Is there such thing as "normal use" for a Z28, unless you just enjoy the smooth ride at 70 mph on the hw and you are pre-maturely grey

I don't "heavily" use my Z in any way. I wonder what the happy medium is? All I know is that on my Lexus they want to change the tranny fluid every 25K's at $120 a pop. I told them I've got 110K's on my camaro and when my IS gets there I'll give them a call. I buy the thing for my wife and one of the reasons was it being low maitnence...it's more high maitence than she is I don't see how it could hurt unless you over tighten the bolts. I'm just going to use a torque wrech at the specified torque that Ken reccommends on his site. I would think it would run better clean, new filter, cleaned magnent and a few new qts of fluid...I hope.
JOHN

Change is a good idea, but most mech's that I know do not reccomend a full flush. It seems that the high levels of detergent in tranny oil will loosen up all sorts of internal stuff, and this in turn leads to slippage etc. Not a rela techincal explanation, I realize, but if you look through this forum you will find more than a few people who had trannies that worked fine until after they had done a flush.

I swap out the contents of my pan and put in a new filter about once a year and I never have trouble. As others have said, don't overtighten the pan. Ten foot pounds torque is what I use. It is also a good idea to get a good quality cork gasket from a tranny repair shop. Most of the things you get with a filter kit are really cheap, thin composite things that I always have trouble with.

YMMV

you will also want to run the tranny through the gears, and hold it in each gear for 5-10 seconds(??) or so

Okay...can do. What kind of tranny fluid goes in the tranny...regular...sythetic? I'm not doing the full flush...just the 1/3 flush
John

Use Dextron III/Mercon ATF, castrol is a good brand if you;re not going to use some kind of syn....also B&M trick shift may be good, you can use it as an additive also, a couple B&M;s and 3 regualr maybe...but its like 4 bux a qt though...

Allright, thanks Blue!
JOHN

I guess you have not read the posts of people that changed their high mileage fluid and they lost the tranny right after (no one is comparing it to oil changes-apples and oranges). It seems to be a crap shoot. It just depends on how much of the stuff that is floating around in the fluid is acting as a holding agent for the clutches.

shoebox,
My tranny isn't acting up by any means. It shifts hard into second, but have heard that is the way the a4's do. I just thought, having so many miles, I should give it a little freshen up. I DON'T want to ruin my tranny. I don't want to do the full flush either. What actually makes the tranny mess up after the "small flush"? If there is a high percentage it is going to crap on me, then I'll just leave it alone until I get the performace rebuid in about 6 months.
Thanks,
JOHN

Don't worry these horror stories are far and few between. Unless your car has been run hard and put away dry, you'll be fine with a trans fluid change.

i changed the fluid in my 93 when i had it and it was very easy. Just loosen the front bolts to let most of it drain, drop the pan, change the filter(for me, this was the hardest part because the filter gasket got stuck and i couldnt get it out, had to use a flat head screw driver), then fill it up with 4.5 quarts of fluid and your set. Total cost=$30

yeah thats the rule i would go by to, its safe to change the fluid in a high mileage a4 as long as it has'nt been hot rodded....so if no one modded it before you got it, and the posi clutches are still good, then its probably safe to change....most of these horror stories are a joke, probably people who changed their fluid and didnt fit the filter in good or something, not a tight seal and it didnt have full suction for the fluid and probably ran w/low pressure after they changed and therefore it deterorated......i dunno just my .02