Tacoma Transmission Flush 80k miles

I see - I'm guessing their plan of attack would be to do a drain and fill like the dealer and not drop the pan unless asked to do so and charge extra for that. Which I'm thinking at 100K miles I probably should have the pan dropped. The good news is, my truck doesn't pull anything and I don't put much stress on my truck's gearbox with typical daily driving.

 

I'm waiting for an "expert" aka a technician to advise on what they would do with a truck at 100k miles, that's never had its fluid changed. Yes I'd prefer the thorough job of cleaning the magnets and dropping the pan done, however, I'm also not looking to brick my transmission on an upcoming 7,000 mile cross country /back trip in September.

 

Dropping the pan won't brick the transmission.
It's a relatively simple process, and the Tacoma pan / gasket design is all but foolproof.

 

Def not implying dropping the pan will brick it, but my concern is, with a truck that's not had fluid changed, and being at 100K, if a more through fluid change is done, or a flush is done, I'm risking bricking the transmission as many people believe flushes or complete fluid changes create a "shock" to the internals and subsequently a transmission can have issues or get destroyed.

Some believe if you get to a certain mileage and haven't done any fluid changing, to just leave it at that point.

Dealer just called and a complete flush is $543, a fluid change is $300ish (which I expected), and to drop the pan they are quoting 3.5 to 4 hours at $179/hour + fluid change ($300). She's saying the flush will likely get all the debris out and including anything on the magnets - from everything I have read people here OPPOSE flushes. But someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

I think they're smoking something about 3.5 to 4 hours on pan drop but that's the way Stealerships operate.

 

Did a 13qt flush @150k along with a new filter and pan gasket. First time the tranny had anything done to it.


Was I worried about dislodging something, no because I did the work carefully and cleanly. When the pan comes off everything loose drips downward and is ether in the drain pan or it's already sitting in the tranny pan you took off. There was a small bit of swaif sticking to the magnets but nothing more then a paste, that debris is no longer in the transmission and the inside of the transmission has less now then before it came apart.



The sealing surface at the bottom of the transmission in the pan area was cleaned prior to assembly, if there were particles that didn't drop out they're still there like they were before, I didn't add any. The parts that were placed back were clean and/or new. Am I worried about varnish etc... no, if there's varnish I find it hard to imagine you wouldn't see it sticking to the visible parts inside the pan since that sees all the fluid also. There wasn't any visible varnish anywhere that I could see, in fact it looked pristine for 150K. I try to focus on what has happened and tend not to worry about what might happen. In my case there was some torque converter shudder and hard shifts when manually shifting in and out of OD. The hard shifts are completely gone and to me it reduced the TC shudder although that didn't disappear completely. The truck shifts nicely and the fluid is new, couldn't really ask for more.

 

Flush will do nothing for any debris that is attracted to the magnets, they have to be cleaned manually if you want what ever is stuck to them removed. In my case that's all that I saw in the pan. nothing loose or sitting in the area between the magnets which tells me the filter and magnets are doing what they're designed to.

 

3rg gen pan and gaskets are easier too, especially if you're doing it on your back..

 

you should consider your options for another 2-3 years so you can start a new thread asking what to do for a first time transmission service at 150K miles.

Analysis Paralysis is real.

Depending on where you are located, the biggest issue you may encounter is a siezed pan bolt that will break and require time and headache to get out and replace. a drain, fill, and check is about an hour total if you are taking your sweet time to do it.

I did my transmission filter and fluid at 60k for peace of mind. nothing at all was visible that caused me to stop and say, "wow, I am glad I did that!". I had a bolt break and it was a major PITA to extract and repair, I now have a threaded insert where the threaded hole used to be. I also applied a small amount of anti-sieze to all of the bolts before re-installation. I will likely never pull the pan again, but if I have to, I won't need to open the "oh shit" drawer.

 

Do it.

100k isn't the end of the world.. sooner the better.

You won't hurt the trans

 

I had my Camry transmission flushed at 95k, still on the original fluid.

It's been two years and I have had no issues.

 

Bought my truck used a few months ago with 75k miles on it, doubt any of the items were serviced on it so I’m going through a changing most all fluids and spark plugs. With that being said I am personally changing the motor oil/filter, t case, diffs myself and have already swapped out the spark plugs.

the truck currently has 78k miles on it and so I called to have the transmission serviced from a transmission shop that is reputable.

they said that they would drop the pan, clean the magnets, put a new filter and gasket and fill with oil. For 250.00

does this seem like the best route to go? And a good idea for my trucks first transmission service.

I also asked them while I was on the phone for my wife’s dodge durango that has 112k miles and they said they would do the same and it would be 325.00 crazy when I asked the dodge dealer about the service on the transmission they said it’s lifetime oil haha

What are your thoughts?

 

I just took the truck in to the dealer, had them do a drain and fill. And clean the magnets.

A hefty $643.00 but at least it's done.

$280 for the drain and fill.

2 hours labor for the gasket/magnets - which I'm sure it didn't take 2 hours but you know how Stealerships operate.

Now I'm ready for a 7,000 mile roundtrip to Sequoia National Park and back.

 

How do you know they did it?

 

Well that's like saying how do we know they did any work at all?

When they do an oil change, how do I know they did it?

You could quite literally say this about almost anything a dealer or indie shop does on your vehicle.

I don't know they rotated my tires last time I had an oil change.

I don't know they changed the oil.

I do know they left a grease print on my seat.

I'm not sure what your point is.

The independent shop I talked to said they do the magnets if I wanted them to as well.

 

^^^That brings back a bad memory...
years ago I took my 97 Tacoma to a dealer for an oil change and when I got it home
I looked under the truck and noticed that it still had the Fram oil filter from the previous oil change that I did at home...
Needless to say, I went right back to the dealership and complained... The Service Advisor began to argue with me...
she said "that's impossible" and "it couldn't happen"... I wouldn't back down and they finally took it back into the shop,
5 minutes later the tech came out and apologized... but the Service Advisor never said another word. Bitch!

That was the last time I ever went to that dealership.

I have since got into the habit of always putting a dab of red paint on the filter.

 

Ouch, that price is really sad. I did a complete fluid exchange in about 45 minutes and is super easy and almost mess free if you have an external tranny cooler.

 

Thats cool. I live in an apt. So working on a vehicle is a no bueno.

If you have the tools, time and place have at it.

As I said - indie shops around me in Chapel Hill half the time don’t return calls or send a quote. The Toyota expert in my area did not want to do tranny fluid changes he referred me to a transmission shop.

I don’t want to open the rabbit hole topic of flat rate work but I think it’s fraud IMHO. Just bc the MFG says it will take 2 hours doesn’t mean it will or should allow you to charge me for 2 hours if it took you 1 hour but they do it anyways.

 

For the price you paid, they should have polished them like river rock on a Concho belt..