DIY: Full Flush for Automatic Transmission

Toyota recommends using Genuine Toyota ATF WS Fluid

 

Meh again there are a lot of better options, Toyota probably recommends their oil and filters too lol.

 

Hoping to do this soon as I'm at about 63k miles. Using the Valvoline fluid and ordered all new crush washers.

 

Dont care what fluid you guys use as long as you change it on a very regular basis.....at minimum 35K . Max life is fine if not better than WS even if Toyota has a beef with max life .
Waste 45 minutes of your life watching the webinar and you will understand why I push for more frequent fluid changes .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMMTlQPZmqs

 

Here's an article I read in the latest Blackstone newsletter. Food for thought on "Lifetime Transmission oil" Mind you I did flush out my trans at 60k (Maxlife - because of this thread) and the fluid didn't look too bad even though I tow a RV trailer occasionally and it still shifts like new (84k mi on her now) Looks like the biggest thing is making sure its at the proper level and consequently not getting too hot. Explains why most folks get away with having a car/truck for 6-8 years and never touch it. I still say as long as you know you got the proper fluid and you plan on keeping it a long time change it or at least check it occasionally! Better yet if you can get 2-3oz out of it send to Blackstone for analysis. They'll tell you if it needs changing. That's what I'm going to do in a year or two.

“Lifetime” transmission oil The early 2000s brought about the rise of “lifetime” transmission fluids, which sparked a lot of debate about what that meant and how it could even be possible. The idea that there is a fluid in your vehicle that never needs to be changed goes against some people’s religion, and I'll admit it was a little difficult to understand at first. My 2003 Volkswagen Passat had that type of transmission, and it didn’t even have a dipstick. The lifetime of that transmission for me was 91,000 miles (that’s when I sold the car) and I will admit I never had any problems with it. Still, it just seems wrong not to change the transmission fluid every now and then. Up until that point, I had always regularly changed the transmission fluid in my cars and trucks, but after a lot of thought on the subject, I'm starting to wonder if that's really necessary. For a lot of vehicles, changing the transmission oil could cause more problems than it could help, due to the possibility of the wrong oil being used to refill it. Also, it's quite possible that the wear accumulation in transmission oil doesn't have the same abrasive affect that it does in engines. To demonstrate this, I'd like to show you the first Figure 4: First sample from my ‘84 Chevy’s transmission When I first bought this truck in 1999, I took a sample from the transmission and was sickened by the amount of metal that was present (see Figure 4). I immediately changed the oil several times myself and then got in the habit of having a shop change it every year or so. I expected that thing to give up the ghost at any moment and just hoped I wasn't far out of town when it happened. The funny things is, it's still running to this very day. Now maybe all of the oil changes that I did early on made that possible, but at this point I'm leaning towards another explanation: transmissions can make a lot of metal and still be perfectly normal. I think that's because the oil in transmissions has a significantly different life than engine oil does. Transmission oils are mainly used as a hydraulic fluid to shift the gears though an ingenious invention called the valve body. This is like a circuit board that uses oil rather than electricity, and apparently the cleanliness of the oil doesn't much affect its operation. Sure the oil also lubricates the gears, but as far as an oil's jobs go, that's one of the easiest things for it to do. The oil really doesn't even have to be very clean to do that job well. So if the cleanliness of the oil isn't that critical, then lifetime transmission oils start to make sense. It has been our experience that what kills most transmissions is heat. If the oil gets too hot it actually loses its viscosity and is no longer able to lubricate properly, which in turn causes more heat and eventually a total failure. What's the number-one cause of the oil becoming too hot? Oil volume lost due to a leak. With less oil circulating through the system, the remaining oil is stretched thinner (so to speak) and gets hot faster. It’s a vicious cycle, one to avoid if possible. So in closing, if you have a “lifetime transmission oil,” rest easy — there is probably no need to worry about changing it. You'll likely get sick of looking at the vehicle before the tranny dies. However, if you notice your transmission starting to leak oil, that's the time you'll want to have it fixed because its lifetime will quickly expire if you don't. Just be sure they put the right oil back in! © Copyright Blackstone Labortories, Inc. 2019
In case you dont know about Blackstone Labs they are one of the leaders in oil analysis and highly regarded in the industry.

 

WT* is BG fluid? Also $114 for the fluid and $194 OTD is not bad- try BMW trans fluid at $25+/qt and I don't substitute there.

 

Great write up, added to the list.

 

What time should I come over?

 

https://www.bgprod.com/https://www.bgprod.com/

 

Yeah...no. I fell for that trick the 1st 12 times.

 

I’ll try to do this tomorrow.

 

so im confused on the step 5 third pic. red arrow points to drivers side sayin its where u disconnect for other drain when cranking. then when clear tube is inserted and he drains it is on the passengers side. which side do we disconnect under the radiator or does it matter?

 

@jtaco In the pic it look like the lines are side by side, but they are more so above each other. Once you identify the hose with the return ATF to the tranny, that's the hose you pull off the radiator.

 

yea i see the return atf is more so to the top/above. i know which one that is. but his step 5 in third pic says disconnect on drivers side(red arrows point to drivers side). then, when he disconnects and connects clear tube it shows doing that on the passengers side. so thats confusing, is it drivers side or passengers side that we are to disconnect when cranking engine to drain the return??

 

^^^
Passenger side bottom line is the "pump" line. Top line is the return. Both on passenger side.

 

The other thing the transmission fluid replacement did for me was it eliminated my clunk when sitting at stop lights. Anybody else notice this after doing the fluid change?

 

so passenger side return is where we disconnect to crank and drain ,not drivers side?

 

I did mine drivers side, lines to the tranny cooler

 

I recently completed tranny fluid flush on both my Taco and 200 Land Cruiser. In both cases I decided to drop the pan and the filter. You get extra 1-1.5qt out by doing so.

I also bought Mityvac pump with Toyota specific adapter which made pumping in new fluid into the tranny a breeze:

$191 Mityvac MV6400 Fluid Dispensing System for Filling or Topping Fluids, 1.2 Gallon Reservoir, Manual Pump, Pressure Gauge and Relief Valve, Auto-shutoff Valves, 5' Hose with Flow Control Valve

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004IKM57Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

$29 Mityvac MVA581 ATF Refill Adapter

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JLGYJ7O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Nice, very similar to the Walmart pump sprayer.