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Old 10-10-2018, 03:19 PM   #1
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Allison Transmission Service Interval

We made it back from our amazing 3 month trip out west to humid Florida only to find our house Air Conditioner DOA New system is being installed as I type.

I just called my local Freightliner dealer to set up service next week. I have 15,000 miles on the Seneca (2nd oil change) and was advised to change the transmission fluid. I believe Allison suggests changing at 24,000 miles for severe service, which I am sort of willing to consider ours to be.

What are your thoughts on changing the transmission fluid this early? I am thinking it couldn’t hurt, assuming the tech does it correctly. The suggestion took me by surprise.
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Old 10-10-2018, 03:37 PM   #2
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https://www.allisontransmission.com/...ter-calculator
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Old 10-10-2018, 07:25 PM   #3
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Thanks Grumpy but I think this calculator is designed more for everyday use trucks, not RVs.

When do others with Seneca’s change transmission fluid?
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Old 10-10-2018, 07:51 PM   #4
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I know with the Allison 1000 the first fluid change came much sooner than subsequent ones. Also you have a truck with a house on it and a truck is a truck and the changes would be based on the model trany you have on that list.
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Old 10-10-2018, 08:01 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark S View Post
We made it back from our amazing 3 month trip out west to humid Florida only to find our house Air Conditioner DOA New system is being installed as I type.

I just called my local Freightliner dealer to set up service next week. I have 15,000 miles on the Seneca (2nd oil change) and was advised to change the transmission fluid. I believe Allison suggests changing at 24,000 miles for severe service, which I am sort of willing to consider ours to be.

What are your thoughts on changing the transmission fluid this early? I am thinking it couldn’t hurt, assuming the tech does it correctly. The suggestion took me by surprise.
Is taking me by surprise too... We are in the 24k range now and making me wonder too.
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Old 10-10-2018, 08:40 PM   #6
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Don't forget about the spin-on Control Main filter, it gets an initial change at 10,000 miles or 400 engine hours, whichever comes first. It has a magnet where is screws onto the transmission that is inspected for debris, cleaned, and transferred to the new filter.

Link to Control Main filter: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Allison classifies "Severe Vocation" as stopping more often than once per mile.
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Old 10-10-2018, 10:44 PM   #7
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This Allison publication may help too.
Attached Files
File Type: pdf AllisonMECHANICSTIPS.pdf (2.98 MB, 45 views)
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Old 10-10-2018, 11:39 PM   #8
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Has anyone changed it themselves?
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Old 10-11-2018, 05:47 AM   #9
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Well, this has taken me by surprise also. I'll have to check this further. I can't imagine our use of going down the highway as being hard service. We have right at 60K on our 2015 unit and certainly have had no problems with the tranny or drive train. I did have small leak in the rear end that was covered under warranty and had it to a Freightliner dealer for that repair at around 20K. They did not mention anything of a fluid change in the Allison Transmission. Interesting.
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Old 10-11-2018, 06:09 AM   #10
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I changed my filter around 10K, it does dump several quarts of fluid in the process. I carefully refilled it with the recommended Transynd fluid (Castrol brand) which took several attemps to get it "just right" when hot. My filter magnet was very clean as was the released fluid, so I felt confident my unit is "okay" right now. Was it overkill? Maybe!

I also had a leaky rear axle, but I was out of warranty. My Freightliner dealer (Young's Truck, Canton, OH) tried to lobby Freightliner to warranty it, but were unsuccessful. They took pity on me I guess, the repair cost me $500 when I was envisioning at least twice that!

Our motorhomes are not considered to fall into the "Severe Duty" categories for the drivetrain, with regular maintenance our coaches will likely fall apart before we wear out engines or transmissions!
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Old 10-11-2018, 07:09 AM   #11
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Glad to here that! I figured severe was a lot of stop and go! I’m at 40,000 now so I got 10,000 to figure it out. I’ve had the spin on filter changed. Looked at YouTube last night on changing the 2 internal filters. Doesn’t look to bad.
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Old 10-12-2018, 09:41 AM   #12
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Rob, how many miles do you have on your Seneca and when do you plan on changing the transmission oil? Sam
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Old 10-12-2018, 11:11 AM   #13
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May be stay with Allison service manual schedule. That way if some thing goes out they can not blame it on you!
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Old 10-12-2018, 12:04 PM   #14
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Rob, how many miles do you have on your Seneca and when do you plan on changing the transmission oil? Sam
I have a little over 28K. I will probably wait till 50K unless I think the fluid is getting dirty or the least bit "burnt".
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Old 10-12-2018, 07:02 PM   #15
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I finally found the Allison manual and found the maintenance schedule.

"Severe duty" is defined as stopping more than once in a mile. So it is safe to assume our RVs are "General" use and call for the fluid and filters to be changed at 50,000 miles OR 24 MONTHS with "TES 389 fluid", which is what I assume we have from the factory. With TES 295 or 468 fluid the interval is 150,000 miles or 48 months.

So the age old question: my Seneca has only 16,000 miles BUT the chassis is coming up on 2 years since it was built in January of 2017. Do I wait on the 50,000 miles (which will be like four or 5 years) or follow the time and service at 24 months?

Does oil / fluid really go bad in 1 or 2 years? I guess the other option is to get the fluid tested.
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Old 10-12-2018, 07:33 PM   #16
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Does oil / fluid really go bad in 1 or 2 years? I guess the other option is to get the fluid tested.
Doesn't really go bad, collects moisture if not driven regularly to get hot.
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Old 10-12-2018, 07:48 PM   #17
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Doesn't really go bad, collects moisture if not driven regularly to get hot.
So can we ignore the manufacturers instruction to change the fluid at 24 months? Or oil at 12 months?

I've struggled with this question over the years in boats, motorcycles and other toys that came nowhere near the milage requirement to change the oil but went way over on time.
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Old 10-16-2018, 06:25 AM   #18
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I just got off the phone with Allison customer service. As per my transmission serial number, we have TES 295 transmission fluid in our Seneca transmissions.

That means our maintenance schedule calls for changing the Control Main (spin on filter) at 24 months or 50,000 miles and the fluid at 48 months or 150,000 miles. This is on page 79 of the Allison manual for the TES 295 schedule.

Now as to the Freightliner service writer telling me I need to change the transmission fluid now with 16,000 miles on it, well its nice to know that all dealers are the same, trying to maximize profit
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Old 10-16-2018, 06:59 AM   #19
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That means our maintenance schedule calls for changing the Control Main (spin on filter) at 24 months or 50,000 miles and the fluid at 48 months or 150,000 miles. This is on page 79 of the Allison manual for the TES 295 schedule.
Thanks for researching that info. Practically speaking and in my opinion (but I am not an Alison engineer), these service intervals were developed for a truck running thousands of miles each month hauling freight, accumulating close to 100K miles in a year. I personally will continue to ignore the time element and instead rely on (1) eye and nose dipstick inspection, and (2) the 50K/150K mile service ceilings. It's not like these gearboxes are exposed to piston blowby and whatnot that would rapidly contaminate the TES 295 fluid.
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Old 10-16-2018, 08:27 AM   #20
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I noted a number of you mentioned rear diff leaks. Mine had a leak as well. $1500 of labor and $10 of parts. Seems number of failures on diff with so few miles should be an issues Freightliner owns up to.
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