why does Mr. Toyota say never change automatic transmission fluid?

OK

there are lots of DIY threads here about changing a/t fluid. my maintenance manual (came with with the truck) goes for 250,000 miles and never mentions the transmission fluid.

i am up to 95,000 miles and i have 5,000 miles to get the skinny....

not wishing to be coy, but...

?????

 

I have driven automatic Toyota's for Well Over 200K Miles without ever changing the transmission fluid. And never a problem.

With that being said, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't get it changed, or that you will not have any issues. As long as the fluid isn't burned I would recommend a flush at 100K miles just for General Principle and it should not hurt anything.

 

Toyota Dealership that I've used for the last 10 years say the same thing. Doesn't need to be changed. That said... I'll be changing it when the time comes.

 

I think Toyota revised the maintenance schedules and for my 09, now states that fluid change internal is 60K. Edit: looks like it's valid for those that tow...

http://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/omms/T-MMS-09Tacoma/xhtml/T-MMS-09Tacoma_0001.html?locale=en

 

There are lots of great threads out there. Here is what I have learned.
1. Toyota WS fluid May or may not be fully synthetic
2. Valvoline max life, and amsoil make WS rated fluid.
3. There are two preferred methods for changing
A. Drop and replace 3-4 quarts in the pan
B. full flush
4. There is no dipstick, so you need to have scangauge or similar trans temp readout
5. Not every asshole with their name on a shirt can do this (INCLUDING DEALERS!!!)
6. If you tow anything you should fully flush @ 50k
7. Regular driving 75k
8. A flush machine May or may not F up the trans, especially @ 100k interval.
9. Only use WS fluid and make sure you see what goes in if someone else does it!
Look up the Gearcruncher on the forum... That dude forgot more about these transmissions than we will ever know
The "never change it" stems from an EPA regulation not what's best for our trucks. Remember, toyota buys these transmissions and the mfg of these units suggests 35k changes!!!

 

I only drain and refill every 30k mls, that gets some of it out but by far not all - my taco is at 21k so I will do it next year...I added an additive at around 10k

 

I put toyota WS back in my sequoia. Taco will get a full flush @ 30k and everything will go amsoil except for Mobil one in the engine. I did the sequoia myself. It was tricky, but the next time will be cake.

 

From the irrelevant anecdotal evidence department:

I have a 2005 Toyota sedan with 170,000 miles on it that has never had a transmission fluid service. The grease monkeys at my local shop that do the engine oil religiously every 5,000 miles think I am nuts for not letting them change the transmission fluid.

 

Hey Lomez,you are right.
That is irrelevant.

 

I am going to backtrack. I think it is not irrelevant. Still anecdotal though.

 

Hardest part of doing the trans fluid is getting the truck into AT TEMP mode to check the level. It's just time consuming.

 

Just a side note...

The automatic transmission in the 2.7 liter engine has a dip stick.....

 

dont compare the loads a car sees to what many Tacomas will be exposed to. If you offroad especially climbing, tow or dont use the transmission they way it was designed you will beat the hell out of the oil. Remember all you have to do is over do it once and the oil is shot. I dumped my trans oil at 35k it looked fine, it was definitely over kill. Then I did a few drop the oil in the pan changes and it looked dark but with some red color. At 110K i did a flush and it looked like motor oil that had been run for 20K. Keep in mind I do a whole lot of slow climbing in 4x4 with much of that in low gear because you will burn the oil otherwise. If you use the truck the way I do and follow the 100k recommendation IMO you are playing with fire over an open pail of gasoline.

Also, please note that I did in fact check the viscosity of the oil using the good old fashion rub it between my fingers and I did a contaminant analysis by looking at the oil through a plastic bottle. Doesn't get more anecdotal than that.

 

Most any transmission will last at least 200,000 with the oil that came from the factory. Just leave it alone and drive it. If you've gone close to 100,000 or more and change it at this point you'll do more damage than good. Most transmissions with new oil at that point die shortly after. If you do want to change it, start it at about 30,000 and then you must do it every 30,000 or you're screwed.

Realistically, it is about a wash financially. As said, factory oil is good for at least 200,000. Changing it regularly MIGHT add maybe 50,000 miles, but that is about $1,000 worth of oil changes. $1,000 is a lot just to get a few extra miles out of the transmission.

 

Threads like this scare me into thinking I should get my tras fluid changed at the dealer so that if it does I can play the blame game....why the heck are transmissions sensitive to oil viscosity

 

My boss once told me (he's a Pontiac guy, and not into trucks at all, but still knows his stuff) that when he changes trans fluid he keeps half of the old fluid and only replaced it with half new fluid. He says that's how you keep transmissions from dieing...anyone ever heard of this?

 

Oil goes bad for many reasons. You can either do a full flush or remove a few quarts out of the pan and replace with new every so often. Burnt oil will leave deposits and varnish. New oil will clean that out and kick up all the contaminants and circulate it through the system causing problems by clogging up lines, sticking up servos and trashing other components. If you change regularly and the oil hasn't been oxidized you are fine to change all the times you want. Once oil is overheated beyond its capacity it will degrade. Adding new oil buys time but the best is to do a flush unless, like I said before, the oil is so far gone it has oxidized and deposited varnish on the components then kicking it all up will speed up the destructive process with in the trans.

 

if factory oil is good for 200k then why does Toyota list maintenance at 100K and then revised that figure down to 60K. Do what the manual says and dont try to second guess the maintenance schedule developed by the manufacturer unless you want to increase the interval due to severe service conditions. They designed it and they know what is ok and not ok (most of the time). Like I said I dumped mine at 35K and it was still good. Then i dumped what was in the oil pan. Looked used then again shortly afterwards and it looked pretty burnt. I decided to do a full flush and it was nasty. That was about 10K miles ago and it is still running strong.

 

I have, it's called a rotation drain. You drain what comes out - measure - refill with that amt.

This is how it works(or did) in 4 cyl Accords. 6 qt. system - 3 drain when you pull the plug. Refill with 3. Car had 375,000 miles on it when I sold it.

Did the same with a 1st Gen Tacoma and now have right at 200,000 miles on an Avalon going this route. Not saying this is what anyone should do, just saying it's what I've been doing for many years and it's yet to fail me.

Only car I ever owned that had a converter and pan drain plug was an early 90s Mercedes.

 

How often are you doing this. I am thinking of going this rout every 15k miles. A full flush is kindof a PIA