How to Drain/Refill Automatic Transmission

The original video on this thread clearly shows the light coming on again when shifting to park.
I was trying last night and the light never came on to check. Granted, I was driving to get the temp up quick, maybe it doesn’t come on in drive

 

Why would the light come on in Drive? You dont do the ATF level check in drive.

 

Correct.

And as far as the question from @ejl923, I get the light after the six shifts between N and D, and also after putting it back into park.

 

So you cant crawl under while driving and pull the plug?! j/k. side project. I was trying to see if i could put it in temp check mode and plug in my ultragauge after pulling the jumper to see if theres a temp that correlates. Its cold and didnt feel like waiting, realizing driving may screw it up.

Besides all that, im still not getting the second light after multiple attempts. Ill try again tonight and not drive. From what ive read, its the second light that tells you its in tc mode

 

Yeah I feel like putting it back in drive will cancel the temp check mode. I bring my pan temp up to about 110*F to do the check using my ScanGauge.

You could go drive before hand, get the temp close to 100*F. Then enter temp check mode and hope it climbs the rest of the way to determine what temp your truck uses

 

You could just leave it idling in the driveway for an hour and then go check and see if you have either a solid light or a blinking light, either way that tells you the system went into the correct mode. Depending on the temp it can take up to 45 mins. Or just check every fifteen mins.

 

I did my transmission today drain and fill. I did work a few days on the AT oil temp mode I guess my timing was off but did finely get it. I drained out 2 and 3/4 liters of old transmission fluid and added 3 liters of new transmission fluid put the truck in AT oil temp mode and removed the overflow plug. Nothing came out, so I added a half liter and back to AT oil temp mode and removed the over flow plug and still nothing came out. I finely added the other half of the forth liter and back to AT oil temp mode, this time about a 1/4 of a liter came out. The old trany fluid was brownish red. I am guessing it was low from the factory. I had the frame changed a year and half ago and I would have thought that the trans fluid would have been changed then but it was not. I used Toyota ATF-WS it was $9.99 a liter at the local stealership. I also did my both front and rear diff , the transfer case and engine oil and filter. The total cost with the transfer pump was around $220.00 hard earned dollars hear in Canada. The quote I got from the stealership was around $520.00 dollars so I saved $300.00. I am happy and so is my truck. Thanks to Fortech for the write up pictures and video. I think I read like five times. Great post.

Gord

 

Is anyone reusing the gasket after they dropped the pan? I'm about to do a full exchange but am just realizing the 750F doesn't use FIPG like the 1UZ transmissions. Did an exchange 45k miles ago but haven't done the filter and really should at this mileage

 

That's one of those things where you likely COULD reuse it, but WHY would you? Only because of the effort involved in re-doing everything IF you find that the gasket didn't seal correctly. The cost/benefit/effort ratio isn't worth it... imho.

 

@ejl923

Same thing happened to me two weeks ago. I tried the procedure four times with same result. I left it after the fourth attempt and it went into check mode about 15 minutes later. All worked out well.
2014 DCSB 4x4 with 60k now.

 

thanks for this reply, and i will add i found the same. I wasn't going to post till i double checked because it was already at temp when i got it to work so the light was on. But yes, seems to be working with just the first light going off.

 

To save the 45 minutes back and forth to Toyota dealer when I have the red FIPG sitting right here yea you're right tho guess I'll suck it up and make the drive

 

Just order it online…

 

I've done several DAFs over the years. I have never gotten the light when shifting back into park. Never an issue and never failed to be in check mode.

'15 TRD Sport PreRunner

 

Good call, bro.

 

Since nobody really has any definite proof or done any testing of what temp the A/T light actually comes on and when it actually starts blinking, I did a little experiment. I tried this on the 2.5 gens (2012-2015) over several months. This is based off the Torque Pro app, which I find to be very accurate if you set it up correctly using the correct PIDs and a good Bluetooth dongle.

The A/T light comes on around 97 degrees and starts blinking around 115 degrees (give or take a couple degrees). Below is a screenshot of the Torque Pro app as I finished checking my 2012 with the A/T light still solidly lit. It'll start flashing right as it goes over 115*. Hope this helps someone out there who drives a 2.5 gen that uses Torque pro. Saves so much time and you don't have to mess with jumping the OBD and doing the shifter dance. Best part is I don't have to sit in my truck and watch a little light on my dash. I can take my phone with me and set it nearby as I work on something else. When the fluid gets up to temp I go and check the fluid. Cheers!

 

Was that just the standard transmission temperature gauge on the app? That doesn't, it at least never used to, work on 4runners or Gx470s. Wonder if they updated their formula or if the Tacoma ecu is that different.

I also confirmed temperatures with torque pro on my last flush many years ago but had to enter a custom formula. Someone else figured it out and posted it elsewhere, I just copied and pasted

 

No it's not the standard reading. There's 2 temp readings for transmission, I believe mine is the 2nd reading, I can't remember off the top of my head, but it took me many tries to get it dialed in and get it reading correctly, there's lots of misinformation on how to set it up and what formulas to use on TW, so it was frustrating finding the right formula. Luckily, I have a buddy who figured it out and so I stole the formula off him lol.

 

Both the formulas in this thread 1st and 2nd page worked for my GX, give or take a couple degrees

 

It is unreal that we have to go through this amount of ridiculousness all because Toyota took away a measly dipstick...