Publisher's Note: Welcome to our 34th edition of Tech Tips Tuesday on "Transmission Service Tips: Your Guide to Enhanced Vehicle Performance".  We'll be re-publishing an edition of AMSOIL Tech Tips for you every Tuesday.  Click on the Blog Category "AMSOIL" to see everything published to-date.

Transmission Service Tips: Your Guide to Enhanced Vehicle Performance

John Gardner: Transmissions are complex machines, and with that comes a hefty price tag if you have to repair them. Welcome to this AMSOIL Tech Tip.

Here's a fact for you: routine fluid service and maintenance can prolong the life of your transmission. That's definitely a fact, and we believe in that here at Motorhead Garage. Here's a maintenance schedule, and you can see everything that's going on with all the maintenance. Right above there, you can see the actual transmission. You can see it at 45,000 miles, 90,000 miles, and 135,000 miles. Maintaining that transmission is important.

Now, how do you maintain it? Well, you can see it right here. There's a filter in the pan down there, there's an actual gasket, and an oil pan. It has to flow through there to the pump. I'll show you that in a minute. But this is not an instructional video, but we're going to actually show it to you as we go.

Here's how we did it: we actually removed the bolts. I like to do them from the back to the front, leave a couple in the back so you can tip it forward, so you don't take a transmission bath. All that fluid drains out, then you just pop the filter out, put the new one in, make sure it's popped in there well so you're not sucking any air, causing any problems. Then, install the bolts and torque them to specification, but check your service manual. Every transmission is a bit different.

But Len, we're all about maintenance and service here at Motorhead Garage. Why is it important to service a transmission?

Len Groom: Well, the fluid will degrade over time just from using it. As we talked about earlier with the transmission, the way that it works, it's tough on the fluid, and you can get sediment and debris and clutch material that builds up in there. But the fluid itself has to deal with a lot of heat and a lot of stress, so it has to have a very strong building block.

The base oils are important, the additive mix is very important, so you don't get varnish, and you don't get buildup in the valve body. In fact, the Signature Series product can actually stay in there two times longer than the manufacturers recommend in severe service situations.

John Gardner: And that's huge because we're talking about wearing on the clutch packs, we're talking about varnish on the valve bodies. And you guys, right here, I want to show you this. If you see this magnet right here, this is actually off a car. Man, that is goopy goop. That needs to come out of there. So, make sure you service your transmission.

Transmission Service Tips: Your Guide to Enhanced Vehicle Performance