Should You Have Your Car’s Transmission Flushed?

By Lawrence Reaves

Depending on the make and model of your vehicle, and whether you purchase a rebuilt or new transmission, replacing the assembly can cost up to $3,500. For this reason, you should do everything possible to prolong its life. As with your engine, regular maintenance can go a long way toward protecting your transmission from premature failure. The good news is that maintenance is as easy as changing the fluid.

You may have noticed that the mechanics at your dealership or local repair shop recommend transmission flushes. But is the service necessary? More importantly, could it cause a problem with your car’s tranny? In this article, we’ll present both sides of the issue, so you’ll be able to make an informed decision about the service. We’ll also provide a quick “how to” guide for changing the automatic transmission fluid (ATF) in your vehicle.

Advantage Of Replacing The ATF

Some automakers claim that drivers do not need to change the fluid in their transmissions. They suggest the ATF can last the life of the assembly. Unfortunately, this claim may not be entirely true.

The fluid is filled with chemicals that help protect your transmission during operation. These chemicals ensure the gears shift smoothly and reliably. The problem is, the heat surrounding the assembly causes the temperature of the ATF to rise. This in turn causes oxidation; the chemicals begin to break down, and provide less protection to the tranny. When this happens, the moving parts begin to generate friction, which causes the shifting to become staggered or uneven. You’ll notice a delayed response, or a jerking sensation when the gears shift.

Replacing the fluid introduces a new batch of protective chemicals into the assembly. They prevent the friction that can eventually destroy the gears and other components. Thus, changing the ATF prolongs its useful life, and postpones an overhaul.

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So, how often should you change the fluid? A lot depends on the conditions in which you drive. Many mechanics suggest changing it every 30,000 miles, but placing a load on the assembly will accelerate the fluid’s oxidation. If you normally drive aggressively, or haul heavy items up hills, you may need to change it every 20,000 miles.

Potential Hazards Of “Flushing” The Transmission

This brings us to the question of whether flushing your transmission is necessary and safe. During a flush, a special machine is used to push solvents at high pressure backward through the assembly. The solvents and pressure help to jar loose deposits and debris that have accumulated. By cleaning the system, the ATF can flow through it more easily, providing a higher level of lubrication.

There is a danger, however, that knocking loose the deposits will cause bigger problems down the road. For example, if the deposits are pushed through the assembly, but not expelled, they can create an obstruction that prevents fluid from flowing. This will essentially starve your transmission of ATF, which can quickly lead to costly repairs (or worse, an overhaul).

It is worth noting that flushes are generally not recommended for high-mileage vehicles (those with over 100,000 miles) for this reason.

Examining And Changing The Fluid

Thus far, we have explained why changing the ATF is a good idea, and the reason flushing your transmission is a poor one. We’ll now explain how to do the former.

Before you start, check the scent, color, and consistency of the fluid. If the ATF is completely oxidized, it will smell as if something is burning. Next, place a few drops on a paper towel, and examine its color. If it is darkly colored, it needs to be changed. Observe its consistency as the drops spread on the paper towel. If the fluid is static (i.e. it does not spread), oxidation has already occurred.

Place sturdy jacks under the frame of your vehicle, and lift it. Locate the pan in which the fluid sits (typically, beneath the dipstick), and loosen the bolts that are holding it in place. Position a bowl or container under the pan to drain the ATF. Then, remove the pan. Some pans will be equipped with a drain plug that can be removed in order to drain the fluid.

With the pan removed and the ATF drained, clean any residual transmission fluid that remains in the pan. You’ll likely see small metal particles; remove them, as well.

Next, replace the transmission filter, and the gasket around the perimeter of the pan. Install the new filter and gasket, and replace the pan before tightening the bolts. With everything in place, add the new ATF. Add it slowly, and check the level periodically to avoid overfilling.

The takeaway is that you should check your transmission fluid on a regular basis, and replace it when it becomes oxidized. But avoid having the assembly flushed since doing so can cause more harm than good.

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Source: isnare.com

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Murdoch’s News Corp. Ends Automated Censorship of MySpace

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

In December 2005, MySpace members discovered that mentions and links to content hosted by rival video-swapping site YouTube were disabled. Debate concerning this issue was apparently even stifled on the site’s message boards. Regardless, member unrest grew, culminating in a campaign led by 600 MySpace members to boycott and relocate to rival sites such as Friendster, LinkedIn (linkedin.com), Revver, and Facebook. Subsequently, MySpace reenabled the YouTube links and content in late December. However, it appears that MySpace also closed down a blog forum where members were complaining about this issue.

