An independent auto shop owner took to Facebook, holding plastic bottles up to the camera in order to call out something he says is killing American transmissions: manufacturer service intervals that let fluid get filthy before anybody touches it.
In one of the bottles, the fluid is bright cherry red. In the other, drained from a customer’s car at 35,000 miles, the fluid has the color of motor oil dredged from a parking lot puddle.
The 1-minute, 34-second clip was posted by Griffis Automotive Clinic Inc., an independent shop in Groveland, Florida, whose channel logs the kind of grievances independent techs share with each other in the bay. It has racked up more than 1.1 million views and hundreds of comments arguing both sides of a debate that has split working mechanics for two decades.
Transmission Fluid: Old VS. New Side-By-Side
The tech makes his case with the bottles first. “So, this is brand new transmission fluid. Brand new. This is a 35,000-mile transmission fluid. Thirty-five thousand miles. But the manufacturer says we’re supposed to go 100,000 when we service this,” he says, holding the muddy second bottle. “Brand new; 35,000 miles.”
