How to Drain/Refill Automatic Transmission

Good I'll try this, when I did the service I ended up doing it twice to try and get as much new fluid mixed in as possible. And because I was nervous about the amount I let out. I don't really understand the slow trickle. Mine seemed to go into what I would consider a trickle fairly quickly and would continue to trickle for quite some time definitely not slow though. The first time I let it "trickle for close to a minute which was why I was concerned maybe I had let too much out and did it again.

 

I just let mine run out until it stops looking like a stream. When it's no longer running out fast, I stick the plug back in.

 

I'll give that a try this next time. If this is the way it's done, then I definitely know I let out too much. Thank you.

 

I just done this and I have to say great write up OP. I drained 2.5 qt and refilled with 3 qt and had some overflow as expected. I just have 1 concern and I'm hoping you guys can help me out. I'm somewhat mechanical and I've done most of my own maintenance. My truck had 186k and I noticed a small amount of metal flakes in the bottom of my drain pan. How concerned should I be?

 

Certainly if this is the first time the pan has been removed it is perfectly normal. There are magnets in the pan specifically to collect flakes that come off as a normal part of break in during the early life of the transmission.

 

Quick question. In my haste, i removed the AT Drain plug instead of the Oil drain. Unfortunately the fluid ran into a catch pan with other oil in it so I have no way of measuring the amount I drained. Since I just cleared 60k miles I figure I might as well drain and fill the pan. My question is does it matter if I mix AT fluid? i.e. OEM Toyota - ATF-WS and a 3rd party brand?

 

I mixed WS and Maxlife the last time. It's shifting great, I'm not worried about it. My truck has 80k, it was flushed at ~60k with WS via the cooler line. The factory fill was black, this time the WS that came out looked new with 20k and 4 years on it. That includes a lot of short stop and go trips and a lot of heavy towing.

If you're doing a drain and fill, drain the pan and put 3.5 quarts back, then do the temp check procedure, unless you have an ultragauge or scangauge, then you can pull the check plug between 97°-115° at the pan.

 

If you're at 60k you might ought to go ahead and do a cooler line flush, it's easy and that way you have almost all new fluid. I just did a drain and fill this time because the fluid was pretty fresh and looked good coming out of the pan. I also have a spin on remote filter to keep the contaminants down and remove the suspended clutch material from the fluid.

20k WS on the left, fresh Maxlife on the right.

 

Hi i got a bit of the new ATF WS fluid on the underbody of my truck, leaked a little when i filled it. Do i need to buy anythjng to clean the residue off? Besides wiping it with paper towels.... thanks.

 

I just use brake cleaner for most fluid spills and then hit a car wash with an underbody sprayer sometime in the next week or so. I keep a few cans of brake cleaner on hand for generic cleaning and stuff.

 

Rust prevention. Lol

 

Just picked up a 2011 Taco with around 31,000 miles on it and given a bit of blotting from a sample off the dipstick I'm going to go ahead and drain/fill some Toyota WS-ATF fluid.

Just wanted to confirm that I can fill through where my transmission dipstick goes? I've searched around my transmission to find a "fill" plug but only see the drain plug on the pan and no check plug, take it this is due to the fact mine has a dipstick.

Thanks!

 

If you have a dipstick, you have the 4-cyl. which doesn't have the tranny with the WS fluid. I believe that's the case anyway.

 

According to my lube guide, the A340E trans in the 4 cyl. uses Type IV.

 

Hmm, it does look like it takes Toyota Genuine ATF Type T-IV instead of the WS according to the 2011 Manual posted on Toyota's website.

 

This may be a stupid question but is there any downside to having a bit more fluid in the system than is needed? Like, if you've overfilled by half a quart, will anything bad happen?

 

So I did this today and my 2010 shifts like butter again. It desperately needed it thanks to the towing and plowing over the last year. Thanks OP!

Only one question, has anyone had the tranny check mode temp be lower than the 115-130F as originally posted? I thought I saw something about different updated numbers but couldn't find it again. I did the jumper method and used my obd-ii scanner and torque to confirm the temps. Torque was reading 98-100 degrees between the 2 sensors when the light came back on and the truck entered the 'correct temp range'.

 

Yes I believe people found later model years were 97-115 for the temp range.

 

Thought I read that somewhere. Thanks!

 

Seems like you could put the jug of fluid out in the sun for a few hours and it would get up to that temp.