Second ATF drain at 125000 miles. Much cleaner than first.

I just did my second transaxle drain and fill last week at 200,000 km (about 125,000 miles) and everything seems pretty good. I was very pleased with how good it looked, it was a lot cleaner than when I did it the first time at about 100,000 km.

I didn't take any photos of the fluid itself, it would have been kinda pointless because I drained it directly into a very dirty drain pan that already had some pretty disgusting used oil in the bottom. But I definitely noticed as the stream drained out it looked *really* good. It still retained it's red colour, and to be honest it looked and felt just about identical to the new fluid as I squished it between my fingers.

Anyway, I did take some photos of the magnetic drain plug. The first photo is from this latest change at 200,000 km and the second photo is from the previous one at 100,000 km. You can see the really clear difference between the two. There was far less gunk on the magnetic drain plug this time around, barely enough to cover the tip of your finger, and I think this was reflected in the much cleaner looking fluid as well.

To be totally honest, if I had of known how good the fluid had looked before I drained it then I might well have extended the interval by another 25,000 or more km before changing it.

Drain Plug at 200,000 km change (below)

Drain Plug at 100,000 km change (below)

 

Not likely, you should have seen the container I drained it into. It contained oil just drained from a 12000 mile oil change interval in my mazda, that along with some dirt and a couple of leaves. Eek