an impending ed threshold value in step 208 to determine whether a clutch failure is impending i e longer term the impending ed threshold is less than the imminent ed threshold if the current clutch ed is not greater than the impending ed threshold control continues in step 212 if the current clutch ed is greater than the impending ed threshold control issues an impending failure alert in step 214 and ends in step 212 control determines whether the average clutch ed exceeds an average ed threshold if the average clutch ed is less than the average ed threshold control ends if the average clutch ed is greater than the average ed threshold control issues a maintenance alert in step 216 the imminent failure alert impending failure alert and maintenance alert can each be visual audible or both in a further aspect of the present invention the clutch energy densities ed for each clutch c 1 c 2 c 3 c 4 and c 5 over a selected number of range shifts or driving time can be summed to provide a cumulative clutch ed the cumulative clutch ed can be compared to a cumulative clutch ed threshold to provide warnings for diagnostic purposes the cumulative clutch ed can be stored in memory and can be used to provide historical data for the performance of the transmission fluid and the automatic transmission 110 it is also.