Dave Garrett

Took my 99 Accord V6 to the dealer today for an "express" oil change
that turned into a longer wait than expected. When the service advisor
came out, he showed me samples from my power steering fluid and
transmission fluid compared to samples from new fluids, and recommended
that both systems be flushed.

I just recently had a 90K mile service done on the car at the same
dealer, and one of the services that was performed then was a drain-and-
fill on the transmission. I told the advisor this, and he said they
still recommended a flush. Given the well-documented fragility of the V6
auto trannies, and the comments I've read here in the past advising
against flushes, I declined to have this done. Is there anyone who has
anything positive to say about flushing, other than the shops for whom
it appears to be a nice profit generator?

Power steering flush I'm not sure about - does the power steering system
really require flushing, or is it like the trans where a drain-and-fill
is just as effective, if not better? This particular dealer wants $140
to do the power steering flush. I opted to do nothing for now except the
oil change I'd come in for, pending further research. I also suspected
that if the power steering fluid really needed to be changed, it would
have been mentioned when the 90K service was done.

Dave