Hi Scotty, I'm the original owner of a 2009 Honda Element with 134,000 miles. In a past video, you recommended that the transmission fluid be changed every 60,000 miles or so, but in a different video, you mention that if you have a car with a lot of miles to not change the fluid. My mechanic is leaning on the side that I don't have to. I wanted to double check with you. Should or should I not. Thank you for all your decades of experience you share.
by the way, I have never changed the fluid in the past.
If you don't change it and the filter, it's guaranteed that your transmission will fail. If you do change it, you are gambling that it will be worse than it is now. It is way too late to accomplish the scheduled maintenance as per your owner's manual. Either way, it's a game of chance. Are you feeling lucky?
What it boils down to is whether your friction surfaces are worn down due to lack of maintenance. Check the condition of your fluid. If it is burnt and feels gritty that suspended grit may well be all that is letting the transmission function. In that case I would not change it and would start planning for another vehicle.
On the other hand if the fluid is just a bit dark but otherwise clean your transmission internals are likely OK. In that case I would do a drain and fill, along with filter if so equipped. Save the old fluid in a clean container, if there are problems you can do another drain and put the old stuff back in.
That would be a partial fluid change, gradually introducing fresh fluid into the transmission. Monitor how the transmission reacts to the fresh fluid. If it's OK, doing 2 more drain and fills (driving for a while between changes) will result in about 90% fresh fluid.
Bear in mind that there is no way anyone here can guarantee what is going to happen in your particular case.
Great explanation here.
If it was my car I would at least drop the pan and change the fluid and filter and 134000 is not a lot of miles. You are not changing all of the fluid that way just some of it.
