transmission oil??

Is there a big difference between Dextron III and Saturn Transaxle
oil?? The always say if not available use Dextron III. I need to change
the oil and filter on my son's 96 sc2 and was going to use dextron III
but if saturn transaxle is better then I'll picl some of that up..

Thanks
Phil

 

same stuff. Dextron III is a spec type.

marx404

 

I've had success using the Mobil Synthetic ATF with a stock Saturn
filter (which are great and usually cheaper than aftermarket filters
anyway). Both Dextron III and Saturn fluid failed to nullify the
torque converter shudder my SL1 exhibited. I'm doubtful the Saturn
fluid is worth the premium price over Dextron III no matter how much
the parts guy at the dealer tries to sell me on it.

 

good to know.. thanks all.. how do others feel about the mobil atf
synthetic??

 

Ditto on the Mobil 1 ATF. The Saturn fluid is just a Dextron III that meets
GM specs that may or may not be tighter than what Brand X uses. Saturn's
tyrannys are pretty temperamental and you will see an improvement switching
to the Mobil 1.
Steve

 

I noted slightly easier shifts after switching over. But then the short
throw shifter made that easier to tell.

 

whoah, escapenguin, what you say brings up a possible answer to an old
post. Please explain the "shudder" in your tranny and how synth fluid
remedied it.

And not to hijack this post, but I have a '02 SC2, just recently started
experiencing a "kick in the butt" when pressing/releasing the throttle at or
near 2K RPM. I can also hear the torque converter whining what I feel is
excessively, near 2nd gear. I have an Automatic tranny. No fun, not a smooth
ride. Did you experience anything like this and did switching to synth
tranny fluid help? TIA

marx404

 

well I guess my next change (in spring) will be synthetic mobil1.. too
bad this can't solve my son's problem with the old slam in reverse
problem and saqturn no longer sells valve bodies just the whole
assembly.

 

I bought the car [2001 SL1 with automatic] used at a dealership and it
seemed to be in great shape aside from some cosmetic blemishes. I
didn't notice any shudder when I test drove it, but later I did. The
car would vibrate heavily no matter what gear you put it in, except for
neutral and park, of course. My girlfriend owns a *ahem* well-loved
1995 Ford Contour with almost 200,000 miles on it, and there I was,
with a fairly new car that vibrated just as bad as hers. Can you say,
embarrassing? She noticed it too. Weeks later, it started clunking
when upshifting and would downshift with an eyepopping bang from 4th to
3rd under moderate to heavy deceleration. I checked the fluid and the
level was fine but it smelled burnt, the filter was rusty on the
outside. It was around the time for it to be changed (40,000--close
enough to me) according to the manual so...

To summarize: no matter what Dextron III type of fluid I tried, the
car behaved the same way. The Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF stock Saturn
filter transformed the car. It shifts much more smoothly, very rarely
shudders and generally doesn't act as though it's possessed as much.
I'm not sure switching to synthetic would help you. The torque
converter, AFAIK, doesn't lock until 3rd and 4th gear. So it's either
releasing/engaging when it isn't supposed to or it could maybe be a
shift solenoid problem or...a lot of different things. It's hard to
say since my car has never done that specifically.

 

<quote>The Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF stock Saturn
filter transformed the car...</quote>

forgot to throw "and" in there