Hey everyone,

I sent a sample of my ATF Z1 fluid into Blackstone Labs for analysis. The lab's comments were as follows:

"For an oil run just 5,851 miles, wear was generally above average. Aluminum at this level shows excess wear at the torque converter. We may be seeing some carryover wear from the last oil so we aren't ready to call anything cautionary yet. Since you had this oil changed, we'll wait for the next sample so we can establish wear trends before we get too worked up. No moisture was found and the trace of insolubles isn't a problem. The viscosity of the sample read normally for an ATF."

I shouldn't really be panicing should I? I was wondering if there's anything I can do until the next analysis. When I sent the sample in, I did a 3x ATF drain and fill. By the way, I drive a 2005 5AT TL with 60,457 miles. I plan on doing the next drain and fill at 90k. Your thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

Dude,
You just had an expert lab report telling you not to worry. Don't worry.

 

I don't understand the mileage figures????

The lab states 5851 miles on the oil, you state the car has over 60K.

- How many miles were on the ATF sample you sent in??

- You stated: "When I sent the sample in, I did a 3x ATF drain and fill." If that's the case I assume this may have been your first transmission flush and the sample was of the factory fill ATF??

 

Sorry for being unclear. The ATF sample I sent in had 5,851 miles on it. I did a 1x drain and fill back at around 55K. I wanted to do a thorough job, so I did a 3x drain and fill last weekend. When I did that, I sent the sample in to have it analyzed.

 

Makes sense now.

As the lab stated, you definitely still had much of the wear resulting from the 55K+ miles on the trans in that sample. I would definitely say if they (Blackstone) knew the oil sample contained "stuff" from the entire 55-60K miles of the trans, they wouldn't have thought twice about the "amount" of aluminum found.

Good to go.

Cheers

 

Once again proving the trans 3 qt x1 time is like changing 1 qt of engine oil. Do it right!!! 3x3

 

He knows, and did "3x3" the second time. No need to lecture "!!!"


Happy Holidays

 

Just be glad you don't have the glass tranny from the 2nd Gen TL/CL

My last one lasted like 13k miles and I don't drive like a maniac at all.

 

Thanks for the comments everyone! I feel a lot better. I'll let you guys know how the next ATF analysis goes. Hopefully the fluid checks out.

 

Usually one ATF sample is of little value. You need multiple samples to establish a trend, unless there's an imminent failure. This holds true for engine oil and transmission fluid analysis.

With that said, Blackstone is far from a credible lab.

 

Well don't leave us hanging SodaL... Whats up with Blackstone? I did use them once by recommendation. No good??

Inquiry minds want to know... :-)

 

Actually I could say that about most of the labs that are within our price range.

If you sent off your sample to two or three different labs, you'd be surprised how different the results would come back as.

Point is, if you are trying to compare oil A to oil B, you are probably wasting your time.

But back on topic, for fluid analysis results, you really need multiple samples to establish a trend. Even when you do have those samples, it's very difficult to obtain any honest, independent expert interpretation of those results aside from an OEM engineer. I have a buddy who is a fluid engineer for GM that I could talk to, but that's about it.

But chances are, you are probably wasting your time with all of this. Just change the fluid when recommended or change it more often. Take your pick.