150K mile trans service interval?

[Rick#7]

What is the general consensus of everyone for letting the trans fluid run for 150K miles? With my car just crossing the 85k mark on my odometer I started wondering about what major service intervals I would be encountering between now and 100K, so I read through the owners manual and was a bit surprised to see that the trans fluid was not listed among the 100K routine service, but it was on the next line down at 150K!

My car has the 6R80, but actually both the stick and the AT are shown for servicing the fluid at 150K. I know there's usually no harm is replacing fluids early, except for the fact that it's wasting unused service life in the old fluids which in my mind is the same as just throwing money away. I wouldn't have a problem replacing the fluid a little early, but with a 150K recommended fluid change interval, I'm barely past the 1/2 way point right now, so if the fluid is genuinely good for 150K it's definitely too soon to change it. I only ask about it because I'm really old school when it comes to car maintenance. When I first started driving, a lot of cars didn't make it to 100K, and 10 years old was really old for a car. Oil changes were done at 2500-3000, spark plugs at a minimum or a full tune-up at 10k-12k, belts and trans fluid at 50k. Most daily drivers didn't make it to the repeat service interval at 100k. Even if the car did get that far, the average driver didn't bother to keep up with the service at that point because the car was so close to being scrapped they just looked at it like throwing good money away on a vehicle that wasn't worth it. I'm just not used to trannies going beyond 100k before needing any service. My car being 12 years old now, still looks and drives like new, especially compared to the condition of some 10 year old cars I had back in the 80's, and I want to make sure it stays like that because I plan to keep it for a long time.

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[Timbuck]

I drive my car hard , and I think doing the trans is cheap. so do it once a year 20000kms. It takes an extra 30 mins while it on the hoist. remove the 20 small bolts on the sump and drop it off and replace the main filter and chuck it back on. Doing it this way there is residual oil in the converter. But you get like a 75% new Tran fluid. Sure some may think it’s over doing it and it probably is. But I do find tranny fluid isn’t bright clear red anymore and dull browny/red so it’s definitely had some life taken out of it. Even the smell and the lubricity between the fingers you can tell it’s has lost that slick feeling and feels watery if that makes sense. 6r80’s like clean solenoids so this is just easy preventative maintenance in my book. The whole lifetime oil thing that lots of car makers talk about if a load of BS. Just ask any automatic trans builder.