How to Drain/Refill Automatic Transmission

Thank you for the update! I’m getting ready to do a drain and refill at 80k..

 

Just performed my first drain & fill this past weekend. Previous (OG) owner flushed atf @ ~90k miles per Carfax. I drained & filled atf @ ~158k miles, and the fluid looked like it had more life left.

I refilled with Toyota WS transmission fluid. Roughly 3.3 quarts drained and replaced.

The ScanGauge makes it super easy for temp & level checks. I knew exactly when I was at the right temperature with no shifter ritual.

Rusty check bolt stripped out. Thankfully I was prepared and replaced with standard hex bolt.

This Irwin extractor set is insane. Gotten me out of two hairy situations with Toyota drain/fill plugs now. Worth its weight in gold.

When all was said & done, celebrated with some off-road time.

 

Not that a pan drain and top off is a bad thing to do, but you'd have to do that about 5 times to get to where less than a quart of remaining fluid is "old." Each time you do it, there are diminishing returns since you are draining a mix of old and new. Total capacity is over 10 quarts, so after 3 drain and fills, you still have 2 quarts of old fluid mixed in. A couple more times and you'd be under a quart, but that would take 18 quarts of fluid and probably a lot more total time spent draining and filling. I'd still recommend doing the full procedure once and being done with it, but a drain and fill is certainly better than nothing.

 

I would imagine a vast majority of people would be better off if they did nothing with there transmission fluid.
That’s just my opinion of course after reading about the struggles people have. It seems a lot of people that stumble across Fortechs original post and try to achieve the same results, just can’t do it.

 

Shifter ritual indicator > scangauge/UG temp

If you can perform the shifter ritual, the atf flush and fill isnt much harder than the diff fluid change. IMHO

 

Why is the shifter ritual superior to using something like a ScanGauge or UltraGauge for the temp check though?

Theoretically, both the SG and UG get their information from the same sensor that the shifter ritual does.
The only thing that's different is instead of waiting for a blinking light, I waited to see a specific temperature on my gauge.

 

Correct. And with the TSB @Dm93 recently discovered we know the temp range for all Tacomas with the A750 5spd is 97-115*F

 

When I first did the ATF flush fill, I found the UG temp reading to be a pretty wide range. The temp reading that was documented online wasnt close (at least to my comfort) to the reading that I got when I did the shifter/jumper/UG juggle. I did another flush/fill soon thereafter and saw similar results (UG temp reading varies when the dash light indicates ready). And I think the range that I was seeing was roughly ~10*F. So I deferred to the method documented by the Toyota mothership....instead of UG. Also, @gearcruncher has an influence on me when it comes to this auto trans and I think he pointed out the importance of being able to do the shifter dance.

but! I'm not up to date on any of the recent AT data/discoveries.... and if someone found a TSB that documents that range of 97-115 and the UG is set to the quickest refresh rate with both trans temp PIDs displayed..... I would be more comfortable relying on the UG reading as an indicator on whether the "AT fluid check" is ready or not.

 

I posted it in post #2059, it was issued by Toyota in 2008.

 

that tsb is for 2008 and earlier. Does that apply for the later years 8-15?

 

Service info for 09+ trucks was updated to the new temperatures, the TSB was for earlier models that had incorrect service info.

 

thanks, for everyone going back and forth on using UG or shift pattern, why not both and put it to bed? I did that last time, worked fine. You can watch the UG so youre ready, and having the light come on is a secondary feel good. FWIW, i believe the light came on right around 97. I would always verify that your UG is set correctly and at least the first time through compare the light to the UG.

 

this is the way...

 

The 97-115 temp range is in my Haynes manual, published 2009.

Regarding checking the temp, I use an IR temp gun. I have an UltraGauge and my IR temp readings have always been within two degrees of the UG. Admittedly, I do peek at my UG as it approaches the low end of the temp range, then use the IR from there. But, I did two flushes on my truck with the IR before I got the UG, and have done three flushes on the Lexus ES350 using only the IR gun.

 

I reported the mis information and the mod told me I was wrong lol.

Loads of second gens with slightly low fluid because of this one post.

 

That's really stupid that they would tell you that you have the wrong information. Unreal.

 

Tackling this today! Don’t think my AT oil has ever been changed and I’m at 135k miles.

I’ve completed all the steps and am now at the AT temp mode step but on my first try the AT temp light was blinking meaning it’s already over temp? I let it rest for 20 mins tried again and still blinking. I’m in Florida and it’s 90 degrees today don’t know if that’s effecting it.

drained 2 qts and put in about 3qts of ATF

 

Could be, the temp is supposed to be between 97 and 115F

 

Park in the shade with the hood open and wait for the truck to completely cool. If the ambient is 90*F it wont take very long at all to hit the temp range.

 

Thank you for tip I’ll do that right now. It’s a hot one today so I might have to wait till tonight when it decides to cool off