How to Drain/Refill Automatic Transmission

Going to be just a piece of wire for me.

 

Question: could I possibly have drained more fluid because the fluid was between 115-130°? I drained it while it was cold. Warmed it up and did the fluid check. This fluid expand, no?

 

Help! I've been trying to get my 2007 tacoma trd sport (auto trans) into A/T Temp mode and can't get the light to come on. I have jumped the 4 and 13 ports and done everything else outlined in the procedures above. When I put the shifter to N, the A/T Temp light comes on for two seconds, and after shifting the 6 times it comes on once more for two seconds, and when I put the shifter back into park in comes on again for two seconds and goes off. I assume it's in A/T Temp mode, so I wait, and wait and it never comes back on. I've waited for up to half an hour. Can anyone help me with this, am I doing something wrong? Thanks in advance.

 

Sounds like you did it correctly except the tranny fluid must not be in the correct temperature, try driving it a few miles then try again. When I did mine it came on solid illuminated right away, but the outside temperature was 75-80 degrees and maybe it makes a difference. Well back than I continued with the procedure and it's been 1.5 years now and still running good with no tranny issues.

 

Thank you Fortech (OP) for this write-up! I did this for the first time this weekend, and it went flawlessly; even though I felt a little like a teenager doing his first oil change ever, hoping not to blow up the car. I will say, for my truck, I wasn't able to get into AT Temp mode using the N to D. For some reason, it worked by going from N to D to 4, all in one motion, three times. Don't know why, but it did.

 

Question for those who have done this multiple times, do you feel like you're draining more of the old or new fluid? I'd like to do this again in a couple thousand miles, but im wondering if I'll just end up draining the same new stuff.

 

It's a fractions game. The new mixes with the old and there is more old than new up to a certain point.

 

The fluid does not stay in one area it circulates from tranny to radiator cooling system and back to tranny via internal pump. Once you mix it up it all becomes the same. If you don't off-road or pull anything heavy you don't need to replace it for 100-150k miles , IMO. I didn't do mine until 145k and the truck was running good before I replaced the fluid and is still running the same afterwards. The original fluid did not come out dirty or smell burned either.

 

If you are above temp check than yes you will lose more fluid than you should
Than again you are in SC so your truck will not see some crazy low temps.
I actually did my fluid check on Cold transmission. just to make sure I have extra level when is -14F outside.
But if you live where temps are consistently above freezing mark you can probably have more removed and still not suck air into gearbox.

 

I was at the recommended operating temperature to perform a fluid check. I did drain the fluid at ambient temperature though. Then I warmed it up after I replaced what was drained out. Then, performed the level check in which .2 more quarts came out than I originally put in. Could that be because I drained it while "cold"? What are symptoms of air getting sucked in the pump? Should I even be concerned that slightly more drained out during the check?

 

q

sounds like you did it correctly. I believe the fluid expands when it warms up and so a little more comes out during your final level check. That's why you do that step at the end and you do the fluid drain and refill, and then flush, refill, flush, refill.....until you put in the 12 quarts from a cold start. You only turn the truck on for 7 seconds to pump out 2.5-3 quarts at a time and not enough to warm up the fluid in that process. For those folks who plan on doing this for the first time I found out that by writing things down in a procedure like steps and fallow that very cautiously and flawless you cant' go wrong. I read through my procedure twice before I even started and had everything laid out ready to go the only thing that failed me was the cheap pump recommended here it starts to leak after the 8th-9th quart and the fluid is nasty stuff.

 

Have changed out the old fluid, now I can't get my 2012 Sport 6cyl to go into Temp check mode. My insterment panel seems not to have the AT TEMP in it. Any thoughts? Truck just sitting here, have tried several times to get into check mode, no dice. No I just checked again, right when I turn the key on the is a AT TEMP light, what am I doing so wrong, OBD #4 on the top, #13 on the bottom. Had to trim wires off jumper to fit in OBD port, stranded, should I use solid wire? Helpplease...
Can get the AT TEMP light to illuminate when doing the shifts between N and D, but it dosn't come on when put into park. I'll let it idle for 10-14 mins and look for light, then check fluid anyhow.

 

Had the light on after 10 mins of idling, took out fluid check drain plug, and got nothing. Put in a quart and a half, drained and filled the diffs and transfer case. Went to check trans fluid level, and it wont show the AT TEMP light at all now, nothing. So how do I know how much fluid I really have in there?

 

Pretty much exactly this. The easiest way in my opinion (though not technically "correct" per the FSM) to service these auto trans is to do it with the trans and replacement fluid cold. I usually sit the replacement fluid under the truck for a couple hours before doing the change to ensure they are pretty much the same temperature. Then I just measure what comes out and replace that amount. I never bother with turning the truck on, warming up, or temp check mode.

Transmissions aren't as forgiving about incorrect fill levels as, say, an engine (where you can be off a quart or two and still be ok), but you have some leeway for error. Usually anything less than a quart off spec won't hurt anything and won't cause any operational problems.

 

So what the hell are you supposed to do when you can't get the truck to enter AT TEMP mode?

 

Read my post, post #485. It may work for you as well.

 

Thank you for the reply, but alas, I had read that and have tried it, several times. Have not been able to have the AT TEMP light up but once, and I didn't have enough fluid, as none came out with light on after long idle. Timed it as some one had said, 10 - 14 mins. Had fluid come out then down to " small trickle ". Don't know if it's right, but close enough.

 

Thank you so much for posting this write-up. I just went back to my records and noticed only 2.6 QTS came out when I did my flush. I realized I had spilled about 0.3 QTS so there was only 2.3 QTS that went back in when I did this 6mo/7k miles ago. Based on the 3QTS your write-up says there should have been from the factory, I immediately poured another QT in and nothing came out of the overflow. I cycled through the gears and let the engine run for a while before checking the overflow plug. I poured another 0.4 QTS in and then 0.2QTS came out of the overflow. So I think there should have been around 3.3 QTS right from the factory but they screwed me over like many others. I made sure I was at the right temp (not blinking/constant ON). I feel much safer now riding for the remaining 53k miles before I have to make this change again.

Thanks a million!

 

Ok so I drained mine it's 08 prerunner v6. 2 quarts drained out. I pumped three in the thing but a bunch drained out when I removed the overflow and I let that go I shut the engine off and more drained out of the overflow? I'm lost I followed the instructions any advice would be helpful.

 

The engine needs to be running when you are checking the overflow. Also make sure you are at the proper temp by being in AT Temp Check mode.