Hyundai Repair: Maintenance transmission, hyundai accent 2000, personal preferance

Question
Hi HT,

Yesterday my hyundai Accent 2000 ( mileage 124,600) has a problem; the check engine light on, but I do not know what happened. I never change my oil transmission since I bought it new. According to your suggestion last month, I went to the dealer, but serviceman told me that if I had never changed the transmission oil at all, he will not to change it because it is likely to cause a problem with the transmission. He refuses to take responsible. I returned home without my transmission oil changed, but now the check engine light is on. It flashed on and off about six times, but now it is no longer on. So what do you suggest I should do? Should I check with another dealer? Should I still change the transmission oil? Thank you very much.

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Followup To

Question -
Hi HT,

My Hyundai Accent 2000, now 121680 miles highway, but still doing great. I bought it new, but as far as I remember I never chance the oil transmission. Do I need to change the oil transmission? What parts do I need to be change ?

Thank you.
David Darmahkasih

Answer -
It's recommended to replace the transmission fluid and filter at 105,000 miles.  You'll need a new pan gasket, a new filter, and about five quarts of SP-III fluid.

Answer
You're not that far off the recommended service interval, so I wouldn't see a problem with changing the fluid.  There have been cases where changing old, nasty fluid in a transmission will accelerate a slipping condition, and I think that's what the service person is afraid of.  If it were my car, I'd change the fluid, but then again, if it were my car, I'd be changing my fluid every 30k regardless of the 105k recommended interval.  That's my personal preferance on transmission servicing.  If your transmission begins to slip after the fluid change, you simply need to remember that if whoever did the servicing did it correctly, they're not responsible for the condition of your transmission.  Whether to service a high mileage transmission is an issue of significant debate in the automotive profession, and many don't agree with my opinion on this.

As for the check engine lamp, you'll need to have the trouble codes read to see what sort of issue you have.  It may or may not be transmission related.  Once the codes are read, some diagnosis will need to be performed to pinpoint the specific cause of the issue.  If you're comfortable with the place you first went, there's little reason to not go back there.  They'll be capable of investigating a check engine lamp.