2000 Odyssey: xmission oil change required?

Hi all

After an oil-change service a few months ago, the fellow at our local
service station mentioned that our xmission oil was "very dirty". The van
had about 40K miles on it at the time. It now has about 48K miles. Is it
normal for the xmission oil and filter to become "very dirty" at this
interval? Should I get them changed at this time or was this service station
looking for some easy money?

Thanks much!

PF

 

The 2000 Odyssey has and extended warranty on the transmission
(7 years) due to some premature failures I suspect. Does anyone
know the exact problem? The reason I'm asking is my friends
Maxima just had the transmission fail and the dealer noticed the
fluid was darkened probably due to overheating. The dealer suspected
a stuck band in the transmission had caused this. I'm wondering if
your dirty oil is metal particles from something wearing or perhaps
burned oil from overheating?

Maybe it is normal. What's the service interval for changing the fluid?

Steve

 

Of course your fluid will appear dirty, it will have lost that pink or red
color.
The best way to change the fluid is through a power purge such as the type
offered at Jiffy Lube. There is no Transmission fluid filter to be changed
on these and if you don't have to drop the pan I wouldn't screw with it.
"purging back the whole system flushing debris out of the screen type filter
and into the purge machine . The whole thing costs about 80 but it is worth
it because it gets a few quarts of fluid out of the torque converter which
is a closed centrifugal pump really. If you were to simply drain and fill
the casa you would be leaving crappy hydro fluid in the converter and you
would not reverse flow through the filter which would leave it dirty and we
don't want that. Sorry my reply is long but I know my Odyssey and I am a
hydraulic specialist in the maritime industry so I know when someone is
selling snake oil or real medicine.

 

In most cases, the fluid changed color due to oxidation. Metal don't change
fluid color. They are trapped by a magnet in there.