Transmission fluid change at 300k? Opinions?

I bought my '08 used and every time I've tried to get the transmission fluid changed, not flushed, but just changed, the two shops I use have refused to do it every time. Now I'm at 316,000 miles and as far as I know it's still got the original fluid in it from the factory. It still runs and shifts like brand new. At this point should I even attempt to do a fluid change on it? Any transmission guys in here got any advice for me?

 

How does it look?

I'd be planning the trans. change I guess.

edit: In all seriousness, it's prob. past the point of worrying about. It's hurt. How bad

 

My 0.02....change it. We know its past due....when you bought it did it come with any service maintenance information. In the meantime take a look at this video - its just that easy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej_6BZpK3gg

 

If it craps the bed let us know so we don't rec'd that anymore.

 

iI would just do a drain and fill. Not a whole flush

 

I usually say drain and fill, but thats a lot of miles.

I'd drop the pan and get as much out as possible, clean the magnets and inspect the screen.

New fluid won't kill an old trans. Heat and wear are what kill transmissions, not new fluid.

 

Just change it, these transmissions aren't known for being delicate

 

Ride it out, changing it at this point is wasting money at best. The life expectancy of these transmissions is around 400,000 miles, lots of them have gone that far on factory fluid. Changing the fluid every 50,000 miles doesn't make them last any longer. If the internals of your transmission are not compromised then changing it now won't hurt a thing. Won't help anything either. But if the internals are showing some wear (likely with 316,000 miles) then changing the fluid will cause the transmission to fail sooner rather than later. Often within weeks or days of changing it. It's going to need to be rebuilt in another 100,000 miles or so either way. Save your money till then.

 

Let it ride!!!

 

Drain and refill.

 

@gearcruncher

My vote would be to drain the pan, drop it, replace screen, clean magnets, fill with fresh and then do a full proper flush to push new fluid through the trans.

Gear cruncher will shed some light

 

Thats a lot of mileage without a fluid change and being the second or third owner , you dont know how it was treated before you owned it .
Considering Toyota says to replace the fluid every 60K under ideal driving conditions , a pan drop is where I would start .
Some lube shops refuse to change your fluid because new transmission fluid has a very high detergent content and the shops dont want to risk particles breaking loose resulting in a plugged valve body or plugged shift solenoids. . I suggest a transmission shop over a lube shop any day .
Whats your plans for the truck ? are you keeping it ? if so , then i would start by dropping the transmission pan to see whats laying in the bottom , clean the filter and magnets as mentioned above , then add new fluid .
At that mileage not knowing if its ever been serviced ,3 quarts of fresh fluid thats very high in detergents as well as new re-agents should be enough to rinse the transmission internals as well as freshen everything up .
If everything goes well , do another pan drop in 6 months to catch the junk that the new fluid deposits in the pan .
It will cost you 2 pan gaskets and 1 new filter with that mileage .Your goal here is to replenish the re-agents in the old fluid that I am sure are very depleted by now
Take some pictures of the bottom of the pan and post them up .

Have you researched your vin number to see if anything has been done to the truck at the dealerership ?
https://www.toyota.com/owners/home

 

No but I'm interested to know. Can you do it straight from the Toyota website?

 

You can !
grab your vin number and start typing . Sometimes you learn all kinds of things about your truck you never knew. I wish you luck