2012 Tahoe High Mileage Transmission Service

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Bill D

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Just purchased 2012 Tahoe with 143 K Miles and wanted to get everything straight with fluid maintenance. According to the maintenance records this vehicles Transmission had been flushed at the Chevy dealer at:

1. 50,000 Miles
2. 101,000 Miles.

I checked the fluid before heading to the dealer and it was more pink than brown, looked very similar to the Trans fluid in my Cadillac that was changed 40,000 miles ago.

Knowing that there are several prevalent theories about high mileage transmission fluid changes ranging from never change to Just drop the pan change filter, never flush, to if the transmission has been properly maintained its OK to flush regardless of the mileage.

The course I took was to visit the Chevy dealer and requested that they drop the pan, and do a filter and fluid fill, with the caveat that I wanted the technician to come and get me once he pulled the pan, then I would make a decision about weather to continue and add the cleaner and perform a full fluid exchange.

When he showed me the pan it was full of pink fluid, which looked very clean and only small amounts of black paste on the magnet, no metal. (I still cant get the black off my fingers from having to feel it!) . This indicated that there would be very little risk in proceeding with the full fluid exchange. The filter change, cleaning and fluid exchange cost $220, I figure its good Insurance to get the Trans well past 200K before I will need to have it done again.

Nice golden Dexos oil in the crankcase and fresh Pink Dex-Cool in the coolant system and Dexron VI the Transmission. Total Damage all three fluid changes - $370 for peace of mind.
 
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