DIY: Full Flush for Automatic Transmission

Not arguing at all, just stating my opinion and limited experience. If you have enough and large enough debris to clog a full size engine filter, you have a failing trans anyways, imo. Plus my filter is after the radiator but before the auxiliary cooler, so in theory my radiator cooler would likely clog before my spin on did in the event that the trans started shedding massive amounts of hard parts. The spin-on for me is just to remove some clutch material and filter the fluid to remove some of the smaller particles that the pickup screen would otherwise let pass through. I have seen high mileage transmissions that run remote engine oil filters with nearly spotless pans.... but then again these are people that meticulously maintain their vehicles, a lot of people don't do maintenance on their transmissions until they start to have issues. There's a lot of good reading here. If you're thinking of doing this, do your own research and come to your own conclusions. If your trans fails, it's your baby... same with me, if I'm wrong I'll be the one that has to eat it. That's how life works.
Thanks for all your contributions to this site @gearcruncher , I greatly value your opinion and appreciate all the help you've provided to me and many others over the years.

 

@gearcruncher

These may be novice questions, but for whatever reason I am apprehensive about the tranny. I have 166k miles on my truck and I’m not sure if the tranny fluid has ever been changed... bought it at 125k. I’ve been reading that doing a flush at this high of miles may actually cause the tranny to slip since there won’t be enough friction from the worn metal particles that have now been flushed out.. what do you think the best thing would be to do in my situation? Full flush and pray for the best? Multiple drain and refills and hope for the best? Nothing at all? Just confused.. I feel like as soon as I do enough research and have a game plan, I read other stuff that makes me question what I was about to do. I just need solid advice from someone who really knows these trucks. I just don’t want to do more harm than good..

Thanks!

 

Take your truck to a transmission shop for a proffesional transmission service .
They will not flush your truck . They will remove your transmission pan and inspect the magnets and what has accumulated in the filter over the years . From there , they will make a decision of what to do but dont listen to me .
Listen to the guys who simply put , know everything about your transmission
http://www.atra.com/transmission_service

Take notice , I will never let a Toyota dealership touch a transmission after the warranty is over and I will always get a second opinion after a Toyota dealership has made a diagnostic on a transmission .

 

Subd

 

Ok this makes much sense! I too don’t like having the dealership do anything but diagnose a problem on my truck. I will take your advise and go to a trans shop and have them further look into it. There’s a good one close to me. Thanks for the response. I appreciate the advise!

 

Sub'd.

 

Well my curiosity made me drop the pan. Surprisingly not bad at all. Had to drop the pan twice cause I forgot the magnets lol! Truck runs great and I also added the lube gard in.

Leak free


Glad I dropped the pan because all the bolts were finger tight and one was missing.

 

I am really inexperienced in auto repair DIY. This might be a stupid question, I can't find any torque specs on the screws that holds my skid plate of my 2007 Tacoma. Is it important or not? Would like to know it before I remove my skid plate. Anyone who can help would be really appreciated!

 

Thanks bro, so glad to join the the group!

 

What diameter tubing to connect the sprayer to.the inlet? Just want to do a drain and fill. Am I understanding correctly that I can fill what I've drained from the pan through a sprayer and.into the inlet? Thank you!

Kory

 

I used 3/8” ID but I couldn’t get it tight enough with a hose clamp therefore it leaked. I have seen some use a smaller diameter tube...then a barb fitting....then the 3/8 hose.

 

Could you or anyone else elaborate a bit on this method?

Thanks,

Kory

 

I have used clear 3/8 ID tubing multiples times in the past, fit perfect. You can get it at lowes or any home improvement type store. I've used the kind that comes with those hand pumps too, most of the hose that comes with those is the right size as well. Most of your 3/8 Id hose will be 1/2 od. I use the hand pump to pump fluid back into the transmission by removing the grill and pulling a return hose off the the atf cooler. I never use clamps on the clear hose, it always fits snug enough to not leak, ymmv.
On my 07, you can pull the hose off the top of the aux cooler to pump fluid out with the truck running, if you're doing a flush, the other end of that hose, the fixed hard line, is where you wanna hook your line up to pump fluid back in. The attached pic is me pumping fluid out with the truck running. To put fluid back in, pull the other end of that short hose off and attach your pump and hose. They did change the coolers on the newer trucks, but the top hard line where you pump fluid back in is the same I think. Someone with a newer truck can verify that. I don't ever use the fill plug anymore.


Performance Tool W1156 Grip Clip Transfer Pump/ Siphon Fluid Transfer Pump Kit for Gas, Oil, Liquid, and Air

$12 Performance Tool W1156 Grip Clip Transfer Pump/ Siphon Fluid Transfer Pump Kit for Water, Oil, Liquid, and Air, Black/Clear, 48" Hoses

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J8331U6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_khllAbZVFTEE5

 

Great response, thank you. Just to clarify. If I drain 3are from the pan I can refill three are at the inlet?

 

I attached the 3/8 tubing like this from the inflow and out flow of the trans cooler.

 

The 3/8 fit fine on everything but the sprayer....it was loose on the sprayer nozzle.

I should have done it like so

 

You can see it leaking right here
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wMcqXVJx5yI

 

Yeah, that's what I do, drain the pan and then refill with 3.5 quarts to do a drain and fill. It actually only takes 3.2 quarts to do a drain and fill, but I put a little extra so I only have to do the fluid level check once.

 

Just did this on mine yesterday. 2nd time on this truck. First was at 107k miles and this one is at 170k. I have used Valvoline Max Life both times and on this change, the fluid looked pretty good - probably could have gone another 10-15k miles. The first change was two years ago and the fluid was 10 years old and pretty black IIRC. At any rate, I can definitely recommend the Valvoline. Get it at Walmart, they are about 7 bucks cheaper than anywhere else and have free shipping on orders of $35 or more. I got it enough to do my truck and the wife's Honda Element.

I used the sprayer method, but this time I only took the hose off the feed side of the transmission cooler (I have the towing package). I put a 4', 3/8" piece of fuel line on the line coming from the transmission to an empty bottle of the MaxLife, that I put inside a cardboard box with some packing paper to soak up any spills and keep the bottle from falling over. Attached the hose to the bottle with a clamp so it would not come out and so I could see how much was in the bottle.Next, I connected the sprayer to the hose going into the transmission cooler and went to town.

Since this was the second time doing this, it went pretty quick. Anyway, take it FWIW and YMMV.