Transmission and differential fluid change intervals

I was reviewing the service schedule for my new 25 Off Road and no where does it mention a replacement interval for either the transmission or differential fluids. Anyone have insight on Toyota’s recommended intervals? Thanks.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nBBUQJKTaiM&pp=ygUcQ2FyIGNhcmUgbnV0IGJyZWFrIGluIHBlcmlvZA==

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Imafmy3Ycew&pp=0gcJCfwAo7VqN5tD

 

My current 3rd gen , with peace in mind , I change gear oils Before summer and before winter . Multiple drain and fills on the transmission once a year. My new 2025 do the same regimen.

 

Thank you sir!

 

Yikes. You driving 60k per year?

 

I've driven several million miles in the last 50 years. Never once changed transmission fluid. Never had an issue with fluids. I've had electrical gremlins with transmissions before, but never a fluid related issue. The Tacoma is at 258,000 miles. My Honda was 230,000 miles before it was hit by a driver and totaled, my wife's Explorer is at 82,000 and I just sold my F150 today with 168,000 miles. All with the factory fluid in them. That's 738,000 combined miles. Most vehicles will end up in the scrap yard for other reasons before the factory transmission fluid is an issue.

I had the diff's and transfer case fluid changed in my Tacoma at 170,000. My mechanic said to bring it back at 300,000.

I change oil at 10,000 on most engines. Those with turbo's 5000-7000. Replaced the coolant and radiator hoses at 250,000. It gets new plugs and a serpentine belt every 100,000. Still have the factory rotors but they will have to be replaced with the next brake job.

Some guys literally spend more money changing fluids than it will cost to just drive them and replace parts when they wear out. It's about the same time either way.

 

I appreciate your input and experience. I just traded in a 2011 with over 220,000 miles on it and didn’t change it in that…still ran great, however considering what I just paid for this 25 Off Road, I’m going to spend the money and do it. Worth it for the peace of mind.

 

It's in the Warranty & Maintenance Guide.

• 15k/18mo:
  • Inspect front and rear diff oil, replace if towing or heavily loaded.
• 30k/36mo:
  • Inspect ATF, front, and rear diff, transfer case oil;
  • Replace transfer case oil if driving on dirt roads or dusty roads;
  • Replace front and rear diff oil, transfer case oil if towing or heavily loaded.
• 45k/54mo: Same as 15k.
• 60k/72mo: Same as 30k. Additionally:
  • Replace ATF if under towing or heavily loaded or extensive idling or low speed driving (police, taxi, delivery use).
• 75k/90mo: Same as 15k/45k.
• 90k/108mo: Same as 30k
• 105k/126mo: Same as 15k/45k/75k.
• 120k/144mo: Same as 60k.

So, if you're a light user, Toyota doesn't recommend you replace those fluids at all. Which, if you ask me, is a terrible idea.

I'd say you should use your judgement based on what your load pattern is. My truck lives a pretty tame life, so I figure I'll do:

• All the oil every 60k, inspect every 15k.

FYI: There's obviously lots of other things to do on the schedule. The ones that jump out at me are:

• Re-torque the propeller shaft bolt is all over the place, depending on the load pattern. It's there as infrequently as every 15k and as frequently as every 5k. They really want you to re-torque that bolt...
• Spark plugs are due every 40k.
• Tire rotations are due every 5k.

 

As a former master diagnostic tech says in several of his videos, the Car Care Nut maintains that Toyota wants to have the minimum amount of maintenance that can get you past the warranty.

 

Thanks, I didn’t see this in the manuals I received (Canadian version) ‍♂️

 

Interesting. I just dug around on the Toyota Canada website and couldn't find anything besides a tool that'd generate a really dumbed down maintenance schedule.

The US one is here: https://assets.sia.toyota.com/publications/en/omms-s/T-MMS-24Tacoma/pdf/T-MMS-24Tacoma.pdf

 

Fluid replacement replacement interval is generally use/temp dependent.

A good rule of thumb but I wouldn't take it too seriously since it from a website that sells coolers and fluid so I'm sure its biased a bit. I think 220 and below should be good for 65k miles. 240F is where you should be concerned. 300+ is "replace ASAP" (or pull over and let cool down ):




This is why you should know / monitor your trans temp, especially when towing / hauling.

 

Thank you! Yeah, i definitely didn’t get this manual

 

Not quite, almost 40k a year .

 

All completely scare tactic to make $$. My 10 year old bmw X5 has never changed its transmission fluids. They also recommend not to change it for the life of the vehicle. Opening up the transmission will cause more harm then good per bmw.

 

Ive come to trust the manufacturers intervals after having two trouble free Toyota vehicles go over 200k with all original fluids. Ive also had three Ford F250s with over 300k, used for work towing every mile following the 150k transmission drain interval without issue.

This is my first Tacoma and I use it to tow only 3,000lbs a little more than 100 miles per tank. I cant imagine 3,000lbs would qualify for the early service listed in the manual? Ill take the chance and own up and replace a transmission if im wrong. Another year and my truck will just be a commuter vehicle not towing anymore and occasionally a bed full of firewood.

 

At the risk of this being Yet Another Oil Thread, I ran a UOA on my truck after an oil change. There's some fuel dilution in the engine oil, especially if you use it under heavy load. This was what I found and when I looked for other UOAs, it is not unique to the Tacoma, but this engine. The few UOAs on BITOG from this T24A-FTS engine show the same thing on the Lexus and Toyotas. It wasn't extreme, but it was flagged on the report from Polaris as abnormal.

 

How many miles on the oil?

 

Maybe 4000 when I changed it. I think it reaches a steady state level and never really goes above or below that. I haven't done a second UOA yet to see if it was one-off or just a consistent feature of the engine.

I agree with you about the factory spec times probably being sufficient. There's a lot of gripes people posted about with their Tacomas, but unlike wet-belt fords, or the timing cover leaks on older tacomas, you don't see oil-related failures really at all.

 

I was only referring to the transmission, transfercase, and differential fluids that this thread is about. Ive found the sealed systems with no outside contamination and heat as the only enemy are lasting when following the manufacturers intervals that many think are too long with newer vehicles.

I do not follow the 10,000mi engine oil interval because the engine oil gets contaminated from outside sources but this thread made no mention of engine oil in the original post.