Wikipedia has more about this subject:

MySpace was also apparently banning Revver, another video swapping site, but had relented as of early January. To this, Revver co-founder Oliver Luckett responded, “References to his service were banned because MySpace saw it as competition”.

Overall, the blocking of video stored on YouTube and other sites or embedded in user profiles has led to accusations of censorship from MySpace members. Chris DeWolfe, MySpace’s chief executive denies any this, as well as any connection between recent events and the advent of MySpace’s own video-sharing service, stating that blocking links or entire sites are sometimes necessary when MySpace investigates complaints of pornography or racism.

There has been concern among groups of bloggers operating out of MySpace that News Corp would monitor or censor their activities, ever since they purchased Intermix, then MySpace’s parent company. Ellis Yu told the Blog Herald that “their CEO said nothing like that would happen. Well, now it has. MySpace was built on an open community and now they’re trying to censor us, putting business interests above its members!”

Two suicide bombers attack US targets in Casablanca

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Two bombs went off today in Boulevard Moulay Youssef in central Casablanca, Morocco. Two men, reported to be brothers, blew themselves up outside and the United States Consulate and its culture center, respectively. The bombers both died and a woman, who was passing by, was injured.

An eyewitness told BBC News: “I saw a man talking to a policeman, trying to distract him I guess, while another man walked by to the consulate and blew himself up over there.”

Police sources say that the men were part of the same terror cell that police has been trying to track down since a March 11 bombing at an Internet cafe. On April 10, four suspects died after a police raid on the same group.

In the hours following the bombings, police arrested three people, and recovered another explosives belt near Kandara Hotel. A man seen throwing down the belt was among those arrested. Moroccan authorities have been downplaying a possible connection with Wednesday’s bombings in neighboring Algeria.

Your Child Support Attorney In River Forest Will Protect Your Rights

byAlma Abell

If you have had a hard time collecting child support which you have been legally awarded, it may be time to handle things a little differently. After all, when you don’t have enough money to raise your children, life is going to be miserable. You need to set up an appointment with a Child Support Attorney in River Forest today. This way, you can get started with the process of collecting the child support that you are legally owed so that you can take care of your children.

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Of course, before you can collect child support, it needs to be awarded to you. You may have to come up with the court documents stating that you are the custodial parent of the children. Usually, this is in the case. However, it has happened in the past. The next thing that you need to do is to find out where the noncustodial parent is working. This way, your Child Support Attorney in River Forest can possibly help you have wages garnished if necessary.

Many people have the opinion that they don’t want to go after child support because they don’t want to seem like they are greedy. However, if you don’t go after child support, you aren’t going to have enough money to take care of your family. It can be frustrating knowing that your children have to go with out at times because the other parent is making bad choices. Sometimes, we need to force them to do the right thing and even sometimes have the money automatically withdrawn from their paycheck. This is something that your Child Support Attorney in River Forest can help you with.

Gabrielle S. Davis is an excellent Child Support Attorney in River Forest. She will sit down with you and go over everything that you need to know about collecting your child support. She will talk to the judge on your behalf and let him know that you have not been collecting. This way, the judge will hopefully set up a payment plan that very day. It can be uncomfortable at times because you don’t want to have a confrontation with your former spouse. However, if you don’t, they may never pay you.

Electronic voting disputed in France

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

In France, voting has traditionally been a low-tech experience: voters isolate themselves in a booth, put a pre-printed sheet of paper indicating their candidate of choice into an envelope. After officials verify the voter’s identity, the voter drops the envelope into the ballot box and signs the voting roll. French electoral law rather strictly codifies the proceedings. Since 1988, ballot boxes must be transparent so that voters and observers can witness that no envelopes are present at the start of the vote and that no envelopes are added except those of the duly counted and authorized voters. Candidates can send representatives to witness every part of the process. In the evening, votes are counted by volunteers under heavy supervision, following specific procedures.

In the past, voting machines, though authorized by law, were scarce. But this year, during presidential elections (the first round was April 22, the second is on May 6), the country is shaken by controversy about the machines intended to count about 1.5 million votes.

As in the United States, there is a group of academic computer scientists that oppose voting machines. They argue that voting machines replace a public, easily understandable counting process, where large-scale fraud would entail large-scale corruption, by an opaque process where votes are counted by machines that voters have to blindly trust. Voting machines have to be approved by the Ministry of the Interior, but this approval is based on confidential reports by private companies. Opponents to the machines point out that the Ministry was long held by Nicolas Sarkozy, who happens to be the leading candidate. Opponents also list a number of weaknesses and discrepancies that have occurred in other countries using voting machines.

