1st Transmission fluid change at 123k ?

Op,

170k on my 08, never changed ATF. No issues whatsoever. Save your $ and time.

 

I'm attaching pics from my 2014 maintenance guide. As you can see there is no factory maintenance interval for "replacing" trasmission fluid under normal driving conditions in my manual. The only time my maintenance guide mentions Transmission fluid at all is at the 60k and 120k interval, and even then it's not a normal "replace" maintenance. It clearly says under "Additional Maintenace Items for Special Operating Conditions" - "Perform these service items ONLY if you drive primarily under the conditions indicated" - and the conditions are " Driving while towing, using a car top carrier, or heavy vehicle loading". So if you drive primarily under those conditions then it would be time to replace transmission fluid or oil.

However, I do not drive under any of those "Special Operating Conditions" and that's why I personally am not changing it. I'm not saying changing it is wrong or right. If I would have changed it at 60k (my dealer didn't tell me to 60k and again it's not in my maintenance guide) then I would have no problem changing it now at 123k. However, if you google transmission flush on high mileage vehicles you can read that there are a ton of people who instantly had problems after doing this, some even on this forum, which is why I believe most on here are recommending the drain and fill DIY over the flush.

@muddog321



Sorry, not sure why the second pic is sideways.

 

Your fine, The only reason I did mine was it was reported that trucks with tow packages were a little low from the factory. Sure enough mine was about 3/4 qts low. It was a piece of mind for me.

 

WS isn’t a magical fluid. It’s oil. Toyota has been progressively decreasing the recommended service interval for the transmission since 2005.

A regularly scheduled transmission fluid change will do nothing but help your truck.

This website is obsessed with 5k intervals on oil and 30k on diffs... but then goes “meh... I’ll probably just leave the WS in there for 300k or so....”

Do what you want - I just find the dichotomy to be amusing.

 

Cool story.. I’ll just continue to follow my Toyota maintenance Guide.

 

Thanks to TW I did a pan drop/filter change/full flush at 125,000. It was easy and the fluid was pretty dirty. I am happy to have done it. Cost was about $100 for the Valvoline MaxLift synthetic ATF and $25 for a filter and gasket. Well worth it IMHO.

 

Tires have tread indicators that tell us when to change them out. I have some tires that are 19 years old and have plenty of tread left, should be good to go right?

 

BG makes good products.

The Toyota fluid used to be considered lifetime. Not sure today it’s the same rating. However any fluid ran long enough will break down and get dirty. Most normal driving conditions the fluid will last the life of the tranny. However if you want to try to extend that life doing a change or two won’t hurt. Changing fluid isn’t going to make a mechanical component fail. Unless of course you refilled with the wrong amount. I don’t keep my vehicles long enough to hit that kind of mileage but if I did around 100k-150k for sure I would replace my ATF

 

I’ve done lots of research, even spoken to an engineer who designed engines and transmissions in the late 90s. Everything basically said it’s a myth that doing a full flush at high miles would cause damage unless the damage was ALREADY there.

So what I got from that was, if you have a transmission issue that isn’t showing now, it’s gonna show eventually. Just get it fixed and maintain it going forward after a full flush.

These are my opinions and have not been evaluated by the food and drug administration...

 

I also installed a magnetic filter on the return line from the trans cooler. Just for extra piece of mind. Service life of the filter is 30,000 miles. I’ll prolly do a drain and fill every time the filter is changed.

 

OP, did you ever change your fluid? I am at 126k with no previous record of transmission fluid service. I have same predicament as you on whether or not I want to do full flush, drain and fill, or just leave it and not worry about it since my transmission shifts perfectly fine right now. I off-road occasionally (once every 3 months maybe), but never do any towing, and like you said the maintenance guide says to only change under special operating conditions.

Just wondering what you ended up doing.

 

I had my ATF fluid done a few thousand miles ago (145k now) with the exchange. I was in the same boat and did a lot of research, called every dealer, and about 10 local shops. Everyone seemed to have a different opinion (just like here). Some said lifetime is considered 100k so change it now. Some said it's lifetime fluid so don't touch it.

They hook it up to the transmission and it uses the power of the transmission, so it's not as powerful as a flush. That's what a few shops told me anyway. I decided on the exchange with a clean reputable shop that was knowledgeable about Tacomas. Cost was $300 and it saved me the time and hassle of doing a drain and fill, plus it got all the fluid not just a few quarts. There are things you need to get right with the level and checking in at the right temp that I did not want to mess with.

No issues after with the transmission so far. Now I won't worry about for another 100k.

 

The decision whether to flush or not should be based on the current condition of the ATF, regardless of mileage. ATF that is gritty or has metal specks is usually material from damaged clutch packs. Doing a full flush will remove this material from the ATF which could lead to slipping because this material may be the only thing that keeps the trany from slipping. The best way to check for these contaminants is to drop the ATF pan. If you see clutch material or metal specks, put the contaminated ATF back in the trany and drive it till the trany meets it's doom, and start saving for a new trany. While you have the pan down, clean it and install a new ATF filter.

If you take a small ATF sample and look at it's color, you may avoid having to drop the pan. Use a white napkin to check the color of the ATF. It there any red or purple hue, the ATF is in relatively good condition and it can be flushed or do a drain/refill. If it black and smells burnt, you should definitely drop the pan, clean it and replace the ATF filter, and check for contaminants.

Chris Fix has a good video explaining some of these points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o690DovjDAc

 

Had a Toyota dealer do the transmission service after buying my 2005 with 145K miles. Not knowing the truck's service history, I wanted the "lifetime" fluid changed for peace of mind. The auto tranny on my 95 4Runner blew, I'm not the biggest AT fan. Anyway, 10K miles later, transmission works fine.
If a chunk of sludge is holding the transmission together, you're skating on thin ice.

 

From the manual, but this is from 2006 lol

 

That is an awesome video! Thanks for posting that. Wouldn't another option be if the fluid is in good shape just to drain and fill? I mean, why go through all the trouble and spending money on flushing out all the fluid that doesn't need to be changed right?