Theoretically you wont need to change the trans fluid until the service requirement is up. The sealed system is to reduce contaminants in your system.

Unless you have a defective transmission or are beating the living crap out of it, don't worry about your trans fluid.

 

I've failed to find the service intervals for the trans in my owners manual. When is the 1st scheduled service for the trans on this cruze?

 

...per GM, they're "filled for life" of the transmission.

...of course, that answer begs the question: what's the "life" of the transmission? Exactly "...10 years and one day, or 100,001 miles, whichever occurs first..." by design or what?

 

I was hoping that wasn't the answer. Even tho the 4L60E in my GTO is running DEXRON VI I still change the fluid every 2 years and I'm pretty sure a built LS1 taxes a trans far harder than a 1.4T. I like my fluids changed regularly, ****.

 

this nothing to do with contaminents. it costs money to implement a dipstick & tube. gm would sooner sell u a rebuilt tranny than have a tranny shop change the fluid & filter. u can bet that the tranny shops will be drilling out the pan bolts.
transmission fluid does not last forever nor do clutches.

 

u can bet that the tranny shops will be drilling out the pan bolts.

The first GM auto that had this system was the 4T40 which has been out a long time, back to the mid 90s IIRC. You don't need to drill anything out, just pull the pan, put in a new filter, and refill the fluid through the checking port.

My Cadillac has a 5L50 (mfg in Strasbourg, France) with the same setup. Not difficult at all to do a fluid / filter changeout.

 

I'm not sure this is an issue.

I had a '92 Saturn SC with the 4 spd. auto transaxle. At 30,000 miles, I drained the fluid and replaced it with Mobil1 ATF. At 40,000 miles I did it again. The car now has 200,000 miles on the odo (my Brother-In-Law's daily driver) with no transaxle service and the trans. is still stout enough to break the tires loose in first and second gears. This is a much older technology transmission that what is in the Cruze.

Remember, when you drain a transmission through the drain plug, you typically don't drain the torque converter. As a result of the two drain and refill operations, the Saturn has approximately 3/4 synthetic and 1/4 Dextron ATF in it.

Jim

 

That saturn was nice with a spin-on trans filter. Made it much easier to do yourself.