Had to argue with mechanic about fluid temp for trans fluid check

Had my 6 year exchange done, mechanic went back and forth with me for nearly a day essentially ignoring the fact that Toyota specifies the temp range to check the fluid. Finally found the listing in the service manual and emailed it to him and had him recheck it at 100 degrees. Spec I found was 95-113. Was I wrong? If the fluid expands when hot, checking it at 185 would in my mind make for a lower level as more would drain out with the heat expansion.

 

Find a new mechanic who values following correct procedures.

 

Its more important to check in warm than cold but think you are overthinking this.

 

Sure he’ll check the temp now….with an IR gun on the trans pan lol. The level of incompetence out there is astonishing. Just mount and balance my tires and align my suspension please I’ll take care of the rest.

 

Luckily it was done after sitting over night and idling to 100 monitored on a scan tool.

 

I suspect it was in fact low as I wasn’t charged for all the back and forth and he’s just saving face.

 

Is that what he told you or did you witness it? I mean it really is an easy procedure. He spent more time arguing when he could have just done it the right way in 10 minutes. Geez.

 

Seems to me if the engineers spec 95-113 that and call out maintaining that range, even if it means turning the truck off to get back to it, too much would be lost with heat expansion if checked at 185 which is where he originally went for it.

 

Pride does some shit to people man

 

how much do you think the fluid expands? 1/10 of a quart with an 85 degree difference?

 

Idk man I’m not an transmission engineer. If it wasn’t important it wouldn’t be specified in my eyes

 

Just curious, is the Tech at a Toyota dealer service dept. or an independent shop?

 

Independent transmission shop. I was polite and respectful as the guys been doing this a long time but it was like pull teeth even after I said listen man I don’t want anything for free I just want this done to Toyota spec.

 

You have to realize that transmissions are typically checked at normal operating temperatures which is around that 185 degrees. Do you know how long it takes to actually get the temperature up to 185 degrees.

Think about it, how much time and labor is wasted waiting for a trans to get to temp when it can be checked at 95 after a few minutes of idling.....toyota takes this into consideration when determining maintenance.

 

I’m not sure what side of the fence your landing on here, I mean it seems to me if the procedure was followed by the book to begin with it would have saved both of us a lot of time

 

I think the thread and your argument with the mechanic are both moot. Why bring it to a mechanic if you already have the answers.

 

Don’t have a lift. A proper scan tool to monitor temperature. I don’t mind paying a professional but I also expect the job to be done correctly

 

At the end of the day, he checked it at 185 and 100, what the the difference in results?

If you want something done correctly, then you need to do it yourself. Not even Toyota does things correctly or "by the book"

 

Remains to be seen. I pick it up later today. I would suspect it required more fluid and that’s why I wasn’t charged more for the time he spent after seeing in print what the specifications were.

 

Let us know.