How Often Do You Actually Need To Change Your Car's Transmission Fluid?

The average driver will accumulate a wide range of different fluids for their vehicles. With ICEs, of course, there's the fuel to take care of, but beyond that, there are so many more to worry about. Coolant, wiper fluid, engine oil, and transmission fluid are just some of the wet wonders that will find a place in your garage.

The difficult part can be determining how often to use each one. If you're a newer driver or have recently switched to a different type or model of vehicle, it can be particularly confusing. With transmission fluid, the consequences of not topping up often enough can include acceleration performance suffering and unresponsive gears.

How frequently should your transmission fluid be changed, then? As with other concerns like spark plug changes, no single answer will fit every type of vehicle. What we'll do here, then, is take a look at some different general guidance for manual and automatic transmissions, as well as where to find the ultimate answer for your specific car.

A lot of routine car care jobs, such as checking the pressure of tires, don't have to be performed as frequently. With the changing of transmission fluid, this also holds true, but there are some vital factors to bear in mind. As tends to be the case with anything involving our vehicles, driving habits, such as the amount of use a vehicle gets, can influence how often this job should be done. More intensive/frequent drivers can consider booking this maintenance more often than those who take their vehicles out less frequently.

In general, automatic transmission vehicles should have the fluid drained at a frequency ranging from every 60,000 to 100,000 miles. With harder-worked manual transmissions, the transmission fluid should be administered approximately every 30,000 to 60,000 miles.

There's more to consider than just whether you have a manual or automatic transmission, though. Some vehicles, such as the 2021 Chevy Silverado, are equipped with lifetime transmission. This doesn't mean that drivers can be complacent, though, as issues can always arise with vehicle parts, and it's inevitable that some deterioration will occur with enough use. In these instances, telltale signs like the color of your fluid, notably darkening, can still be indicators that changes may be due.

Outside of general information, your vehicle's trusty owner's manual will typically be the best place to find more specific advice on fluid changes for your make and model.