How to Drain/Refill Automatic Transmission

I am having trouble getting into temp check mode in my 2006 Tacoma TRD off-road pre runner v6. Once the AT temp light comes on it just blinks. It never comes on for 2 seconds and then goes off. After it comes on and just blinks I put it into park and it continues to blink. I let it idle for 20 min and it just kept blinking. I tried multiple times, and let the truck sit 2 hours or me between tries. Any ideas here?

 

Just did a drain and fill on mine, I went to Harbor Freight and picked up this bad boy. It made quick work filling 3qts. Not a drop spilled either!!!
It comes with 2 long tubes 1 In and 1 Out. I connected one to the filler and the other to the 4 qt bottle and pumped it, it took less than 3 minutes for 3 quarts..
I highly recommend this! normally 15 bucks but HF had a sale and I got it for 5.

 

I just wanted to check/add fluid if needed because It leaked when I pulled the slip yoke twice plus I read that it was low from fatory. I followed the instruction (Thx OP) and yes, I had to shift a lot faster than shown in the video. In my case, the AT Temp light came up and stayed lit without going off after 2 sec. After shifting back to P, it still stayed lit. I was confused and shut off the engine and waited. Tried again and the same thing happened. I decided to continue with the check/add thinking the temp was correct due to warm weather (75-80). From what I observed, it was filled probably about 1/4 to 1/3 quart low from factory.

For Prerunner TRD Sport with towing, the AT Temp light will not light up with the key turn on but it's there, on the low right hand corner. Use a flash light pointed at an angle and you'll see it.

 

Mr. Fortech, thanks, excellent posting. Used this method on my wifes 2008 4 Runner 4x4 which was traded on a 2015 4 Runner 4x4 with now 15k miles. Lots of heavy mountain towing. Anyone know if this the same procedure on the 2015? I see the 4/13 jumper still a socket under the dash like the old one. UTF was fluid black and dirty at 30K. May shorten the service interval, $100 in UTF worth the try, high service = low failures. Toyota dealer trans service only drains the sump only like 2 something qts only 1/4 replaced for around $150, lesson learned. Figured it out at the parts counter, as they sell only a couple qts to the service side of the dealership. AAAdirt

 

Watch this guy do a drain and fill. Personally I would have found which line dumps & which line fills. After finding that. Drain what I could at the drain plug, drop & clean pan install new filter. Replace pan and fill with 5 quarts, then run engine to pump out the rest of the old fluid. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WngXE_7vg-Q

 

I asked this over in the Ultragauge forum but didnt receive any responses so i thought i would try here. My ultragauge can read transmission temps, but i wasnt sure if there were multiple temp sensors on the transmission. So in essence, is the temp reading on the ultragauge/scangauge/ torque app the same that the temp check mode would monitor?

 

If it's the pan temp, it should be. The newer one's also have a sensor for the TC fluid temp, which is not the one you want.

 

well thats my question, which temp is the UG reading? pan or TC?

 

Can't help then, I have an SG, and I have an 09 which is pan temp only.

Only thought I have is if it's the TC temp, if you put it in D, hold the brake and give it about 2k rpms, the TC temp should go up quite quickly, pan temp would go up, but much slower.

 

Depending on your year, model, and what options. You're going to have go to the dealer and ask someone who works on transmissions. Use to be the cooling line would go to the radiator and ether warm up or cool down along with the engine temperature. In which depending on what the engine thermostat is set for. I wouldn't worry about being precise about this, a ball park + or - 10% should be good enough when using ultragauge/

$160 ScanGauge - SG2 II Ultra Compact 3-in-1 Automotive Computer with Customizable Real-Time Fuel Economy Digital Gauges , Black , 5"

scangauge/ torque app. I have a Subaru Crosstrek and had the Dealership do a transmission fluid flush even though I didn't really need it. The book said about 109 degrees to check fluid level. As the mechanic who was flushing the fluid out of the transmission I asked him about this. His reply was there isn't any type of check just fill it to the bottom of the fill hole. I assume all the cars that come into the shop are already up to temperature, in addition you're pouring in cold fluid in so does it really matter? Then maybe the mechanic was a jerk, but for some reason I believe him. Getting it in the ballpark should be close enough.

 

If you're not replacing the fluid, can I just top off the fluid until it drips out slightly? My rear seal had leaked for years, so now I think it's low.

 

You should look at your owners manual, if you can find it.

 

Thanks for the DIY. I own a 2012 PreRunner 2WD. Yes, it does have the AT Temp Light and I managed to get it to illuminate during the process. Took me a little while when doing the shift sequence, but managed to get it to come on after going through the N-D-4 sequence fairly fast. Tested with the overflow after that and the instructions helped immensely. My dealer provided the Toyota ATF WS at $7.99 each. Much cheaper than Amazon or anywhere else online. Thanks again.

 

Thanks for the DIY! I just picked up my first taco recently, and have been holding off on the transmission fluid until I get my scangauge back. But over the weekend I started experiencing hard shifts occasionally, and decided not to risk waiting on that. I did a single drain and fill this afternoon and when I went for my test drive afterwards it shifted smooth as butter! The ATF that came out was black as the night sky. What's a little concerning though was when I opened the check bolt I noticed metal shavings coming out :/ I'm going to drop the pan in a couple days, and clean the magnets. Hopefully I caught this early enough that the damage isn't too severe.

 

So instead of putting the truck into temp check mode, you just read the sensor temp? That sounds much easier.

 

Temp check mode is pretty easy too, once you get the hang of it. I honestly don't think it would have saved me more than a few seconds to use the scangauge.

 

I just went ahead and purchased the obd II reader. It can be used for other things and was only $19.

 

Yep. I didn't want to jab a jumper wire into the OBDII port.

 

Had question. Did my drain and fill but my problem was when I was putting the drain bolt back. I put on a new washer and tried to torque it down to 20ft-lbs... yet my torque wrench wouldn't get up to that torque. It felt like the bolt was just kept spinning. I felt the washer crush and everything so I'm not sure what happened..

Everything else torqued fine. Overfill at 15ftlb and fill plug at 29ftlb.

 

Hopefully you haven't put any fluid back in yet. Remove the plug and make sure you didn't cross thread the drain plug.