Just started flushing my auto trans and after removing the drain bolt from the transmission noticed it was covered in thick black gunk. Stuck my finger in the trans and it came out looking the same.

What is this stuff? Burnt oil? Is it normal to have a small buildup of it? And if/how should I clean it out?

Any advice would help, cheers guys :)

The drain bolt has a magnetic thread which catches any metallic particles that come off the trans during operation.

Had you been having issues with the transmission previously?

Yeah my transmission had been slipping a bit lately, hence why i decided to flush.
There was tiny metal particle on the bolt, which could be seen but not felt with fingers.

I'm really just wondering what that black stuff is.

Any pictures?

Not the best quality as I only have my girlfriends phone on me. But here's 2 pics of the drain plug.

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/6756/bolt1u.jpg (http://img151.imageshack.us/i/bolt1u.jpg/)

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/38/bolt2j.jpg (http://img189.imageshack.us/i/bolt2j.jpg/)

IMGs aren't coming up but did they look like the ones in this thread?
http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55481&highlight=

Yeah same little shavings as those ones, just a lot more black gunk

Yeah same little shavings as those ones, just a lot more black gunk

Looks like the fluid has been in there for quite some time. Might pay to flush the trans out a few times to see how much gunk comes out.

Yeah I haven't had it changed in about 75000 km, not sure when the last owner had it changed, but it is well overdue.

And cheers for the thread link, thats eased my mind a little.

I've got 15L of genuine fluid on me, so I'll go give it a decent flush and see how she goes.

Yeah I haven't had it changed in about 75000 km, not sure when the last owner had it changed, but it is well overdue.

And cheers for the thread link, thats eased my mind a little.

I've got 15L of genuine fluid on me, so I'll go give it a decent flush and see how she goes.

Out of interest if you have a TE or TF there is an external filter on the gearbox that you can change too, should be near the dipstick sitting facing up when you look at it.

Yeah I've got a TF and bought the filter for it a couple of days ago.

Only problem now is over-sized super cheap funnel I've got. Perfect for engine oil but just a bit to big to fit in the transmission dipstick hole.
Nothing a bit of hose cant fix haha

Yeah I've got a TF and bought the filter for it a couple of days ago.

Only problem now is over-sized super cheap funnel I've got. Perfect for engine oil but just a bit to big to fit in the transmission dipstick hole.
Nothing a bit of hose cant fix haha

Heh yeah I used an old BMW fuel filter I cut in half with a hacksaw - works brilliantly.

Flushed it twice and did a relearn. Just took it for a 15 minute spin and my gears are back haha.
Nice quick smooth changes.

Lets not talk about what came out during the flush... :eek2:

Flushed it twice and did a relearn. Just took it for a 15 minute spin and my gears are back haha.
Nice quick smooth changes.

Lets not talk about what came out during the flush... :eek2:

Ah well at least the job is done now and the car is working well again.