Servicing your transmission is key to getting a long life out of it. The problem I see with many automatic transmissions is failure due to the fluid never being changed. VW claims that its transmission fluid is a ‘lifetime’ fluid. Which usually ends up being the lifetime of the transmission until it dies and not the lifetime of the vehicle.  I like to change the fluid about every 8o-100k miles, but even as low as 60k miles isn’t very hard on the pocketbook versus the cost of a rebuilt transmission. I also can’t count the number of times that I have had people looking for a ‘good cheap used automatic VW transmission’. If you find one, buy a lottery ticket, because your odds are about the same.

In this video, I test out some new cameras that I have just purchased and change the fluid and filter in a friend’s 04 Passat TDI wagon. I believe the car has over 200k on it and has been used to tow a trailer on occasion. He has made a few trips for me to get motors from Canada in the past. The fluid and filter in it have been changed regularly and the transmission is still going strong.

There are some that say changing the fluid in a high mileage transmission is a no-no because the transmission can be worn down and have friction disc particles suspended in the fluid and when new fluid is in the transmission and the friction disc particles are no longer suspended in the fluid it is going to slip. I have found that to be more of an old wive’s tale than cold hard fact. Many times a transmission already has issues and the new fluid and filter tend to be the scapegoat when it finally does die.

The moral of this story is to service your  tranny and service it often. Giggedy.