I have a 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, and will be celebrating having it for 2 years in a couple of weeks, I got it for $400 and Its still running strong. Anyway, i was thinking of putting new fluid in the Tranny, but I've gotten mixed reactions to doing this. Some say that all of the crap that settled in the tranny over the 20 years would break off from a purge, and I'd have a messed up tranny. So I just want to get more opinions before I do anything. It runs nice and strong the way it is now, I just want to treat it for keeping up with me. It's a THM 125 for those who know more.

Dont take my word for it, but youll be fine, its meant to be changed when needed...

I think you should do it, I kind of doubt you could do more damage by changing the fluid than by simply ignoring the transmission.

I know this car is far from a Cutlass 442, But I want to do a "rolling restoration" to see what I can do on my own, and possibly for when I venture into the realm of 1950's Oldsmobiles. The body is shit, I have a red passenger side fender, Dark blue header panel, and the rest of the body is light blue but lost all of its gloss. The doors have substantial rust on them, and the passenger side was side swiped by a bus. Other than that, I'm the third owner of it, and she's been running ever since. I have the original tires, all different brands, and the suspension is shot, It was scary as hell to max out the speedometer at 85 MPH. I still love the thing as it was my first car, and I plan on keeping it when I get another more "desirable" car from the 70's downward.

In the coming weeks I plan on putting in a new radiator, hoses, and shocks. I drove it as is for 2 years. I can't wait to find out what it rides like with working suspension!!!

even better than changing the fluid would be taking it to a tranny shop and having the tranny flushed.

When I was at firestone we were told not to do a flush on a car that looked like it hadn't had regular trans fluid changes. The detergents would clear up the gunk that had been allowing the seals to do their job and cause problems was their explanation. Fluid changes were ok, but they had bought quite a few transmissions from flushes on old stuff. That was backed up a few years later by a BG(flush equipment company) rep at a training class.

Change the fluid and filter, but skip the flush. If it were me I'd skip both unless the fluid was burnt or there was an issue with the operation of the transmission. Then again I'm lazy when it comes to my vehicles.

I've never had any problems after doing a trans flush, and we do probably 20 or so per week in my service department.

The only time we have problems is when the customer expects a flush to correct a problem that already exists Many people think that a transmission service is some sort of repair, and not just maintenance.

I would recommend having your transmission serviced( including filter replacement).

That's also a common scam that I suspect led Firestone to create their policy. Have a transmission that's slipping, take it in for a flush, blame the slipping on the flush and have a new trans installed since most techs don't test drive a car prior to doing the work when it came in for maintenance

...somebody works at waaallmart!

Dumbass you can't change your fate!

just felt like saying that.. i misjudged the topic.. and I had ^^ that pre planned to type.