97 Q45 Tranmission Service

[97Q45t]

Hi,I bought my 97 Q45t few weeks ago with 115k miles on it. I planned to do a tramission fluid change and called the dealer to buy the tranmission filter. The guy at the dealer said that I don't need to replace the tranmission filter and fluid unless the filter is broken. Is that true? I also noticed that the recommended mainternance schedule in the manual did not mention anything about replacing the tranmission fluid. Thanks.

[PalmerWMD]

1)I bought my 97 Q45t few weeks ago with 115k miles on it. 2)I planned to do a tramission fluid change and called the dealer to buy the tranmission filter. 3)The guy at the dealer said that I don't need to replace the tranmission filter and fluid unless the filter is broken. 4)Is that true? 5)I also noticed that the recommended mainternance schedule in the manual did not mention anything about replacing the tranmission fluid. Thanks.

1) Congratulations and welcome to our club! We are getting more and more new members lately with your generation of Q 45 :thumbup.2)Goods idea, you already are thinking like one of our NICO clubmembers3)He is sadly mistaken, there is <no> such thing as a lifetime filter and even when they look clean, they are not, plus they are not all that expensive eitehr, so why bother paying a charge to clean it, when u can just have a new one.At least he acknoledges that they exist, some part managers dont even acknowledge that.4)No5) Hmmm, most here agree that at least every 30,000 miles is the way to go, for good transmission life, even tho most consumers often dont do it at double the interval, with predictable results.I do it every 18,000.

Also add a aftermarket transmission cooler to your transmission, bypassing the factory heat exchanger into the radiator, not expensive but great insurance.

Fred...

[BadQ45t]

Welcome, there are more 2nd Gen Q's folks showing up every day. I have the exact same car only with 69k. I had a complete transmission flush and new filter installed at 60K (no way to tell what the PO did). In any case this is cheap insurance for sure and when you look at the price of a new transmission or a rebuild it is a no-brainer. What I've found is that dealerships mostly tow the company line on these issues, and the factory doesn't have you over-maintain the car...what the guys will push you to do here is to over do it, and thus have a car that will last a hell of a lot longer.

Congrats on your purchase, I'm going on 3 years this March for my 97Q45t and still love it.

[97Q45t]

Thank you, Fred and Jeff.I definitely will replace the tranmission fluid and filter as soon as the weather warms up. I will also replace the spark plugs at the same time. I got 8 original NGK PFR5G-11 plugs from a guy on eBay for only $44 + $5 S&H. What a deal! =)Have a nice day.

____________________DuyHouston, TX