find a little bit of sludge has developed within. I think the cleaner in this case is used as an insurance policy against that. In my experience these guys are not the types to try to rip you off, and quite reasonable with their charges as stated above.

Did you use the same brand of ATF for both times ?

The Don · January 27, 2015

On 1/24/2015 at 6:55 AM, NRX said:
Did you use the same brand of ATF for both times ?

Exactly the same, in fact purchased from the same source (A*W). It was BP Autotransmission fluid which is what A*W sells.

GayanR · February 1, 2015

On 1/23/2015 at 3:35 AM, Rumesh88 said:
Yes, when you do a manual oil change some oil (around 1 Ltr) is left inside the trans-converter. A normal manual transmission oil change requires you to remove the oil pan, inspect/change oil screen, clean the magnets fixed to the pan. Sometimes you will have to change the pan seal as well. But if this has been done during the previous oil change you need not worry about removing the pan. However, when you remove the pan and inspect the screen and magnets you will find evidence of possible abnormal wear and tear. BG quick clean is meant for fluid exchange not for this kind of manual change of oil AFAIK. I do not see a reason for any additives in transmission oil. Instead of spending Rs. 5000 on additives one can change transmission oil more frequently to get the same protection. Why not get a BG brochure on the product used and challenge the service manager to prove his case?
Edit: http://www.petrotech.co.il/PetroTech//userdata/SendFile.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=2&GID=525

On 1/23/2015 at 10:21 AM, The Don said:
First and foremost you should have gone for an ATF change with the machine. I've heard of issues with valves when this method is followed, but on this advice I had a manual change done (at my regular garrage) and quite frankly there was a noticeable lag between some of the gear changes. So after a year of use I took it to pit stop (run by A*W) and adviced them to do it via a flud exchanger. The result has been very satisfactory (The car in question is a Swift HT51S).
So while I aggree with Rumesh that it is best not to use too many additives, the results in mine frankly speak for themselves. They used the quick clean before, and then used a conditioner after. My cost was around 13K but that included the replacement of oil filter packing which had caused an oil leak (a completely separate issue). As I know the ATF fluid itself was probably around 6000 Rs I felt that was fair value considering the service I received (the car has a doctor badge as its my sister's so perhaps I got treated better than I should have )

As for a manual change, the question is whether they took the oil pan off and cleaned the marget as described by Rumesh. In that case it probably would not have been an issue.

Rumesh, it is true that changing oil more frequently will solve the problem, but if you bought your car second hand, you have no idea how its been maintained before and sometimes you find a little bit of sludge has developed within. I think the cleaner in this case is used as an insurance policy against that. In my experience these guys are not the types to try to rip you off, and quite reasonable with their charges as stated above.

On 1/23/2015 at 1:41 PM, The Don said:
I take your point about BG Quick flush being unnecessary but whether it causes harm is the question. If you use flush in the manual method its customary to flush out the flush with a bit of ATF, but don't know if this was done.
But as I said before, I don't really believe much in the so called manual change as much. Perhaps its good to have the filter, the sump and the magenet cleaned from time to time, but I'd prefer an machine change after that anyway.

Tanx for the reply.What they did was pour BG quick clean can straight on to the transmission and let it idle for 10 minutes.Then they removed the pan drain and cleaned it.Then they add the new fluid and later added BG conditioner can.

I'm holding on to my luck whether this will ruin my transmission or not.Anyways they seem to add on this conditioners to every car out there.

The Don · February 2, 2015

On 2/1/2015 at 12:52 PM, GayanR said:
Tanx for the reply.What they did was pour BG quick clean can straight on to the transmission and let it idle for 10 minutes.Then they removed the pan drain and cleaned it.Then they add the new fluid and later added BG conditioner can.
I'm holding on to my luck whether this will ruin my transmission or not.Anyways they seem to add on this conditioners to every car out there.

Well it seems like they have taken precauions to drain the quick clean before adding ATF fluid. They seem to add conditioner to every car as I noted as well.

Personally I don't think you will have an issue.