My Seafoam Trans-Tune Results

So the GF's '09 2.5i transmission was starting to get sloppy. It was having some hard shifts and and when you let off the gas and coasted, then got back on it, the engine would rev up and then the transmission would catch really hard and jerk. We had bought the car with 42k(now has 75k) miles and it was not clear if the transmission fluid had ever been changed so I left it alone. I have been told on 1000 different forums and by a master mechanic with 40 yrs experience to never change the transmission fluid if it was not done at the regular service intervals. Apparently, residue builds up inside the transmission and when you put the new fluid in it comes loose and can clog up the little passages and grenade everything.

 

I decided to try to use Seafoam's Trans-Tune to help cure the problems. As far as I can tell, Trans-Tune has the same ingredients as the regular-ass Seafoam(some oil base, Naphtha which i gather is similar to mineral oil, and Isopropyl alcohol) but in different ratios. They actually share the same MSDS on the website. I guess this stuff slowly dissolves the residue build up on the bands and valves without causing it to fall off and do more damage.

 

Anyways, I put this stuff in the fill tube of the transmission on a Thursday night and then we drove the car about 50 miles on Friday to and from work. By the end of these 50 miles the transmission had completely smoothed out and i have not felt so much as a stutter or jerk since. The plan is to do a full drain and refill with fresh fluid now that the transmission seems to be cleaned up.

At 45k you still probably have some detergents left in the old tranny fluid, should be good till around 60k. So your tranny is probably fairly clean. I"m at 75k, I had planned on changing my tranny fluid, before I took to the dealer for a tranny issues, so they ended up changing. I forgot to look at how much they drained/replaced. But on my next oil change I plan on a drain and fill again, giving the detergents time to work for a bit.

 

Glad you got yours worked out, and yeah def change out the old fluid with the seafoam in it.

Oh no, the car is at 75k now. We bought it with 42k.

Oh gotcha! Right where I'm at when I changed mine. Do the detergents loosen the debris or does it mix the sludge with the clean fluid? Either way I'm dumping mine again on the next oil change.

75k is not excessive and I doubt a 2.5i would have any significant deposits.

I'd be willing to bet a flush would be safe. People tend to be overly cautious and/or just to be alarmist.

If you do a flush, avoid a power-flush. You want to go to a shop that uses a machine which does NOT force fluid in. Also avoid reverse-flush type machines.

Valvoline has a good flushing machine and fluid. They can get it done for around $100.

Any place that uses a BG machine and fluid is also good.

If the additive is an emulsifier then the deposits should have dissolved and mixed in/suspended in the ATF.

Thanks for the extra info. I'll ere on the side of caution and drain again to help with any potential build up. Just gotta get this tranny issue resolved, then I can start modding.

3 drain/fills are essentially the same thing and not only are they cheaper to do, but also a bit safer. Go with it

Don't utter "mod" and 2.5i outside the 2.5i forum, you'll get chewed.

Modding my LGT, not 2.5i

Oh gotcha! Right where I'm at when I changed mine. Do the detergents loosen the debris or does it mix the sludge with the clean fluid? Either way I'm dumping mine again on the next oil change.

 

Apparently its supposed to dissolve it. I plan on doing a dump this weekend if i can get my hands on the car. I had to replace the front endlinks which is a huge PITA when the hex in the end of the bolt rounds out, so it got pushed off.

 

They say you can put the trans tune in the new fluid but I probably wont bother.

I won't put anything but the trans fluid into mine. If I did end up using trans tune or something similar, I would only drive it a few hundred miles max, before dumping it.

 

Just like regular seafoam, put in vac line, crankcase and fuel. I def wouldn't leave it in the crank for very many miles before changing the oil. I was reading up on seafoam, no plans to use it, and people would add to the crank the last hundred or so miles before a change, or people would change the oil, use sea in the crank, then change again in a few hundred miles. For some reason there is no real testing or answers regarding seafoam actually working, just a lot of debating. Sorry small tangent

Same with any injector cleaner, it has a negative effect when dilluted in the oil. I've ran it maybe 3 times in 100K miles and always on the last fill-up prior to oil change.

