How to Drain/Refill Automatic Transmission

There are several compatible fluids from other manufacturers. Valvoline Maxlife ATF is popular and can be found at Walmart for <$5 a qt and <$18 a gallon. There are several other brands. I recommend reading your manual and matching the recommendations to the specs on the backs of bottles at your store. If you're not comfortable with that-see your dealer.

 

Thank you sir

 

If you're truly a "Lazy SOB" you would order online

 

Unless you are getting really good prices from your local dealer ( sounds like you don't care for them anyway) then you should be getting Toyota genuine stuff online where it is so much cheaper. But like ABN said, you can use Valvoline Maxlife ATF which is probably the best option for anyone who isn't super meticulous about maintenance.

 

Just wanted to share my weekend's bad experience with everyone. Doing this job for the second time, I stripped the threads of the drain hole in the pan. I assume I over torqued it the first time I did this job.

Calling the dealer tomorrow to see how much a new pan, gasket, and plug will cost me.

 

I recently got this from Toyota Seattle:

Hi River,

I was forwarded your inquiry about your transmission fluid service on your Tacoma. Our dealership offers both a drain and fill service as well as a full flush service. The current condition of the fluid would determine which service is needed. A drain and fill is just exactly what it sounds like, drain as much fluid as we can and then pour bottles of fluid in to bring back up to proper operating level. When we do a drain and fill service we generally only use 4 quarts of fluid to do so. When we do a flush, we are using a machine that will flush the entire transmission system. The full flush with the machine uses 10 quarts of fluid to ensure fully clean transmission fluid in the end.

Costs:
Transmission Drain and fill: $224.48 + tax
Transmission Flush: $358.28 + tax

Please let me know if you have any further questions about the services or if you would like me to schedule an appointment to perform the work.
We appreciate your business,

 

Price is a bit steep...

 

It's easy enough to do on your own.....

 

Just did price checking on this in Maryland

Transmission Drain and fill: $179
Transmission Flush: $289

 

Semi-related question - I have a fluid pump like the one in the OP which I used when I replaced my differential and transfer case oil. Anyone have a method for cleaning the pump between uses? I'd like to use the same one for my tranny fluid drain/fill.

 

Yep not that difficult

 

Brake Cleaner.

 

Leave the parts hanging overnight so that gravity gets most of it out, and then just hot water and soap to clean it out.

 

I just got off the phone with crown toyota here in southern california, and they are saying 139 for a drain and refill. I asked about the transmission flush and they are saying that they dont do the flushes because it is a sealed transmission. Can anyone verify that you cant do a flush on a 2012 tacoma transmission

 

Well what is their definition of a flush? A lot of shops use a machine that is literally designed to flush out a system and if the machine doesn't work with a certain vehicle then they'll claim they don't do flushes.

But if you're talking about doing a coolant line exchange of fluid, then any shop can do that if they believe it is a safe thing to do.

For most people, a simple drain and fill once a year of the 3-4 quart pan capacity is adequate to extend the life of the trans. A complete coolant line exchange is better, but can be done incorrectly and burn out the TC/Pump and is also more arduous to do.

In EITHER case, you need to learn how to check the trans fluid level. There is a easy factory procedure for doing it by jumping some OBD wires.

 

Is anyone here using an ultragauge or scangauge to check the fluid level? I have my ultragauge reading both the pan and TC temp, so I feel like I could use it to check the fluid level. The only thing I'm concerned about is, I've noticed that putting the truck into temp check mode slows down the trucks idle speed, makes me wonder if that's necessary for some reason or if it could in any way impact the fluid level of the transmission?

 

In the revised service procedure, you are actually supposed to remove the OBD jumper wire once in temp check mode, for that very reason (the idle speed changes slightly).

The only way I would use the OBD trans fluid readings was if we could get some 20 people here to report back with the OBD temp value once the truck ENTERED temp check mode and EXITED temp check mode. This way we can get an average on both ends of the spectrum and narrow it down.

I'm not sure if we know for sure what sensors are used by the ECM's temp check mode, which is why I am hesitant to rely on things like infrared pan readings or Torque/BT formula values.

 

I saw that on a Lexus forum, I believe it was anyways (it's been a while, I can't remember exactly where I saw that), but they recommended removing the jumper wire when checking the fluid. I have always just left the jumper in, but always thought that the change in idle speed was sure to change something.

I also read on the diy full flush thread that the most recent service information for the a750 says to check the fluid level between 97°-115°, instead of the 115°-130° that was recommended on older models. I wonder what that's about? Did they change the height of the check plug tube slightly? Or did they decided that they had been slightly under filling these transmissions? If you can enter temp check mode, then pull the jumper, then I could plug my ultragauge back in and see what the temp was when the light comes on and when it says the atf is too hot. Of course that wouldn't help anyone else much, the later tacomas use different PID inputs for the ultragauge transmission temps so it would have to be tested on the newer models too.
I found this to be an interesting read. I think there are a lot of a750s out there running around that have been checked by a method other than the temp check mode method that are still doing just fine. I've heard of some people driving around a few minutes then just pulling the check plug and calling it a day. Also heard of people using an IR gun to check the pan temp with. I don't think these transmissions are too terrible picky and any of them mentioned methods seem to get it closer to where it's supposed to be that Toyota does from the factory.

 

2014 here - the oil temp light comes on after the 6 shifts and goes off for 2sec and comes right back on (still in N before going to P) and continues to stay on in P. Does this mean i'm at temp and ready to drain?

she was sitting about 1hr and i moved her right before i started the drain which took ~1 hr.

if i move it into R or D oil light turns off and comes back on in N or P

 

update - my assumptions were correct - it the fluid is in the correct range when you go into AT check temp mode, the temp light will come on for 2sec and go off and come right back on in N and P. It will go off in R or D.

since i was not sure about being in check mode, i let her idle for 15min before pulling the overflow bolt. when i was done ~1-2 min. i noticed the light was flashing. so going back to the stealer for another qt to recheck level.

which way is the level error with a few degrees on the high side? high / low?

i got a kiwi3 coming for the redo.