Transmission fluid change

Hello i am new to this... I have a 2005 Tacoma V6 SR5 Pre Runner. How do you perform a transmission drain and refill? I heard you have to take it to the dealership cause they have to have the vehicle plugged to a scanner to monitor the level and temperature...

also is it better to perform a flush or just a drain and refill, i heard flushes can actually cause more damage...

 

There is a diy thread on here. Try searching for it.

 

diy?

 

Do-It-Yourself

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/68462-diy-full-flush-automatic-transmission.html

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/63851-how-drain-refill-automatic-transmission.html

 

There you go! I'm on my phone so I can't help much!

 

Not sure what's meant by flush and why it would be different from a drain and fill, but I have read that changing auto fluid in tranny's with very high miles can be risky because the fresh fluid, high in detergents doing their job, can dislodge caked on deposits that clog the hydraulics. Auto tranny's don't have filtration 'per se', mostly only screens, and they pass particles more than large enough to do the job.

If youre fluid has been changed before, or the miles aren't that high, it's probably not much of a risk though.

 

I'll be replacing the total ATF capacity (aka flush) since the drain/refill is as involved as it is. That way I wont have to worry it about for another 60k.

 

Ive spoke to 3 different Toyota Dealerships now, they are telling me not to even touch my tranny because of the new detergents and stuff on the new fluid with actually go clean out the ol crud and start getting a slipping action in the tranny, they said don't touch it if it is a sealed transmission with WS fluid.

 

what ?/ how many miles you have ?

 

its an '05 with 110k......

 

My stealership will do the standard drain refill for $59.00. For the full flush it's $119.00.

 

Crom does yours have WS fluid? That is $110 cheaper than what mine quoted me..... thats weird

 

Jason, Thanks. I looked at the ad more closely and the ad was not for WS fluid. I called the stealership and spoke to an advisor who said it was $260 for a complete fluid exchange.

 

I gotta ask...how ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL is it that the temp be 46C to 56C?

I've been waiting to the tranny to cool down for the past 1.5 hours...my AT OIL TEMP light keeps on blinking everytime I run the diagnosic test. FWIW I started the drain/fill about 30 min after a 25 mile drive in town this AM.

I don't wanna be stuck under the truck forever....

 

It is very important. It takes quite a while for the ATF to cool - I also learned this the hard way once.

 

Haha, I wish I had changed this in wintertime or lived further north.

At any rate, the AT TEMP light finally turned steady...I hope I did it correctly. I didn't exactly get a small trickle when I removed the 5mm hex bolt, but a little fluid did come out. Drove home from my friend with a garage just fine though...

 

well from what i understand, a drain & refill is not the complete fluid therefore avoiding detergents... i spoke to a mechanic and what they do is drain about 3/4 of the fluid then refill. a flush or complete fluid exchange uses a machine that cycles all the old fluid out and puts new fluid in. i did a drain and refill about 30k now im around 85k....

as far as WS.. is that a canada thing? the dealership i went to told me i would need type T-IV... i live in southern california

 

Not a Canadian thing. WS is the latest standard for Automatic Transmissions from Toyota. It goes beyond the specs for T-IV. I don't know about older Tacoma's but my 2009 calls for WS type fluid.

 

Yeah they say it stands for "World Standard" and Crom did you see where I posted they told me not to even change mine since I have 110k? Said the detergents and stuff will clean out the old crud and make space in between the gears and get slipping.... I'm like so is my Tranny just F'ed lol? I am not having issues, just like to be on top of my fluids

 

Jason, you have much to learn, and that's OK.

First off, there is no such thing as a liftime ATF fluid ( or ANY auto fluid, for that matter). The additives are being used/broken down every time you drive. At 110k you need to get the old fluid out and some new stuff in. If I were you I would do a complete flush with either the Toyota WS fluid from the dealer or with some Red Line D6 fluid, which is superior to the WS fluid, in my opinion. You can buy Red Line online from many sources, including Amazon.

There is a very good ATF flush tutorial on this forum, in fact it's posted in this very thread in post #4. Just scroll up and click on it.

I have no idea why Toyota would tell you not to change the fluid at 100k, that's just plain ridiculous. Franky, hearing crap like that is why many of us avoid the dealers like the plague, and have learned to do many things on our own, including changing out the ATF.

BTW, from '05 on, any of the 5 or 6 speed auto trannies came with the WS fluid, but the 4 speed trannies ( like the one in my 06 standard cab ) came with the T-IV fluid. The trannies with WS fluid do not have a dipstick, the ones with T-IV do have a dipstick.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=images