Generally speaking if you use good fuel and oils and are not an abusive user, then additives/treatments are not needed.

But, we're getting into religious territory here.

^ Def agree with this. I use good fluids and gas always, with low OCI's. I've used fuel injector cleaner a few times, but far from religiously. I take it you are on my side? Non-believer, heretic!! lol

SeaFoam is a little different than SeaFoam TransTune. You could probably use them interchangeably, I do not know. They have the same basic active ingredient, which I have heard is possibly super purified kerosene, or something of that nature.

 

I use SeaFoam TransTune, but not in the way you are thinking. I use it in a spray bottle to clean deposits off of disassembled valve bodies. I also use ATF in this same way, to the same end. But the SeaFoam is just more aggressive for really neglected transmissions, which is a surprisingly high number. The majority of "enthusiasts" in my experience are too focused on oil brand and forget to change their ATF which should be done MORE OFTEN THAN ANYONE THINKS. I am still of the opinion that if you are cleaning out a neglected, running transmission, do a little at a time. For everyone who has success with adding a can of trans cleaner, there are people our there who have done the same thing and then gone into their transmission shop a week later because their trans suddenly does not work! Change the ATF, come back a short while later, do it again. It does not need to be all complicated, you do not need fancy equipment or special chemicals. ATF is already super good at cleaning, and no one would have an ounce of deposits if they treated their trans fluid the same as their engine oil (i.e. full synthetic with 3-5k OCIs). For a transmission, get ALL the old fluid out every 30k miles, at MOST. That can require several drain and fills, or one good DIY flush: http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/diy-5eat-atf-flush-197248.html

People who make it more complicated than this, have fun.

 

All that said, people could read my post 100 times, and would probably still neglect their transmissions. In that case, use special chemicals, go nuts.

^ Thanks, I def need to be up on my tranny fluid changes, and def will be.

SeaFoam is a little different than SeaFoam TransTune. You could probably use them interchangeably, I do not know. They have the same basic active ingredient, which I have heard is possibly super purified kerosene, or something of that nature.

 

I use SeaFoam TransTune, but not in the way you are thinking. I use it in a spray bottle to clean deposits off of disassembled valve bodies. I also use ATF in this same way, to the same end. But the SeaFoam is just more aggressive for really neglected transmissions, which is a surprisingly high number. The majority of "enthusiasts" in my experience are too focused on oil brand and forget to change their ATF which should be done MORE OFTEN THAN ANYONE THINKS. I am still of the opinion that if you are cleaning out a neglected, running transmission, do a little at a time. For everyone who has success with adding a can of trans cleaner, there are people our there who have done the same thing and then gone into their transmission shop a week later because their trans suddenly does not work! Change the ATF, come back a short while later, do it again. It does not need to be all complicated, you do not need fancy equipment or special chemicals. ATF is already super good at cleaning, and no one would have an ounce of deposits if they treated their trans fluid the same as their engine oil (i.e. full synthetic with 3-5k OCIs). For a transmission, get ALL the old fluid out every 30k miles, at MOST. That can require several drain and fills, or one good DIY flush: http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/diy-5eat-atf-flush-197248.html

People who make it more complicated than this, have fun.

 

All that said, people could read my post 100 times, and would probably still neglect their transmissions. In that case, use special chemicals, go nuts.

 

I agree, but again, after all the warnings and what not I was quite nervous about changing it after not knowing the history of the car. Its sounds like I was a bit overly cautious but a lot of people were telling me the exact same thing.

 

Half the cars these days are not even supposed to have trans-fluid changes according to the maintenance schedules. A guy i work with has the Ford Taurus(Five Hundred based, not the new one) and they dont even have a fill tube or anything on it.

