Is my tranny dead or does it just need an oil change?

The level is ok and it shifts fine, but is my tranny dead now?

If it shifts fine, it's certainly not dead. Just drop the pan, change the filter, and refill. Don't get it flushed.

Ok thanks, I'll do that.

I don't get it, do you think it's dead because it's low on fluid, or was the fluid dirty?     I change my filter and fluid in the pan every 50K miles (have done it twice now) and "knock-on-wood" am on my original trans which still shifts fine.

I would NOT flush the trans, only change the oil in the pan and put in a new filter.   That's a debate I know but I was always told it was a bad idea to flush an older transmission, better just to do the pan.  

One other thing, they no longer make the correct fluid for our cars, so make sure when buying new oil you look for the Dex made for OLDER GM cars.   That will be printed on the bottle.  I recommend Castrol high-mileage, I like their stuff, but if you can afford it I hear Royal Purple is great too.

Good Luck!

-Mike

Mike, the level was fine but I'm concerned about the colour of my transmission fluid. I did a few donuts in the snow for 10 minutes and I'm thinking that is was a bad idea for a 25 year old car.
I'll keep the brands in mind that you mentioned, thanks!

Chevy freak '91 wrote:

Mike, the level was fine but I'm concerned about the colour of my transmission fluid. I did a few donuts in the snow for 10 minutes and I'm thinking that is was a bad idea for a 25 year old car.
I'll keep the brands in mind that you mentioned, thanks!

Just looks like old fluid to me. As long as you are not seeing any metal/sparkles in the fluid, you're most likely fine, but I would change the filter and pan fluid soon. That DOES look like old fluid.

Save the Whales!

-Mike

Color change of tranny fluid is just the additives (that make the oil red) getting used up. More important is the smell of the fluid. If the fluid smells burnt then it needed to be changed a while ago and a lot of tranny people will swear that changing it now will just lead to failure sooner than if you leave the fluid alone. I have no experience with that happening or not!