Dealer says my only option is to replace the tranny to solve the dark brown fluid problem. He offered up no other solution. Is he scamming me, or is this really right? Is there not at least a solenoid that can be checked and changed out?

thanks

chuck

 

Let's wait and see what your results are from BlackStone Labs.

The person at the dealership is not well trained in automatic transmission services and also trouble shooting. You don't make a blanket statement about a condition of a transmission without doing a standard health testing on the transmission which in the best and best case takes at least an hour. Pressure checking alone takes about 20-30 minutes. The only exception would be obvious problem like slipping gears or no shift into a specific gear, strong burnt smells....all the common signs of a toasted transmission. Dark fluid does not always mean your transmission is on the way out.

 

thanks. this is the info. I've been looking for. Since the cx9 tranny is sealed, what external tests can they run, or must the tranny be taken off?

ty

chuck

 

They have fluid ports that you connect fitting to perform a pressure test. The pressure test is very revealing because one thing it will indicate is how well the solenoids and servos are working that hold the transmission into gear.

 

Thanks for the info. Again, this will be really helpful to me in addition to the lab test results. Too bad my tranny dealer shop didn't offer this up right away, and in fact not at all. I'll ask them Monday about doing some tests on the tranny.

thanks

 

These are not generally a service offered at dealership service departments. Better quality Transmission shop will have the proper service equipment to do this kind of transmission performance testing.