Manual Transmission Lube Change Interval

I have gone through the entire warranty guide for my 2011 4-WD Tacoma with the 4-Cyl engine and Manual 5-Speed transmission. The manual ends at 120k miles.

Nowhere in there does it say that I should change the tranny, differential, or tx case oil. The only mention is every 30k it says to Replace rear differential oil (Prerunner and 4WD vehicles with optional limited slip differential only)

I do not have the Prerunner, and I am pretty sure I do not have the LSD.

Am I reading this right? It doesn't seem prudent not to change these fluids, unless things have drastically changed since my last vehicle.

 

I do mine every 30k. Rear diff, transfer case, manual tranny, front diff. My maintenance manual says 30k for more extreme situations, but I change it anyway. Diff fluids are definitely dirty by 30k miles.

 

Yeah, change all of your 4WD driveline fluids every 30k miles if you're using conventional. If you're using synthetic like Mobil 1, Amsoil, Redline you can double that easily. I've used Amsoil 75-90 for many years and I'll go 10 years/100k miles, which is their recommended change interval for normal use.

Give those grease zerks on the driveline a pump or two of chassis lube every oil change. If you take it to a shop to have oil changes done, they sure won't do it so you have to do it yourself.

 

Spicer u-joints (oem) are supposed to be purged of all old grease from every trunnion cap when greased, so it's more like 5 pumps.

Definitely a 30k job for the oils in my book. Toyota is just trying to get that "100k miles no scheduled maintenance" bit. Yeah, they don't have to foot the bill for problems at that mileage either.

Also no LSD for 2009+ unless the dealer replaced your third with one (happened to someone on here).

 

Look again if you tow. 30K

 

I was talking 100k miles normal use. 60k if you tow a lot.

 

If you want a good reference, the Canadian maintenance booklet for 2010 and earlier says to replace manual transmission fluid every 48 mo. / 40,000 mi under normal conditions and 24 mo. / 20,000 mi for "special" condition. 2011+ booklets follow the US verbiage.

 

30k

 

my 2013 says every 30000 miles change all fluids.20000 if you tow.as much as you can afford if you drive like me.

 

That Honda 4WD with a trailer behind it and a bed full of bricks?

 

The gear oil has additives and corrosion inhibitors that break down with time, too. Viscosity may also change. For example, 75W90 oil may degrade to behave like straight 75-weight oil, becoming too thin when it reaches operating temperature. Wonder if anyone sent gear oil to Blackstone for analysis on BITOG.

BTW, does clutch replacement require the gear oil to be drained?

 

^Interesting. The FSM's clutch removal procedure says to remove the transmission, which in turn says (see page MT-6) to drain the oil first. I wonder if Toyota is expecting the clutch to wear down faster than the oil can degrade, such that the oil gets replaced anyway.

 

If you are not going through water past the seals change every 60000 unless you are towing all the time then 30000..

 

That's my point some thing like that should never need a change it doesn't have to work hard.

 

BTW, Honda recommends 60k change interval for the Civic.

 

You are super lucky; modern Honda MTF starts off about 20w, and it's been shown to shear to 10w or thinner after 30k miles in some trannies. Some blame the occasional input shaft bearing failures on not changing the oil (it's the first bearing to go dry if the oil level drops as it's not fed by the splash oil going through the mainshaft). I think more were killed by putting 80w90 into the trannies though.

I don't know why you wouldn't change it out at the recommended intervals or better. Honda MTF isn't even synthetic. It's only about $8 a quart. On my Civic back in the day I'd spend the $16 and change it once a year after I had to tear it all apart to replace that daggum bearing at 130k. No one changed the oil in the first 94k miles before I bought it.

 

For many years US made standards use ATF.

 

I use Redline MT90 (GL-4) in my tranny & transfer case, Redline 75W90ns (GL-5 without LSD additive) for the front & rear differentials. I change every 45k and I don't tow. I just turned 200k miles and have ZERO noise, whine or anything else coming from any of the drive train and I grease the driveline zerks with a synthetic every oil change. I don't know what is best, but that's what I've done and at 200,150 miles it's driving like the day I bought it.

EDIT: I'm at 224,500 and it still shifts and drives like new - it's still on the original clutch, too. No leaks, no squeaks, and replaced the Bilstein 4600s last summer, so the ride is excellent again. Take care of these trucks and they take care of you.