Rogers 07

I performed the 100,000 mile transmission service on my 07 A6 Z51. I drained the fluid, removed the pan, replaced the filter and refilled the transmission.
What was really surprising (And Good) was since this is the first time the pan had been off and the oil changed, The fluid was in better than expected condition, It didnt have that burned trans fluid smell you might expect after so many miles and it was still a pretty clear redish brown color. The best part was looking in the bottom of the pan and finding ... NOTHING, no sludge, no metal particles, clutch material NOTHING. even the magnet had just a slight film of a greyish buildup on it that wiped right off with a rag.
The transmission internals that I could see looked like the day it was made, no evidence of wear or contamination at all, So looking a little further, I opened up the filter just to see what was on the filter media and ...NOTHING other than old fluid it looked like it had about 95% of its life left in it.
So the bottom line (on my transmission at least) is that apparently its clutch friction material is extremely durable. The Fluid, Dexron VI does a great job of lubricating and keeping parts clean, and the service interval as stated in the owners manual (50000 Miles for severe driving condition and 100000 for normal conditions) is correct.
Also per the manual, in the fluid capacity section it states the trans will take 6.5 Qts if you drain the pan and change the filter. This appears to be about right, after draining all the old fluid, I measured it and found just a little less than 6 Qts had come out. When I filled it. I put 6 Qts in, started the car, Let the trans warm up to about 115 degrees while shifting it up and down thru the gears, (the car needs to level and on jack stands to do this) leaving the engine running in park, I removed the drain plug as it states to do, about 3-4 OZs of fluid came out before it it was just dripping, I then reinstalled the plug and that was that!! It took about 2 hrs to do start to finish.
The filter cost $13.00. 6 qts of NAPA Dexron VI was $37.00 I reused the original gasket (Free). Knowing the transmission is in good condition, Priceless

peter pan

Awesome

LS WON

Better fluid than Amsoil or Redline?

Rogers 07

Im not sure if Amsoil or Redline is DEXR0N VI rated. The 6L80E requires DEXRON VI fluid. I would think that any ATF fluid either synthetic or not that meets DEXRON VI specifications would be fine. I used the NAPA fluid because I just happened to be at NAPA buying parts. Im sure their NAPA brand fluid is repackaged from one of the big fluid manufactures, (I think its Valvoline but wouldn't swear to it )

Mad*Max

did you have a 100,000 miles on the car?

bigearl56

Thanks Rogers 07. My '06 A6 has 28,000 and performs flawlessly(spelling?). Sure hope I get as good results that you have.

Earl

AORoads

and to add to the above q., your car is about 5 to 6 years old---is there a time when it should be done, in the event you don't hit the 100K mile mark?

LS WON

Group 4 and 5 synthetic oils?

cclive

Good job...and nice to know that everything looked good inside when you opened it up. It's a great feeling to do this kind of job yourself...know what it looked like inside and know that it is done right.

Rogers 07

99,978 to be exact !! Every one personally driven by Me.

LMB-Z

You changed it tooo soon!!!!


Great job and great write up.

wayback

Good for you. I let Vandergriff Chevy Service do mine as it was in for diff seals under warranty. Mine had 84,000 on it. Just worried me to let the fluid go that long.

Rogers 07

I dont think time alone, is as much of a factor in the fluid life as much as wear and tear from driving conditions. That being said, and given what I found and have known about fluid life, Changing it around 5 years or about 100,000 miles would seem prudent !! (50,000 or less if you flog it hard, racing conditions would warrent even more frequent changes)

Don-Vette

Nice job OP!

VET4LES

Great job and write up. One more case of DIY is the way to go.

Mad*Max

I can't believe the condition after that many miles, good job!

Rogers 07

Me neither, I was really surprised, I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself

AORoads

Thanks for the insightful answer. The reason I asked is that another fellow (see url) posed a question re his '06 which went into service 10/05 w. now 42K miles on it. His thought was to potentially "let it ride" until 100K miles. My extrapolation told me that that would be at about 14-16 years of age on the '06 and the trans fluid (since he's now got 7 yrs. on it now)! Frankly, I think that would be a nutso move on his part to save a few bucks, and it appears he will be changing it very soon.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-t...n-service.html

Mad*Max

I have been taking interest in this thread because I have an 07 with only 50k miles, hard to say whether I should be following normal or severe service schedule. At any rate, I am not concerned about dropping a couple of hundred bucks to get the service done but it is more around as to whether something will get disturbed and cause the transmission to fail, which otherwise would not have happened.

However, given the OP's findings, it seems like that if I get the pan dropped and filter changed that the chances are quite slim for it to "trigger" an issue with the transmission.

HOXXOH

Not that this directly compares with the Vette, but many years ago I had a '70 El Camino that the first transmission fluid and filter change was slightly over 130K. I sold the car with 234K before the next change. Somewhere before the 200K mark I replaced a leaking rear seal, as it was the only repair ever needed. I've owned about 40 cars with automatics and the only one that ever broke was an old style 4-speed '53 Olds hydramatic that I raced.
What I'm trying to say, is that automatics are pretty tough and dependable. I currently have 101K on my A6 and it's been trouble free even through 300+ passes down the 1/4 mi.