Noob buying old Taco

Hi everybody. Noob here bought an old Taco that's actually in good shape, but has high miles. It's a 2011 4.0 V6 DC short box with 196000 miles with no misfires, hesitation or tranny issues (driving fine so far!). Body good, no rust issues either. The old lady hit me for $2K cash just to get it out of her driveway. I wanna replace all fluids, tune up and new tires. Dealing with tranny fluid has me a bit concerned. I'd like to run the truck over to Jiffy Lube and flush the tranny, but it won't get the genuine Toyota ATF. I think they have Castrol Synthetic. Heard that would be good, but would like everyone's opinion on flushing. Jiffy doesn't remove the pan, but they do use a machine that shoots in the new fluid that cleans and evacs the old. Ok to flush or no? Keep old fluid? Anything else I should look at as well? Like to get at least 2-3 years out of this truck. Any advice, tips and guidance is welcome.

 

Welcome. What a deal.

 

Yup Yup, Thanks!!

 

Buy the truck and DIY every fluid change yourself(if physically capable). Multiple forums and YouTube on videos on how to get it done.

 

Regardless if you do flush or drain and fill, don't take it to a Jiffy Lube.

 

Well, the tranny is the only thing that really worries me. I don't wanna f*ck it up, so I'll prob take it somewhere for that. Any recommendations?

 

A local reputable shop would be ideal.

 

Take your time and do a bit of research. Running a few more hundred+ miles on the same fluid isn't going to make anything worse, so there is no immediate need to act. If you can change other fluids you can change the transmission fluid. If you don't want to change the tranny fluid yourself, there is benefit in understanding what is required to change the fluid, how it is done, and what the options are (full fluid change, drain pan and refill, etc). There are is a lot of information on this site and youtube. One popular thread here is https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diy-full-flush-for-automatic-transmission.68462/

The first transmission fluid change I did in my life was on my 2010 Tacoma. I did some reasearch. I called a dealer and asked the cost of the change and how much fluid they would use. They said they would only use a few quarts, where a full change takes something like 12+ quarts. That convinced me to do it myself.

 

Congrats and welcome

 

Screaming deal. Enjoy it!

 

Would get new plugs, clean MAF, clean Throttle body for snappier throttle feel, and preventative maintenance… and the replace serpentine belt as an easy “just in case”

the rest is just paying attention to it and see what if any wear parts need updating.

 

Well, some in my research say Not to change the ATF fluid, which seems kinda dumb. Wouldn't leaving the old fluid in contribute to tranny failure, especially if there is debris build up in the fluid? Don't we want the ATF and the tranny clean? It didn't leave the dealer like that. And I don't want to wait for my truck to die. If I can do something proactively, I should do it, right? Also it seems peeps are having more success with the drain and fill than the flush, so I will also do the drain and fill. But it doesn't make sense to "do nothing". BTW, all the suggestions are helpful. Keep 'em coming! Thanks guys!!

 

Myth, don't believe it.

Also "flushes" from a machine are usually a bad idea. Drop the pan, replace filter and put in new fluid. Take note that it's impossible to change all the fluid in the auto tranny since the torque converter holds so much. So unless you remove the transmission completely and replace the torque converter you will only get a fraction of the fluid.

Drop the pan and fill, not difficult, sometimes a bit messy, but good maintenance.

 

I agree with @ZColorado. I'd find a way of getting the old fluid out. Dropping the pan as a first step will give you an idea of if there is any nasty stuff sitting in the pan or attached to the magnets in the pan. From there, you can decide on the next course of action.

You could (i) make sure the fill plug can be removed, (ii) train tranny fluid, (iii) remove pan and have a look at what is sitting in the pan/attached to magnets, (iv) replace the filter/screen while you in there, (v) reinstall pan and refill with fluid. (I stripped my drain plug on my tranny using a torque wrench and had to replace my pan...so don't overtighten the drain plug....personally never using a torque wrench on wet threads again). From there you can decide if you want to keep doing drain and refills over a period of time or if you want to change as much fluid as you can using the methods in the link I posted above. The benefit of dropping the pan first is if you decide to replace all (most of) the fluid at once, you won't be circulating any trash sitting in the bottom of the pan through your tranny, as the tranny pan will be clean. Good luck.

 

Welcome to TW! Looks like a TX Pro with those wheels! Is it 4wd?

 

Great deal ! I agree with the others...Drop the pan and change the fluid that way...Has the fluid ever been changed before ?

 

Welcome to TW Chief.

 

Thanks.......Ha Ha I wish. Not even TRD, no hood "scoop". AFAIK, it's just a regular 4.0 2WD with nice wheels. Not sure of the actual trim level yet, no badging. I'll look up the VIN and see what it really is.

 

1st - Welcome , 2nd - fantastic deal , 3rd - little old lady remark is derogatory, she's helping you , 4th- no shifty shoddy jiffy lube ever , 5th - enjoy the journey

 

The TRD packages are based on the "Tacoma Base" so when you look up the VIN the first thing you will see is "Base" and then the options are below that.