How to Drain/Refill Automatic Transmission

So the other day I was driving hauling my lawn trailer which is a 12 foot enclosed trailer it has a good little bit of weight, going down the interstate didn't notice anything when I got off the interstate I noticed a little smoke coming from underneath so when I finally got to stop I noticed that some transmission fluid at come out and was Dripping on the exhaust and has splash-back back on the undercarriage. So I've been super busy and I dropped it off at a small local mechanic that I use for a lot of things. He called me and told me my transmission had no leaks that apparently it was over full, he said when he pulled the plug out to check it how you fill it up, that 5 quart came out. So I was wondering what you guys think?

Now I have had this truck going on a year now hauling this trailer I'm doing everything normally and have not added any fluid this is the way that I bought it from another friend of mine

 

I would do a drain and fill and verify the fluid level myself if possible. Plenty of shops know exactly how to check these transmissions and some don’t. These must be checked running (I’ve known of a few people that tried to check the level with the truck off) and at the proper temperature or an excess amount of fluid will drain out of the transmission, leaving the trans under filled. A drain and fill on the A750 should take about 3.2 quarts. If you drop the pan you’ll get a little more out.

 

I've done a check and 4 DAFs on my rig and have never gotten the light to flash twice after the shifts as the instructions say.

However, even without that light it's always been in check mode for me. Never failed to get the flashing light after a few minutes of idling...except once when I checked it with an ambient air temp of less than 20° F. That took a good 45+ minutes to get up to temp and finally get the flashing light.

 

Thanks for that info, I'll give it another shot and see if the light comes on after idling a while. I just got this truck a few weeks ago, around 136000 miles. It's hard to move the shift lever between gears and has the delay shifting between neutral and drive. When I was under it looking for the various transmission plugs, I noticed a bit of trans fluid around the pan. Several of the pan bolts were loose so I assume it's had a pan drop at some point. I'll be checking the fluid level and condition today. Need to see if I can track down the history of this truck. It has had a frame replacement so that's good anyway. Great info on this site, glad to be a Toyota owner again. Had an 87 SR5 4x4, that 22R was a nice engine.

 

try this method, this chick also used a infared laser thermometer to measure the operating temp which seemed to be very close to what she had on OBD computer hookup temp. I did this drain and fill method 3 times using 13 quarts total on my 2.7l engine and it was just as good as a cooler line flush and less messy.https://youtu.be/ej_6BZpK3gg

 

Well...just to be safe I took the truck to Toyota and since I had my own fluid is was only about $130 to do the fluid flush. He said it was still full so he doesn't know how my buddy ssid he got 5 qts out lol. But end result is no harm no foul and new fluid at 236k miles and last fluid swap on record was 125k from paperwork in the truck when I bought it

 

I bet the shifting and driving is 100% smoother, mine was like nite and day difference getting the older fluid out

 

Honestly I really cant tell, mine rode super smooth before too. Actually the tech took it for a ride afterwards and said he couldn't believe how great it rode and drove to have so many miles and be my hunting/work truck. Just shows 1 more reason I will keep a Taco forever. I told my friends and my wife, this one will be rebuilt not replaced

 

When I flushed mine, I noticed smoother shifting as well.

 

what brand fluid u used

 

Valvoline MaxLife synthetic. $17.99/gal at WalMart

 

Good stuff. Currently in 3 of my family's high mileage Toyotas and doing great. Been using it for years.

'03 Camry...195k miles
'04 Sienna...183k miles
'10 Yaris......136k miles

It will eventually find it's way to my Tacoma in another couple of years

 

Well damn all I used was the recommended Toyota stuff lol. I figured OEM would be good.

 

OEM WS is a perfectly fine fluid. Nothing particularly special about it...but fine nonetheless.

That's what I went with at my 55k service and will use for my annual DAF (every 15k miles) for a while longer just to keep the warranty police happy, as I'm under warranty for a few more years. But that's really unfounded as Maxlife is spec'd as a WS replacement.

 

that's what I did, the WS and T-IV fluid is made by MOBIL, ive read where using other brands could be hit or miss since they are clones or reverse engineered from the OEM fluids most Maxlife users seem satisfied with it

 

this is a pretty interesting thread I found with someone used a WS equivalent ATF Idemitsu and had erractic shifting even tho Idemitsu claims to be an OEM supplier for Toyota, I was going to use the Idemitsu T-IV equivalent till I read this and decided to go Toyota oem stuff https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/atf-type-for-a-2015-toyota-tacoma.573652/#post-18958790

 

That thread petered out before it really got started. Makes me wonder if the actual procedure was done correctly...i.e. fluid level too high or too low.

 

I wouldn't risk it to find out, buying $70 worth of ATF and time/materials, the OEM ATF costs slightly more $ at zero risks short or long term

 

As I've mentioned before....I personally wouldn't hesitate to use Maxlife and have. It's performs great, cost $18 a jug as is readily available.

But at the same time dealers are sometimes willing to negotiate their prices. In my area, WS retails for about $10 a quart. But my dealer offered me $7.40 a quart. So I walked out with 12 quarts and 4 crush gaskets for about $100. So figuring in the gaskets, I was about $35 dollars more than Maxlife would have been. Not bad

 

Lucky for me I also got dealer cost since my dads old shop he sold lets me use their tax ID number for all the stealerships and parts stores