All main political parties except UMP, Mr Sarkozy’s ruling party, oppose the voting machines. Some citizens have filed for court injunctions against the voting machines. Opponents have given detailed instructions that voting witnesses should check whether the machines correspond exactly to an approved type, including software versions, and fulfill all legal conditions. In a sign of the frenzy over the issue, on April 12 the Ministry of the Interior issued a last-minute authorization for a specific model (hardware, firmware). The stakes are high: votes on unapproved machines should be canceled by the Constitutional Council for the official count.

The opposition has crystallized on the Paris suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux. Issy’s mayor, André Santini is a well-known technophile; his city organizes a “World E-Gov Forum”. Here too, last minute fixes are at work. The machines delivered to the city are of a yet-to-be-approved type. The manufacturer, the American company ES&S voting systems, is now delivering older 2005 machines. Le Monde reports that other municipalities have already replaced their recent machines by an older, approved, model.

Proponents of the machines, such as the French company France Élection, claim they are being defamed and dispute the competence of their critics. Elected officials supporting the machines claim the machines save on paper, time, and the need to find volunteers to count votes.

Riots in Île-de-France : 70 arrested after 200 cars burned

Friday, July 15, 2005

About 200 cars were burned by young people on the night of July 13 in Île-de-France, the metropolitan area of Paris. As the police cars arrived, youths began to pelt the vehicles with rocks, firecrackers and bottles. Rioters broke store windows at Argenteuil. Police used flash-balls and smoke grenades. The riots ended with 70 men being arrested. A police officer was wounded by a rocket and was taken to hospital. Shop windows were broken at Argenteuil. It is not the first time vehicles have been attacked on 13-14 July in France.

NATO oil tanker torched in Pakistan

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Militants in north-west Pakistan blew up a fuel tanker carrying supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan on Monday. More than ten armed men shot at the tanker and fired a rocket at the vehicle outside Peshawar city, and the driver and a passenger were injured in the attack, although no loss of life is reported.

Head of the north-western city’s administration, Sahibzada Anees, said “About ten armed people fired at a tanker carrying petrol for NATO forces and later lobbed a rocket at the vehicle, which set alight some 78,000 litres (17,000 gallons) of fuel”.

According to witnesses, the tanker was quickly in flames. The residents of the areas were successfully rescued by police and fire fighters and the blaze was brought under control. Police have launched a search operation in nearby areas, although with no success.

Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Oil tankers and trucks bringing goods from port city of Karachi for allied forces battling the Taliban in Afghanistan have been regularly attacked. About 80% of supplies destined for the more than 113 thousand NATO troops in Afghanistan have to pass through Pakistan. The coalition forces bring 70% of supplies through Pakistan every month, from a total of two thousand truckloads.

The Missing Ingredient With Most Transfer Agents

byAlma Abell

When you are searching for a reliable transfer agent to manage stock transfers, you will likely come up against a few challenges. A transfer agent plays a critical role in managing your stock documents. There are a few factors that must be present to help you get the support that you can depend on. In many cases even when the factors are present there still feels like something is missing.

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The Utility of It All

There are quite a few stock transfer agents that can manage your documents well, but most of them lack this one factor. The right agent will offer:

  • The right tools
  • Clear and concise communication
  • A history of outstanding performance
  • Reliability
  • Trust worthy services
  • Attention to detail
  • And the missing link of it all, a commitment to caring about the outcome

Many agents will have a bevy of tools available, many will communicate well, a few will have the right history, but most deliver their services without caring about the success or the support that they offer. For many agents, the entire process feels rather mechanical. The job gets done, but it is so sterile, that when something does go wrong there is not a lot of concern or effort put forth. The missing ingredient in most firms is the level of customer care.

Get the Whole Package

At Colonial Stock Transfer, the commitment to customer care is high. You get all the support services that you need, and they are delivered with an eye on providing the best in customer care as well. You get a complete package of services and you get it from agents that are committed to your success. When you choose Colonial Stock Transfer you are choosing the professionals that care about what they do and take pride in their work.

Brampton MPP to hold community barbeque

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Bramalea-Gore-Malton-Springdale Member of Provincial Parliament Dr. Kuldip S. Kular invites “everyone” to his community barbecque.

The event lasts from 1 until 4 pm in the northwest corner of Chinguasousy Park, at 9050 Bramalea Road in Brampton. The BBQ is free.

Kular was elected into office in 2003, having come to Campbellton, New Brunswick in 1974 to set up a family medical practice.