New (to me) 2016 TRD Off Road with a few transmission fluid questions.

Hi all. This is my first post as I recently bought a 2016 TRD Off Road 4x4 with 34,000 miles on it. I have learned a ton of information from this site already and I want to express my gratitude towards this community that I am excited to be a part of.

As I was reading through the posts on here, I realized that I should do some maintenance before doing any mods. I am realizing that my biggest concern should be transmission fluid levels. Now I am not trying to start another thread on this issue, I've seen there are thousands of posts over the years regarding this - but I still have some unanswered questions.

While I realize the truck is nearly three years old with a lot of miles on it, and whatever damage that was done already is irreparable, I'd still like to be as proactive as I can be. I don't think the truck was driven its whole life with low fluid because A) I am not experiencing any of the symptoms that point to it such as hard downshifts or a lag when shifting from Park to Reverse or Reverse to Drive and B) I logged into Toyota Owners and registered my VIN. At 8700 miles the previous owner brought the truck into the dealer and the details of that trip read "CUSTOMER STATES VEH SHIFTS HARD AT LOW SPEEDS AND HAS HARD DOWN SHIFTCOMING TO S ~|~CUSTOMER STATES VEH SHIFTS HARD AT LOW SPEEDS AND HAS HARD DOWN SHIFTCOMING TO STOP. CUSTOMER STATES THERE IS A DELAY IN AND OUT OF PARK ~|~ ~|~PERFROM SOFTWARE UPDATE" Keep in mind I am not experiencing any of these issues. So, I know the previous owner experienced some hard shifts. What I do not know is if the dealer, aware of the issues, physically checked the fluid level but they did do a software update. However, based on what I am reading on there I am going to assume they did not physically inspect the transmission fluid level. Lastly, there are no active TSBs on my truck.

Now for my question. This weekend I plan to check the fluid myself using the instructions outlined here. I feel confident in these steps as I have read a lot from different sources and have worked on similar transmissions before in my 2015 Accord. But I figure since I am down there and the truck has 34,000 miles on it I'd like to to a drain and fill. Right now my plan is as follows, and please correct me where I am wrong:

• Perform all of the steps outlined in the post I liked to above, making sure the level is correct.
• Then, while the engine is still warm, drain the fluid, measure what comes out and replace that exact amount with new fluid.
• Possibly repeat the process again to mix the new fluid in with the old.
• Then, the next day perform the check steps again to verify the level, or would this be redundant?

Or, should I drain the transmission first, put in the amount that comes out, and then proceed to ensure the correct level? My rationale for doing it the way I described is at least I'll know if it was low this whole time and by how much.

While I am under there I also plan to lube the drive shaft and torque the bolts. Then in the coming weeks do a drain and fill of both differentials and the transfer case. Does anyone see a reason not to perform any of these steps at this time considering that the fluids might be low from the factory? Are there any other obvious maintenance items I should be addressing right now? The previous owner kept up with oil changes, but there are no other services recorded on the service history on Toyota Owners.

My apologies that this post is so long, but I wanted to be as detailed as possible. And if this has already been discussed please point me in the right direction as I have missed it!

 

"there are no active TSBs on my truck"

in my experience, TSB are a funny thing... they won't explicitly match to your truck. You have to complain to your dealer, match your problem with an existing TSB, and then they'll do it. TSBs are not like recalls, that are specific to your truck.

I HIGHLY recommend doing the latest TSB "62-18"... discussed here on TW a lot recently. It's a game changer.

 

Good to know, thank you. Is it safe to assume that since this TSB wasn't shown on the service history report, it wasn't done by the previous owner in the past?

 

Maybe do a full flush just to be safe . It’s around $100 at the dealer .
Welcome to TW

 

If you're not having problems then I wouldn't go get a TSB done. Many people report mpg loss after that TSB has been applied. I had a different TSB done for my tranny and I experienced 1 mpg drop, and my truck still acts the same

 

Wow that seems pretty cheap. I was planning to buy the fluid from the dealer. Depending on there price to do it vs the price for the fluid maybe I'll just do that. Although after reading everything here I am hesitant to have the dealer do anything...

That's a good point. I am not experiencing anything with the truck, I love it. But I know too much from reading on here and I am getting paranoid. I think I'll hold off on getting any TSB done, especially since I don't know if the fluid is even low yet and I don't have any symptoms.

 

When these TSB's are applied, the dealer is supposed to place a sticker under your hood just to your right of center at the front. I have 2 stickers there...1 for each that I had done..... The first 1 the # ended in "200" and the second one ended in "300"....I would assume that the latest one would have "400" as the last 3 digits in the number.

Also, if checking the fluid level, be sure that you get the truck into the Tranny Temp mode, to ensure it's at the correct Temp.

If you want to just make sure it's full...… Add 2 qts…..get to temp and do the check and see how much comes out..... If it's 2, then you were full. Less than 2.... not full.

Good luck. Good idea to check the diffs as well......mine were low.

 

Congrats on the new truck!
When I joined this forum I imagined I had every problem reported here. But my 2017 has been problem free.
While routine maintenance is a good thing, I wouldn't assume you have low transmission fluid.
If your truck drives fine, sounds right, and performs correctly, you probably don't have a problem.
Don't fret over everything you read here, just enjoy your new ride!

 

Thanks for the help everyone. Yesterday I checked the fluid. Was maybe 1/4 quart low, if that. Didn't do a drain and fill because the fluid looked okay. Greased all 5 universal joints, they were pretty dry. Took 3 or 4 pumps until grease was purged. Got familiar with the truck underneath for the first time. Retorqued leaf spring U-bolts and the driveshaft bolts too.

Next weekend I'll do the differentials and transfer case. Then I can get back to the fun stuff of some mods!