2013 v6 tacoma with black tranny fluid at only 70k miles

Hey there people. New member to the forum. First time Tacoma owner. I was so happy to buy my first nice rig. I have always driven POS rigs in the past, but through necessity I have become a decent, B-rate, youtube, forum browsing, DIY mechanic.

That being said, I bought my tacoma from a dealership who got the truck through a repo situation. So only one owner, and 70k miles. The truck was shiny, no rust, no damage, no bs. All the fluids were full and clean, all the bells and whistles rang and whistled. But one thing I couldn't check was the tranny fluid. This was expected, as I did my research, I knew about the little 'check' hex-nut on the pan beneath.

I have noticed there is an ongoing debate about 'closed system ATs' and how they need/don't need to ever be serviced. I wanted the legends to be true, so I bought the truck without looking at the ATF.

After driving a few weeks, I noticed a slight bucking in shifts that were consistant on the same hills/speed decrease.

I may be new to tacomas, but I am going to immediately have to say that I am now in the check-your-ATF camp. It was black. It was watery. It was scary.

After seeing how dark the ATF was, I immediately changed it and the filter with the proper WS rated trans-oil, and via the Tacoma World forums, I found an awesome how-to with pics link.

No more bucks on that hill. And now I am proud to say I have a nice rig again.

Long story short, at least take a look at your tranny fluid every 50k miles or so. Sorry no links. But I can post them if there is anyone who has a hard time finding how to do the ATF and filter change. To be fair, the ATF service change I did only removes about 75% of the old black fluid and is not a full flush, which is a whole other debate all together.

Either way. My rig shifts beautifully now. And I'm excited to be part of the Tacoma World. Hopefully this post inspires a new owner not to hesitate and check his ATF at 50k to 70k miles.

 

Welcome to TW, sounds like a fun rig

Nice job using the search function, pretty rare among new members these days

+1 point for you brotha

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld!

 

Welcome to TW

 

Welcome to TW!!

 

Welcome to TW!

 

There is a thread discussing the possibility of better fluid than WS for your rig.

I'm not rec'ing or not......just that there is more info.

 

welcome to tw