3rd Gen Transmission Fluid level Check

They get paid by Toyota. Anyways, good luck.

 

I don't care who pays them, as long as it's not my money. All the dealers are scummy.

 

Dealerships dont want to check your transmission fluid before they sell you the truck because it takes too much time to do it properly.The technicians are only given a couple hours to check over your truck after it comes from the factory
Dealerships dont want to check your transmission fluid after they sell you the truck under warranty because it takes too much time and its difficult to reproduce your low fluid complaints . The dealership has a difficult time trying to claim warranty payment for the technician they put on your truck to check the fluid for 2 hours
As much as I hate to say it , get corporate involved before you take your truck in . This way the dealer has to check your fluid level and it provides Toyota with a track record that they are making a massive mistake .
If corporate gets enough complaints , hopefully they will release a TSB .
Essentially , you guys are plowing the way for the next owner so he doesn't have to go through this crap when he starts to experience symptoms of low fluid levels .
As unfortunate as it may be , this is how Toyota rolls . Truly a sad situation

 

Well if that's the way Toyota does it I'll just go back to owning a Subaru. Got incredible customer service with them both at the dealerships and at a corporate level.

 

Its only a matter of time .
I see a law suit coming because of the low fluid condition .
Eventually one of you guys are going to use this as evidence in a court trial .
There is enough evidence in the poll as of today to justify that Toyota has an issue .
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...be-low-on-fluid-directly-from-factory.405642/
Its only a matter of time before your truck doesn't move to get out of the way .
4 years of low fluid and they still haven't done anything to rectify the problem

 

ATF Low???

Took my '16 Taco Sport in for an oil change at 1500 miles (forgive me but I am trying to break my "old school" habits). I requested the Service agent to have the ATF levels checked as well. Took my own oil (Penzoil Platinum) and filter. They advised me that it would cost me nothing under warranty, but I declined to use one of my two "free" oil changes and paid for the service myself (only $17.99) When informed that my vehicle was ready, I asked the "Technician" who performed the service about the status of my tranny fluid. He advised me that he was only an oil change Tech and permitted to change engine oil/filter, w/w fluid, brake fluid levels and rotate tires. He was not authorized to perform any other mechanical service. He was taught that the tranny was a sealed unit and did not know how to check it or if it could be checked. Besides, it would require a "qualified" mechanic since it was not readily accessible under the hood. I wonder if Toyota requires an electrical engineer to change out light bulbs? Perhaps this is why so many of us Taco owners are having issues getting decent service. I realize that today's economics do not afford dealerships the luxury of having mechanics do oil changes, but surely the oil change technicians are competent enough to warm up the engine so that a "qualified" mechanic would only have to remove/replace two plugs and adjust ATF levels as necessary. I guess this will fall into the "DIY" category. Already completed my OJT as an electrical engineer - replaced all interior, back-up and Tag lights with LEDs and strung LEDs in the bed. One question though, Can you get the proper temp using a ScanGauge II rather than the "Christmas Tree lights"?

 

Good question and it has come up in the past .
Scan gauge ?
Does it show transmission temp , yes . Is it worthwhile using a scan gauge to monitor transmission temp ? absolutely
Does it go through the same transmission temp procedure as jumping the pins on the OBD2 connector and following Toyota,s fluid check guidelines?
I dont believe they are the same animal .
You have 2 transmission temp sensors inside the pan . Using the scan gauge only uses 1 of the two sensors while the sequence used by Toyota uses both .
If you are checking the transmission fluid using the scan gauge , why not try both ?
Put the transmission into temp mode and verify that your scan gauge shows the same temp
On another low fluid post today , we heard a Toyota technician was sprayed with transmission fluid . The reason Toyota wants you to check the fluid at a lower temp is for safety . I dont want to see anyone get burned .

 

Splendid idea! This may solve some interesting questions I have seen in this thread and make the process much easier. I have used the ScanGauge on both my 2012 and 2016, not to mention my 01 Duramax and my 08 Miata. Great gauge providing loads of information on what the engine is doing.

 

I agree with your purchases .
I own both a scan gauge and an Ultra gauge . Cheap insurance when you are towing

 

OK so lets go back to whats happening
We know some trucks are low
Does Mexico use the metric system ?
I know USA does not
Aisn Seiki tells toyota that it takes so many liters of fluid to fill the transmission
I have seen incorrect conversion tables in the past . Actually caused aircraft to crash
A quart and a half low is a lot of fluid to be short . This is how much most members are reporting
A quart and a half is much more than the complete cooling system will hold whether you have the tow package or not .
Thats too much fluid to be short and in my opinion is not the reason your trucks are low
When your truck is at the factory , everything is empty . I believe Aisn Seiki does test the transmission before the transmission ships to Toyota
The complete cooling system for the transmission is above the transmission level check plug and you have a mechanical thermostat in the mix .
What is the factory doing that causes these trucks to be soooo low on fluid ?
please pass on some opinions ?

 

Supposed to be a bit nicer today, anyone have pics of fill hole and drain hole?

Does we have to jump the circuit or can we just warm it up, open the drain hole
and if a bit runs out we're good?

 

First pic is fill hole on passenger side. Second is check hole on driver side of pan.

 

thx!!

so from what I'm seeing, opening the check hole on the drivers side of pan, if
ATF dribbles out all is should be good. Engine has to be warm for a proper check before
opening the check hole? 5 minutes of idle run enough?

I thought I read this was a bigger process to check and that fuses had to be "jumped"
for a proper level reading?

 

Yes there is a procedure to check that the transmission is at the proper temperature.

Check this post.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...e-low-trans-fluid.407484/page-2#post-11450582

 

Are all of the trucks that are low equipped with the tow package?

 

I believe they install the "sealed" trans at the factory full, but aren't accounting for the air in the lines and tranny cooler!

 

It is possible to check the AT fluid while the engine and tranny are hot at operating temperature, built it requires some special tools which Toyota themselves came up with. This mechanic in this video demonstrates this. It significantly reduces the time to check.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNcecuGzTDg


Basically, a special vacuum fitting is attached to the fill hole applying a vacuum to the AT case preventing the hot fluid from coming out when the drain/check plug is removed. A special tube is screwed into the drain hole with an adjustable height drain so it can be set based on engine temp not the lower 95-114 F temp.

Bottom line, it is possible for a properly qualified dealer to be able to check the transmission fluid hot that has the right tools. If they have to wait for the 95-114 F temp range, that tells me the service center at the dealer does not keep up and equip themselves with the proper equipment. All Toyota AT these days require the same type of fluid check procedures (no dip stick).

In my opinion, a service center who can't check the AT hot, because they lack these tools that Toyota themselves came up with is one to stay away from, since they are behind the times and probably are too "cheap" to properly train and equip the shop.

 

When did this change? My '13 has a dipstick (4 cylinder)

 

there are 2 different auto,s for 2005 - 2015
The aisn warner A340 series is a 4 speed auto used with 4 cylinder engines and some small 6 cylinder engines and it has a fill tube
You can read about your 4 speed auto here https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...sions-write-up-your-4-speed-automatic.325531/

The aisn seiki A750 series is a 5 speed used with the 4 liter engine and has no filler tube
You can read about your 5 speed auto here
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...th-pics-for-second-gen-4-liter-trucks.289913/

 

Incredibly frustrating to me that Toyota did not use a dipstick(again) . I am pretty anal with my maintenance and fluid checks are something I do often on my 03.