5.5hr to cool the transmission

I dropped my 2018 off at the dealer to check the transmission. It's shifting hard (mainlymwhen cold) and I suspect it's low on fluid. They said the transmission needs to cool off to diagnose it.

Dropped it off at 1130am, got a call 2hr later saying they may not be able to do it today because it may not be cool enough.The high today 9c (48f). Sounds a little fishy to me but I'm not transmission cooling expert.

 

Not fishy at all. They usually let it sit overnight.

Cheers

 

I'm amazed that they couldn't tell me that before I waited in the waiting area for 90min

 

I have the same hard shifting when cold and sometimes downshifts hard into 1st at any temp. I've had the dealership check the fluid level before, they said it was fine. Then again my dealership (Berglund Toyota of Lynchburg VA) is kinda salty when it comes to doing any work so they might not have checked it at all.

 

theres a bunch of info on this I seem to remember that the temp ha to be 107 to like 115 ? or something close to that.
I did mine and used my scanGage II for a temp reading Hope this helps

 

Temp has to be that to check the fluid level?

 

Yes temp needs to be in a narrow range to check but given the cold ambient temp where you are that’s bullshit. I had my second gen transmission fluid changed in Phoenix, AZ when it was 80 degrees outside (dropped off truck first thing in the morning and it was done by mid afternoon).

 

If they want to drive it with a cold transmission to diagnose the cold transmission shifting problems it makes sense that they’d want it to cool off completely first.

 

The 107-115 is the temp the Fluid has to be at to check its level in the trans
its a time consuming proses not hard but it takes time the writeup I used to check my trans post #4 temp 115 to 133

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...be-low-on-fluid-directly-from-factory.405642/

 

. . . . which is why these things should be designed to test hot, with a dipstick!!

G.

 

Truth

 

Good video that explains the process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNcecuGzTDg

 

Excellent post. Finally I understand. Thank you,

 

Is your Scan Gauge II capable of reading your Transmission fluid temperature?

 

it gets the same reading you would see if you plugged in a scan tool to the OBDII I get 2 readings
one from the torque converter and the other from the pan so yes. I used the pan reading

 

Fantastic explanation of the procedure. Great info

 

Cannot pressurize something with a dipstick lol, which is why your transmission does not have one.

 

Pressurize? Why would our trans be pressurized?

 

Improved flow through all the internal passages, especially the smaller ones. Not talking about 3000 psi, just several psi due to the heat.

 

Toyota AC60F Auto Transmission Fluid Adjust doc: