Hi I had a question about my 2012 dodge avenger regarding the "life time" transmission fluid. The car seems to have a hard time shifting at low rpm's when I get up around 50mph and I didn't know that I should still change the transmission fluid or the filter because I was told it's life long fluid. It's at 150,000 miles and I've never changed it so should I even try or would it just kill the transmission?
There is NO SUCH THING AS LIFETIME transmission fluid, other than when the transmission goes, that's the lifetime of the car. At this mileage, it's a touchy thing what to do, if anything. I'd tend to go for a drain and fill, but not a flush. IF YOU FLUSH IT, YOU WILL DESTROY THE TRANSMISSION.
Have a bit of the fluid drained, first, solely for inspection (specially for metal). I'd be surprised if it wasn't thick, black, perhaps burnt and a bit smelly.
As always, gather data first, and then proceed.
drain and fill the transmission fluid with new one, but keep the old one so you can add it back if there seems to be problems after you change it. You should have changed it before 50 60k miles so you are overdue, hopefully not too much that you should leave it alone and hope for the best.
