" My Dealerships service department sucks ! "

So I took my 2020 Tacoma pro in for an automatic transmission fluid change and was told by the service advisor it's a sealed unit and does not require changing..... however I was told by a different Toyota dealership it does need to be changed..... Can someone please clarify if it needs to be changed or not... I have read that it does and was told that it does..... My truck has 70,000 miles.

 

Yes, it should be changed. If you scrounge around in the glove compartment you might even find a book Toyota wrote full of information like this.

 

I've never heard of this

 

Yes...

https://www.toyota.com/owners/resources/warranty-owners-manuals.tacoma.2020

Scroll down and download PDF
Warranty and Maintenance Guide

Once loaded...Control+F, then type transmission

 

Well according to the manual, the fluid is good “for the life of the transmission”. Who knows what that means but if I had an AT, I would definitely drain and fill every 30k or so.

A lot of folks don’t even bother with fluid and their transmission easily lasts 200k miles.

 

Does the manual really say that? I swear I read that it doesn’t need to be changed.

 

I can’t open it for some reason. What are the intervals?

 

Try this...

 

Might have to tell them you WANT it done .. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...be-low-on-fluid-directly-from-factory.405642/

 

My AT came from the factory 1 quart low. Never go back to Dealership #1 in your post.

 

70k on a 2020, holy hell man do you drive that thing. I just turned over 10k on mine...

Spill and fill won't hurt it for sure and if you idle and/or tow a lot, 30k interval is probably right. 60k for everyone else. At this rate, I'll reach 60k in another 12 years.

 

LOL, I don't know man. I was just giving you shit. I suspect it is in the scheduled maintenance area but it might not be. I would ask here too. You should get it done though and this is about the right mileage. You might not want to with really high mileage on it but this is about what is recommended.

 

Read the owner's manual. My 2007 says never change it unless used in extreme conditions, and then only at 150,000 miles. Some years they have modified that and recommend changing it more often. I'm not sure about miles, but 70,000 may be too soon. The owner's manual on my F150 says change it at 150,000 miles.

FWIW I don't change mine ever, never have and I've been driving since the 1970's. I have several million trouble free miles. My 2007 is at 221,000 miles and still runs like new. Close to 1/2 million combined miles sitting on the driveway, all with factory transmission fluid. The guys at the local transmission shop tell me that certain models, and certain years can all be counted on to last about the same number of miles regardless of whether or not you change it. Most trucks and SUV's are good for around 400,000 miles. Some are known to be problematic and to not expect 200,000, and many cheap econo-box cars are good for 150,000

IMO changing ATF is a money-making scam for dealers. For a while Toyota got a conscious, felt bad about ripping people off, and advised not changing it ever. Which was the right call. But consumers hooked on decades of misinformation demanded it be changed so they changed the recommendations in the manuals. In 50 years of driving I've yet to hear of a transmission failure due to not changing the fluid.

It is heat that kills transmission fluid, and transmissions. Never let it overheat and your transmission will last a long time. Let it get too hot and your transmission is fried and changing the fluid won't save it.

 

• All fluids have a useful life. ALL FLUIDS!
• The transmission being sealed changes nothing - other than making it more difficult for an owner to self-serve
• 30k - 60k miles is the general consensus for a rig although your use case may be different (heavy towing, a lot of off-roading in the desert, etc.)

Transmission fluid is cheap, transmissions are expensive. If it were me, I would never go back to that dealer & service department and I would let the service manager know why you will never be returning. Be courteous but firm and tell them you plan to have the same Tacoma at the 250,000 mile mark. I would change your differential fluid as well, if you haven't already.

• If you have basic skills (can safely jack up a rig, crawl under and loosen a few nuts and have the right tools you can change your own tranny fluid (home tranny flush) and the differential fluid change is exponentially easier than the trans. Plenty of videos on YouTube and articles here on TW to walk you through doing that.
• One thing to note with the trans... fluid will be in the torque converter so just draining the fluid will probably get you 1/3 of the actual fluid which is fine if you regularly change your fluid every 30k. With a flush you are going to go through more fluid because you are pushing new fluid through to force the old stuff out. This is why a flush is more expensive and you need to confirm with the service department that they actually flush the trans. Ask them how much fluid they are going to push through with the flush and see what they say.

I have, on more than one occasion, have had to politely tell the young person checking me in for service that I don't care what Toyota North America has to say about my oil change intervals - I am there to have the oil dropped and will pay out of pocket and it is not open for discussion. I also say that if that is an issue and the service manager doesn't want to make money off of me I am happy to visit a dealership that will perform the services I request. Polite but firm.

You CAN ABSOLUTELY do this yourself at home.



Edit: I found this video as well and this mech brings up a few things for you to consider (just a drain vs. a full flush and why a full flush may not be the best idea initially if you don't know your vehicle's full history). Food for thought.

https://youtu.be/gx5dU3UVcRs

 

OP I would not have this done at a dealer. We have a really good local tranny shop around here that I trust all this stuff to. Will save you some money and you will get a better job.

 

Go back to the first dealership an talk to the Sales manager. You will get the service at cost.

 

but will you want their service?

 

At 70k it's a good idea to change the filter too, regardless of whether or not it's in the manual. I haven't memorized it, so idk.

You tell him, Karen!

 

This guy is a Toyota Master Diagnostic Tech. Here he explains what you really SHOULD do, contrary to the owners manual and what the naysayer d-bags say. It's a machine, it needs service periodically. Fluid lasts the life of the transmission, meaning when it destroys itself, then it's done. That's total bullshit.

The DIY process explained here is easy. Just do it if you intend to keep your truck.

 

Even though Toyota made them a "sealed" unit with no dipstick, it's still really easy to change and check, albeit a bit messy if you aren't prepared, so just take your time. Not to mention they routinely underfill them from the factory. Save the money on labor and just do it yourself. I did it on my '08 tundra by myself with zero previous knowledge and it took me like 2 hrs (by myself). Did it a couple times after that on my own truck (ended up upgrading the valvebody and doing a full system flush), then my buddies '10 tundra. Took less than an hour after the first time taking my time and learning. It really isn't hard. Read, take your time, read some more, learn.