"lifetime transmission fluid"

I'd like to know everyone's thoughts on the lifetime transmission fluid claim on the 05 Taco. My son bought one that has 242k on it. It had two owners and is in like new condition. I know the Toyota says it's for the lifetime of the transmission, but the warranty for the tranny is 60k I believe and that has long passed. I have a friend who has on 05 with 460k never flushed the radiator and never replaced any trans fluid. However, did he just get lucky? I've never seen trans fluid with that many miles that looks good. I know that many say if it's never been change don't do it. I've also seen people say change a few qts at a time. If it isn't supposed to be changed, how come there is a drain plug on the pan? I thought about cracking the drain plug to let it drip to get an idea of the condition and go from there. It shifts like butter, and as the old saying goes, if it isn't broken, don't fix it. However, I have a hard time with that philosophy as I'm a believer in preventative maintenance, especially where fluids are concerned. I'm new to the forum and would appreciate any feedback and experience of others. Thanks!

 

Calling @gearcruncher

 

Every 60K. Period. No such thing as lifetime anymore

 

Leave it alone, does not need changed.

 

Sure there is. If you never change it, it'll last the lifetime of the vehicle.

 

I used to have a VW TDI auto and it was a lifetime fluid when introduced. Then it quietly changed to something like some interval that I can't remember, 30,000, 40,000, or 60,000 miles. I just don't remember the drain and fill frequency. I believe the change was due to trans failures. I did drain and fill and never had an issue. There are members here that have said when they've done drain and fills the trans fluid was low from the factory. If anything, I would at least check it and bring it to the correct level.

 

The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits ~ Alexandre Dumas Jr

Says Clearwater Bill from LARGO!

 

Every 60K. Period. No such thing as lifetime anymore.

That's my dilemma. If I crack the drain and it's clean, I'll defiantly replaced what comes out of the pan and continue to do so every 5-6 oil changes. If it's filthy, I'd hate to make a perfectly running tranny start to slip as others say will happen when oil that old is replaced with clean oil. Thanks!

 

There are a lot of diverging opinions on this. Mine would be drain a little and see/smell what it's like. If it's still red and somewhat translucent, I'd drain the pan, add the same amount back in and finish using the temperature method level check.

If it's dark brown and stinky, I'd drop the pan, clean the magnets, and replace the screen.

Of course in all situations if you wanted to get technical, you could send a sample in to Blackstone for analysis.

 

Thanks, would you add new fluid when you put the pan back on if it smells and looks bad?

 

I grew up with a bunch of kids that liked working on cars and driving them like they stole them. We swapped engines and transmissions when we felt like it more often than because anything was broken. Tires lasted two weeks if we were lucky because we were finding decent discards behind the gas stations and because we were burning them off every chance we got. This is on cars made in the fifties and sixties, mostly, so not engineered in the same way cars are built today.

And as I got older I began to work in the automotive industry, specifically in the auto parts field... and I began to wonder about the advice I would hear from mechanics, manufacturers, and that given freely by friends over a couple of beers. So I decided to test the advice, and over time I have run cars without doing maintenance on them to see what would happen. Old cars, new cars, and trucks. And I've watched how people drive and what kind of problems they have.

Some people can't seem to drive a car without breaking it. I've known two people that would break cars. One liked to borrow cars from friends and if the car lasted a week it was unusual. Somehow people kept loaning him cars. The other was a rich kid that had a dad that would bail him out every time he abused a car to death. I've also known people that could drive a car for decades and never do anything but change the oil infrequently... and the cars kept running. The people that broke cars were car breakers... and the people that didn't break cars never broke cars.

As far as maintenance? I believe in changing oil at recommended times, but have seen no issues with missing an occasional oil change. I've seen several engines gummed up and eventually they break... but I've also seen engines that are gummed up and running fine, and if they were run with some transmission fluid and several fast oil changes the engines come out clean and remained running well. I've seen belts run for 90K after a tech recommended replacement. I've seen original brake pads that went 90K miles, and the same car had 90K on the original tires. I've never changed the tranny, brake, or coolant fluid in a car, run them for well over a 100K miles, and sold them running fine. I've also seen cars that were maintained by professionals far more frequently than recommended... and they had more problems and more serious problems than others that were neglected.

But that's all anecdotal... amirite?

So take it for whatever value you care to assign. It's only money... time... frustration... or enjoying the journey.

 

It’s lifetime fluid.
It will last the life time of the transmission.
If you want to extend the “lifetime” of the transmission you SHOULD change the fluid.
And change it regularly.

In your case. A drain, a pan drop, magnet clean, and filter change would be good.
Some people will claim that it will cause problems at your mileage.
If you have a problem after doing the above, you either did it wrong, or you already had a problem.
Fluid changes don’t cause problems, they can how ever make a preexisting problem evident.

BTW, choose what ever option you think is best in your case.
It won’t be long before someone says never change it.

 

This is what they mean by lifetime. After that it’s your problem.

Every Toyota vehicle is supported by a 36-month/36,000-mile limited warranty coverage.

 

marketing gimmick for normies

 

drain and fill.

 

at 242k, if the trans fluid has never been changed, best to not touch it at this point.

 

If I'm understanding the first post correctly, the service history is unknown. OP, if there's a gasket on the pan someone's been in there. Toyota factory (and dealerships) use form in place sealant.

With the disclaimer that I'm not a pro, just a longtime DIYer, yeah I would add new to replace the fluid that came out (probably going to be in the 5-6 qt range if the pan came off) so the end result would be a roughly 50/50 mix old/new. Adding some Lubegard high mileage might not be a bad idea either.

TnShooter is right that changing the fluid won't cause any damage - the damage is already done! But you're taking a risk either way. If it doesn’t start to slip, new fluid is better for the internals (less metal floating around). If it does, the clutches will wear even faster.

 

I started driving in 1974. I've never changed transmission fluid in any vehicle I've ever owned. That's several million trouble free miles. There is a combined 613,000 miles sitting in my driveway as I type this, all with the factory fluid in them. 240,000 of that on my Tacoma and 137,000 on a F150. They all still drive like new.

The only transmission problems I've ever had were electrical. As long as you don't let the transmission fluid get too hot it will easily last 400,000 miles and I've never seen any evidence that changing it regularly prolongs that. You will spend more to have it serviced every 50,000 miles than it will cost to have it rebuilt IF it goes bad before the truck ends up in the scrap yard for something else.

If one of my transmissions goes bad today, I'll rebuild or replace it and be way ahead financially with the money saved over the last 50 years by not servicing them.

 

The owners manual says it does.

 

BMW did something similar. They said lifetime fluid, ZF who made the box said 100k km.