Toyota Oil Test at 11K miles

Lol that's like saying it's worth it to turn around three times and touch your nose and pull your ear every time you see a blue car go by...
It's just old ideas and habits.

 

Uh, thanks? Mobil-1 is what I use in three of my engines (Taco, Highlander, Subaru) it seems like good stuff. Sadly it's not recommended for use in KTM Motorcycles.

 

fair point. I’m sure the dealer will prob just drain and fill. I may just do it myself if it wasn’t for the ridiculous filling and check procedure.

So you’ve seen a bunch of transmissions blow up because they have been flushed? Like with your own eyes? Are you a transmission mechanic? Did you just read it on internet or was it your 3rd cousin’s best friend’s nephew that had it happen to them?

In most of those cases there is underlying issue with the transmission to begin with. A flush could possibly make that arise in a more timely state.

I wonder if Blackstone could do ATF too? It would also be neat to see given the “Lifetime” fluid in the transmission.

I’m honestly interested to see if the blower has any effect on the oil quality in the 3.5.

 

I'm sending trans fluid whenever I make it to the post office.

 

Doesn't matter how the new fluid got in there, if new fluid causes slipping, it wasn't a perfectly good transmission.

The clutches become so worn from old high friction fluid that they become dependant on the extra friction to not slip. Once the new fluid comes in with lower friction, the slipping starts. Those parts store slip additives just add back friction, like limited slip additives for a differential. Sooner or later it will start slipping again. That is why you will here advice that if you have a high mileage trans on bad original fluid don't change the fluid, save that money for a rebuild.

I do agree though, you are better off doing more frequent quick and simple drain and fills to keep the fluid in a consistently good condition, than run it to burned out and replace it all via a flush.

 

you said it better then I could. Thanks!

 

With my own eye. My father was a mechanic, owned his own shop, I worked in said shop from about 8 years old until I graduated HS.

That's not the scenario I'm talking about. But yes, if you even drain and fill on an old transmission that's never had the fluid changed, that can certainly happen.

Doing a flush, even on a transmission that's had regular fluid changes can dislodge debris which can cause restrictions in valve bodies bumping up pressure significantly and ruining the bands. Or block the passages completely and burn the thing up even faster. Said junk can wind up in between the clutch plates.

Point being, no matter what the condition of your tranny, a flush can be it's demise.

 

Nice FIFY. Haven’t been there yet.

 

All i did on my 2001 tundra as far as the atf was 4 qt drain and refills for its 292k miles. That transmission still worked fine. I heard all sorts of horror stories on them from others if you didn't do a complete flush, the planetary gear cluster in them would blow apart.

 

That TBN tells me your oil is hammered! Not sure why folks think >10k is ok.

 

I have seen quite a few start slipping after a flush over the years, to the point I will never do one again.
Transmissions have a lot of small passages and over time, sediment can find it's way to corners and just lie there doing no harm. When flush, it can disturb that sediment and put it in places that can cause problems. Not always, but hey...

 

Same with my 03 over 171000 until i sold it. Nary a hiccup!

 

I've been changing engine oil at 10K for a very long time with no issues. With synthetic oil even 10K is probably conservative.

My dad started driving in 1936 at age 13 ( grand dad bought a car and never learned to drive), I started in 1974. Dad has been gone since 2013, but between us we have done exactly ZERO transmission fluid changes. Dad worked in sales for 25 years driving 40-50K per year. We've put 200,000 miles on a lot of vehicles. There is almost 1/2 million combined miles on the vehicles in my driveway. And between us we've had exactly ZERO transmission issues related to the fluid. I did have some electrical gremlins at one time.

The local transmission shop here in town tells me they see no correlation between how often the fluid is changed and when the transmission dies. And they do see a lot of transmissions die shortly after the fluid is changed. I've had friends change it every 50,000 miles and still have to replace the transmission at 150,000. I've seen others go 400,000+ miles on the factory fluid.

The only correlation they see is that some vehicles have known issues. Some will die at 100,000, some 150,000 and others seem to run forever without changing the fluid.

 

Service contract was for routine maintenance and you should probably ask toyota on how long the driveline warranty is.