The Q45 Transmission is a delicate piece of machinery. While it can last quite a while with proper care, it is not expected to last the life of the car. Many Q45 transmissions without proper care will lose a transmission anywhere from 140k-180k miles. There are four recommended steps by this board to take in order to guarantee maximum life out of your transmission:1. Get your transmission flushed at least once a year. This is not simply a pan drop and refill. Find a shop (e.g. Jiffy Lube, NAPA, etc) that has a transmission flush machine. Have you transmission flushed and the fluid replaced. Then have the pan dropped and cleaned and the filter replaced. Now refill whatever spilled out with more transmission fluid and replace pan and filter.
2. When you replace transmission fluid, use MOBIL 1 ATF. This is the board-recommended transmission fluid to use for maximum life on your Q45.
3. Install an after-market transmission cooler. The best brands to use are B&M and Hayden. This will help to cool your transmission. The cooler in the radiator only helps to heat the fluid when the temperature is near freezing in the winter months but does not cool the tranmission when it is hot. This is very important as heat is the number one tranny killer, not wear.
4. (optional) Purchase a Transmission Control Unit (TCU) upgrade from Jim Wolf Technologies that allows 1st-gear start. The 1990-1992 Q45's are set up to start in second gear and then shifts down to first. This can and does cause much slippage in the transmission and can be deadly for it. This TCU almost completely eliminates this so-called 'slippage'.
Contributors include: palmerwmd, q45tech, daedalus, azhitman, qship
