phishfood

Unusual?

Did recently move about a year ago and part of trip home requires about 2 miles UPHILL at around 15-20mph curvy, slowy-speedupy

That driving would cover say 12k

oo7spy

What do you mean by "burnt"?

phishfood

Technician at dealer says fluid looks dirty, smells burnt ... as in a form of burned I'm guessing.

phishfood

I am getting stator changed (AC) so haven't done it yet. Part should be in in a day or two so I said we'd deal with fluid when that was scheduled.

That way I could get it home and tomorrow in morning pull out stick and look at it myself - smell, put a cpl drips onto a white paper plate/etc

oo7spy

Dirty I can understand. But I don't understand how a liquid smells burnt. I would say the description is unusual. How long did the previous fluid go before being changed?

There isn't much you can do other than drain it, fill 'er back up and keep driving. I like the 15,000 mile transmission service intervals versus the 3x3 every 45-60k.

phishfood

Hmm, I've heard of "burnt" transmission fluid since way back when like 1980's

Google burnt transmission fluid. A kajillion hits. It's a pretty common way of describing a smell to transmission fluid that's been used for decades.

oo7spy

I will never claim to be a gear head nor do I often hang out with many. To me that sounds "spent", but I guess I can understand the terminology and its similarity. To me, burnt oil means it hits its smoke point which would be devastating in a car.

If your ultimate question is about oil wearing out that quick, I think the answer depends on the last change. If you went the full 60k mile initial interval on the trans fluid, changed it once, and had spent oil 14k miles later, I wouldn't be completely surprised. You only get 3/8 of the transmission fluid out at a time. That's why the 3x3 method was recommended by the designers.

phishfood

I go by the car's maintenance display with the exception of at some point in the past doing an "extra" transmission refill at some point.

so all maint done according to schedule.

think the minder has you do it every 30k

as I'm 100% sure it's been done more than twice in 140,000 (miles on car)

phishfood

Hmm, I went out before sunset and pulled out the stick.

Seemed a little dirty, but I didn't think it smelled "burned" or anything.

Was definitely darker than bright pink for sure. But not OMG it's black or SOO DARK or look at all the specks in there.

JJones91

Smell motor oil after some abusive mileage, it'll definitely smell burnt. First car I ever had I grenaded it when the mechanic was looking for a reason why it did so he smelled the oil and immediately knew I had been driving the piss out of my car, and I was LOL late nights out with friends racing our slow ass cars acting like idiots was enough to make that oil smell burnt, transmission fluid can also give off a burnt smell. Not making assumptions the OP is driving his car like a bat out of hell, just stating it's very possible to get that "burnt" smell.

phishfood

No, that's all fair. Haven't much changes my driving style in last 110000 miles though.

But that uphill, and every morning driving downhill going between 1st & 2nd at 20MPH might be what the change is. It's got to be a bit more load on transmission.

After looking at fluid I thought the service person was being a bit dramatic.

oo7spy

Two things need to be considered here.

1) Oil is used in internal combustion engines because, by physical design, it can heat and cool without consequence. However, once you pass the smoke point of an oil, the physical properties are changed. Any half-decent, amateur chef can tell you this. You literally cannot burn an oil until it passes its smoke point.

2) Motors are dirty. As a result, their oil gets dirty. Does the dirt change upon heating and cooling similar to the oil? I doubt it. If you can notice a difference in transmission fluid, it is because of dirt.

IIRC, the manual says 60k for the first interval, 45k thereafter, and 30k for extreme cases which include towing and climbing. If the OP's daily climb has that steep of a grade, I am not surprised his fluid would be worn out quicker than usual.

MrKev

If you don't smell anything and youve followed your 30k interval you should be fine. The tech might of just said it to up sell you a tranny service.

An example that could cause tranny fluid to smell burnt is having your first tranny fluid changed at 100k.