How to Drain/Refill Automatic Transmission

Thanks man.... thats all needed to know.

 

Hello, I’m just replying to the comment about 2wd not having the at temp light on the dash and I have to disagree with that. I literally just finished servicing my tranny, myself, by following the procedure in the initial post and yes my at temp light flashed to verify it was in “check mode” and after about 14 min it came on steadily. I have 2wd prerunner Trd. The only difference is that I pulled the pan and the strainer to drain the tranny not just the plug and it was low on fluid when I started so I just added fluid till it actually flowed from check plug and waited for it to come to a drizzle and put the plug back in and put it back into check mode then pulled the check plug again to make sure it was correct. I will say it is a bit more than just pulling a dip stick and pouring the fluid in through the tube w/a funnel. Nonetheless, this task wasn’t to difficult, hell i did it myself!!

 

With all the debate regarding “normal” trans temps and how much heat is too much I wanted to share some info that I found interesting. While owning my Tacoma I performed very good maintenance to my transmission even though I did not tow much of anything. I was always concerned about how hot was too hot and what the WS fluid could handle in terms of over cooking the fluid. With the factory trd trans cooler my temps stayed around 130-160 roughly. And was always concerned if they reached any higher in long drive throughs or stop and do traffic. well since I now have a 5.7 tundra with the factory cooler. It has a built in thermostat that don’t even open until 200 degree. And also runs the same WS fluid. On average my temps around town stay in the 180-205 range even taking it very easy.

moral of the story is don’t worry about your trans temps as much because the tundra riding beside you down the road is probably 200+ degree with no ill effects. And has been for 100k miles.

 

My '15 PreRunner has the light. I don't remember reading that they didn't. It does appear that some years...thinking '12-'15 may not get the 2nd temp light when shifting back into park after the 6 shifts. That is the case with mine....though it is in temp check mode.

 

Here is my temps on my tundra Going 60 mph with no load and 45 degree weather.

 

Some people would say that's near the top of the "normal" range. Seems ok to me though. Some swear that Maxlife handles heat better than WS

 

Yeah I pinned my thermostat the other day for the heck of it and it stayed around 120-130 all day. I live in southern Georgia so I don’t have any worries of being over cooled.

 

I completed this procedure yesterday after draining & replacing the filter on my 4WD, 5-spd auto. It's a great procedure & saved my butt, although the dumbest, most convoluted thing I've ever seen Toyota do. I'm normally impressed with their engineering. I had trouble getting it into temp check mode, so I consulted the Toyota service manual. A couple of clarifying points:
- After going through the gears & shifting to neutral, don't pause for more than 1.5 seconds when doing the series of N to D shifts or it won't enter temp check mode.
-Once you see the light illuminate for 2 seconds & shift to Park, remove the jumper from the OBD. This stops the other indicators from blinking & restores the idle speed control. If the idle is fluctuating the check won't be accurate. It'll stay in temp check mode until the key is turned off.
- Also, mine took 5 quarts to refill. Toyota says 3.1 quarts if you just drain the pan, but I lost more when I removed the filter & had the pan off for a couple hours waiting for the right parts to be delivered. (a 4-spd auto. has a 19 bolt pan & different filter, the 5-spd is a 20 bolt pan, I bought the wrong one).

 

Still cheaper than Toyota WS

 

Probably better too

 

I winder if @gearcruncher has ever used this at his transmission shop?

 

Anyone want to try it out and see how it works? I would but I don’t need a service till another 10k

 

I cant say I have used it . I have always added a 15 ounce bottle of Platinum with my shop blend . I get my transmission fluid in 45 gallon drums at a good discount

The good news . Says its WS compatible rite on the label and its got the LXE compound that makes the stuff work so good .
You are gonna pay a premium but If I was doing a transmission service at home , I would certainly give it a try .

 

Thanks! I have done a considerable amount of research on WS compatible fluids over the years and have never came across this product. Seems to be of great quality! Also I recently done two drain and fills in my 2007 tundra 5.7 with the 6 speed auto. I used maxlife both times and now have an ever so slight hard shift into 4th. (Just not as smooth as the other shifts). Do you think some platinum would help clear that up?

truck had 120k and old oil was mildly dark but surprisingly red. The truck was very well taken care of and not much if any towing from the previous owner.

 

I also did one more drain and fill with Toyota WS a few days ago thinking maybe that trans was just sensitive to the Valvoline, but no changes...

 

Just went cheaper

 

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Did you have the trans pan off when you serviced the Tundra ?
Its not going to hurt if you drain a little fluid out and add a bottle of Lubeguard . If you have some glazing on the clutch faces for 4th gear , the lubeguard will help .If its a sticky valve in the valve body , the lubeguard will help

 

No I didn’t. Since the oe fluid wasn’t damaged and still had a red tint to it it did not worry about dropping the pan. Sounds like I may try some platinum in the near future!

 

What would you use in an AB60 series? Red, black, or Platinum?

 

Platinum . Its got the LXE compound and its designed to convert the fluid to far better than WS standards