100,000 mile tranny fluid BS!

Well, I figure some of you guys out there ended up in this same boat so I figured I'd post this experience.
First off, I don't abuse my truck, I run loads (generally not too heavy), and an occasional trailer, I don't jackrabbit the truck either. At about the 78,000 mark i began to notice the tranny was shifting a little later and that around 80k i began to notice that the drive train didn't feel like it was 'hooking' up right away from a dead stop. I felt like low fluid and a vacuum leak. Not a whole lot, but enough to make me notice. I went to the dealership and got hit with "why do you want to change it? It's 100,000 mile fluid, it doesn't need it", then they said "well why don't you check the level?" ahem, it's a sealed tranny dummies, there is no dipstick, well long story short, I bought enough fluid for a drain and change, took it back to my shop and instructed the guy to A: Check how much comes out, B: what condition is the old fluid in and refill. Fluid was somewhat discolored but not cooked and it appeared to be at the right level. Now the truck runs great, no lag off of the line and shift points are correct, 100,000 mile fluid my ass!

 

mines right around 80k and i'm taking it in to have the fluid flushed next month, i dont care what they say

 

How much flud did you add? I think I added too much but Im not sure..

but mine hesitates and sometimes the shift points are off...

 

My '05 was A-OK until 100,000 miles for the change... I was concerned as well... but never a shifting problem. I traded it for the 2010 just 2,000 miles later...

 

does it make a difference if it is automatic or stick to do a tranny flush??

 

I don't think they changed anything on the manual? I would just treat it like any other manual tranny.

 

I am at 67k and I have noticed the same thing with my tranny, it is not shifting correctly either. I am going to have mine done soon, its good to know that a fluid change fixed the issue.

 

My understanding was 3.2 quarts for a fill, mines a 4x4 v6 with auto tranny.

 

My issue was that the tranny would stay in a lower gear too long and it would lag on takeoff, i would feel a 'thunk' in the drivetrain.

At the dealer they finally said, 'hey, couldn't hurt" the guy at the tranny shop called BS on 100,000 mile fluid.

So I've done the rear diff, front diff, transfer case and the tranny, damn if this truck doesn't feel a WHOLE lot better.

 

Not sure on the manual either, there was some bad info floating around TW about the interval on the auto tranny's interval.

Oh and also, the guy said there was a TSB on our trucks about the propeller shaft in the tranny, don't know what that is but it sounds pretty important, my truck did not need it, so if you go in, ask about that too.

 

All of the toyota people I've talked to said that this "world standard" fluid NEVER needs to be changed out unless there is a problem, or you do alot of towing and hauling. When you tow and haul, they recomend 60k for a drain n fill only. The dealerships say they don't flush it at all. I personally don't do anything but drive, but rest assured I will at least do my own drain n fill at 100k. Hopefully by then I will have a nice diagnostic tool that tells me the trans temp.

Anyone know what the temp needs to be?

 

Yep, that's what I heard too, except it's BS, I don't abuse the truck, that's why I posted the thread, if the fluid was low, that would explain the problems but it wasn't, I don't think anyone here would have a problem with having to drain and fill at 75k or whatever, but claiming that it doesn't need to be changed for the life of the vehicle is wrong, especially for a truck that doesn't do a lot of heavy hauling or trailers.

 

Let me ask yall this. DO the dealers do a full trans flush when asked, or do they just do the 3.5 quart pan drain and fill? B/c it seems they just drain the pan. To me it seems like that is pointless only draining 3.5 wuarts out of the 12-14 wuarts that are in there? (dont know exact measurement, just guesstimating)

Also: this whole waiting till the trans is at temperature to check, and going through all the leaps and bounds to check it, how much difference could that make, like if i were to just let if run for a few minutes and shift it through the gears then check the overflow?

 

I did the drain and fill at 60k, it was still red but was turning brown. Ran it for 15k, then did another drain/fill... fluid was red like it was fresh. I know the tranny holdes like 12quarts total or something ridiculous... Was hoping to get some more old fluid out but that didnt happen.

Its starting to shift rough again... 81k. May try a drain/filll again

 

It's 3 something in the tranny but there is more in the lines and the tranny cooler in front. The guy at the shop told me he needed 15 quarts for his machine to do a flush on my system.

It is needed by the literature that i read to have the tranny within a specific temp range (not too hot not too cold), to check the level, if it's too hot, it says to let it cool down before attempting to check. sounds pretty important to me. I figure why take the chance, it's the tranny of the truck.

And there was no way that I was gonna pay dealer shop rates to do this but I wanted to use the Toyo WS fluid.

 

Check to see if the tranny TSB applies to your truck if you haven't done so already.

 

You know a computer controls the RPM/Shift interaction... and there was a TSB or recall to change the ecu program, chip, whatever on many Toyotas. If your Tacoma is not shifting correctly, it may very well be the computer...? My 2010 and wife's 2008 Toyotas had the new chip installed... shifts fine.

 

If there was a problem with the ECU, it would always do that, mine was something that changed over time which is why I became concerned.

 

You go to a tranny shop?

 

Hey, trannys love to shop, didn't you know that?