Is my transmission toast?

And change the AT fluid

 

totaled

 

Planning to do a drain and fill at 60k. Probably plugs too

 

I seriously doubt you have transmission issues. Change the plugs and I'm betting it drives like a new truck.

My local transmission shop will rebuild mine for $2000 when the time comes. By your advice I'd have already spent $3000 servicing my transmission. These trucks regularly get 400,000 miles on the original fluid. In 400,000 miles I'd spend over $5000 in service charges and still have to pay $2000 to get it rebuilt at the same point.

At 120,000 miles on the original fluid the OP stands a better chance of doing more damage than good. If you're low, top it off. Other than that, don't try to fix what ain't broke.

There is a reason most new vehicle manufacturers now don't suggest ever changing the fluid. Around 200,000 miles is the break-even point. If you can get 200,000 out of a transmission without ever changing the fluid, the cost to rebuild it works out to about the same costs of servicing it regularly. Anything over about 200,000 miles on the original fluid works out cheaper than regular service. When you look at the costs vs benefit it is better to just drive them until they wear out.

 

Your truck is a 2004?

 

If the manufacturer suggests NEVER changing the transmission fluid WHY don’t they warranty the transmission for life? Until they do that all you have is an opinion, and a very poor one at that.

 

What he said. The manufacturer considers "Lifetime" as 60K miles as after that the cost is on the owner. Drain and refill every 60K miles and that is coming from a Toyota Master Tech with 10 years' experience. (The Car Care Nut).

 

I would think if Lifetime meant 60,000 they would simply say 60,000.

 

It’s publicity

 

It's true. Lifetime == warranty period. It's a marketing gimmick.

 

Thanks for all the replies. Even the really less than helpful finger pointing and “you suck” replies. I have been on this board for a good while and I really expected more of the “you are abusing your truck “ type. I guess this is a new, softer Tacomaworld!
Driving in S3 and S4 almost eliminates shudder so hopefully getting out the burnt fluid helps. I will update in a week or so…

 

Well I drove it in sport for a week before doing the transmission pan drop. The shudder was almost completely gone. The fluid looked about as expected but not terrible. I had about a quart run out the fill tube when I first opened it(cold). Almost nothing on the magnets. Mine took a full gallon to refill. Lubeguard will go in on the 2nd drain. Amazon shipped by USPS .
Shifts fine, can’t get it to shudder but only about 10 miles of testing. If I had known how easy this is I would have done it sooner.

 

Wow. Great job there. I couldn’t have done what you did. Tnx for the update .

 

My truck has had pretty much the same problem. It shudders at low speed, low rpm, typically between 15-40mph. Being lifted, I first I thought it was the carrier bearing or a bad U-joint. Like OP, I haven't done a trans fluid flush and I'm at 115k miles on the truck but I have changed the spark plugs at their maintenance interval. I fell for the old world thinking of never changing the trans fluid. Today I just completed the trans fluid flush and it seems to have solved the shudder 80% but it still shudders occasionally. I'll be adding some Lucas Oil Transmission Fix to the fresh trans fluid but I'm still kinda nervous since I dont know much about the torque converter or why this happens. Is there a way to diagnose if the shudder is caused by the torque converter or the plugs misfiring? I would assume if my plugs are misfiring I would get a misfire fault code?