I agree, but again, after all the warnings and what not I was quite nervous about changing it after not knowing the history of the car. Its sounds like I was a bit overly cautious but a lot of people were telling me the exact same thing.

 

Half the cars these days are not even supposed to have trans-fluid changes according to the maintenance schedules. A guy i work with has the Ford Taurus(Five Hundred based, not the new one) and they dont even have a fill tube or anything on it.

 

A lot of transmissions these days are filled from under the car, and some even require a computer to be reading the trans fluid temperature while the car is running, while you are adding fluid from underneath the car until it overflows. Yes, that's adding fluid until it spills out from the inset bottom-fed hole through which you are pumping in fluid. Welcome to the age of the $300 drain and fill. Count your blessing that the 5EAT is so easy to service. Not that it matters because people would rather track the latest Mobil 1 5W30 vs Shell Rotella T6 5W-40 UOAs on BIOTG than do even the most basic 5EAT servicing. Which is funny because their lack of 5EAT servicing will cost them a LOT more money and downtime than if they just did the servicing. Transmission rebuilding shops would need a lot less bays and employees if people kept their transmissions maintained properly.

The 11 Mitsu Ralliart I owned for all of 2 months, there was no way to check the tranny fluid. With an $11000 unserviceable tranny I am glad that POS is gone. F you Mitsu, your company sucks. *steps down from the soap box

The 11 Mitsu Ralliart I owned for all of 2 months, there was no way to check the tranny fluid. With an $11000 unserviceable tranny I am glad that POS is gone. F you Mitsu, your company sucks. *steps down from the soap box

 

Oh it's serviceable, just not to 99% of the population

Yeah if by serviceable you mean total replacement. LOL It was fast and had a ton of torque steer, guess that's what happens when you buy a modded car that is sold as stock, then the warranty won't be honored. Such drama with that crap. Glad to be done and glad to have my 3.6R, that we should have bought off the bat. Oh yeah the topic. Uh seafoam, thanks for the info.

I had to deal with what Dave described on the Mini Cooper.

I wrote the book on DIY trans change

The whole measuring the temp can be safely skipped, at least in my particular situation. It's really not much more complicated than a differential drain/fill, in principle.

Yeah if by serviceable you mean total replacement. LOL It was fast and had a ton of torque steer, guess that's what happens when you buy a modded car that is sold as stock, then the warranty won't be honored. Such drama with that crap. Glad to be done and glad to have my 3.6R, that we should have bought off the bat. Oh yeah the topic. Uh seafoam, thanks for the info.

 

In engines, I like SeaFoam, but I like Marvel Mystery Oil better. Depends on what you're trying to do on what type and condition of engine.

 

Oh wait this is a transmission thread

Any reason I should use Mystery? 75k on my LGT, I bought it with 50k. I've obv been good to with with the fluids, no clue on the first 50k. Any benefits?

Any reason I should use Mystery? 75k on my LGT, I bought it with 50k. I've obv been good to with with the fluids, no clue on the first 50k. Any benefits?

 

This is one of those things where it's more beneficial for you to read what's already written out there than for me to spend an hour crafting a response that would take you 5 minutes to read and cover maybe 1/10th of what you will easily find by researching the product Happy hunting.

I have looked at it before, that's why I was asking you directly

 

It seems to have the same mystery such as seafoam and what oil to use. Which is better? Does it even work? Does it do anything? What's in it? LOL

 

Sooooooo what I hear you saying is just change the fluids in the tranny every 30k miles and forget the mystery oil

I have looked at it before, that's why I was asking you directly

 

It seems to have the same mystery such as seafoam and what oil to use. Which is better? Does it even work? Does it do anything? What's in it? LOL

 

Sooooooo what I hear you saying is just change the fluids in the tranny every 30k miles and forget the mystery oil

 

Marvel Mystery Oil does NOT GO IN THE TRANSMISSION!

 

Alright so that last answer did not work for you. Instead, buy whichever product you like, follow the directions printed on the bottle, and that's it.