Question

Ok so I recently just finished off paying my 17 trd sport, it has 70k on the dash and was recently serviced for an oil change at the dealership, while I was there they suggested a "draining refill & transmission fluid". They stated it'd be about 800 bucks.. II just thought that they wanted too take some more money from me so told them no. just wanna know if it's actually something that needs to be done before 100k or at all?

 

That is a good question. The owners manual on my wifes Sienna only mentions changing fluids when under harse use. I have read other posts saying it should be done at 90000 because after that putting new transmission fluid into a worn transmission may cause more trouble than not changing it. My nephew who is a mechanic said to change it before 90000 and you should be OK. My van just rolled 70000 and I will go with my nephews advice. There are so many different opinions out there. Ill be following this to see what others are saying.

 

Whether it needs it or not $800 seems a little steep.

 

Going by the manual, I'm a frequent tower therefore I plan on flushing every 60 thousand miles.


800 for a trans flush is beyond robbery.

 

He said " drain and fill", not " flush"!

Holy shit! That's some serious coin for $15 in fluid and 15 minutes of rack time!

I'll do it for $200.

 

Its not a 15 minute oil change anymore. Transmissions are now sealed and the fluid has to be drained and pumped back in. You have to replace exactly what you drain out and need to measure what came out before you pump it back in. Also read to get a complete drain and refil it may take a couple of drainings to get most of the old oil out of the system. Again they take something that used to be fairly simple to do and screw it up so you have to pay $800 for what used to cost you less than $100.
My first car was a 67 Ford Fairlane. Even being a dumb kid in high school I was doing most of the work that needed to be done on that car myself including changing the transmission fluid. Yes my dad was there to make sure I did it right but back then there wasnt much you could not do.

 

Some people on here reported getting a drain and fill for under 300

 

Should be between $100-$200
You probably really don’t need it unless you tow a lot .
Wait until your at 100k and take it to a transmission shop . Pan should be dropped before flushing so they don’t push any gunk or metal filings through the transmission.

 

Valvoline MaxLife is ~$18.00 a gallon (Walmart). Add a few $ for crush washers.

 

$800 is robbery. Don't ever go back to that dealer for anything.

I'm in the camp that says NEVER change it. Getting 200,000 out of a transmission without ever changing the fluid is easy and 400,000 is pretty common. And it just doesn't cost that much to get the transmission rebuilt when it does go bad. It is easy to spend more over the life of a truck paying to get the transmission serviced than you'd spend having it rebuilt, or even replaced with a new one in some cases.

 

AMD is a master technician
https://youtu.be/TevK-u3vkx4

I wouldn't pay $800

 

You can do it yourself in the driveway for a fraction of that. It’s fairly simple

 

It's not necessary the manual tells what's recommended by manufacturer that's way to much money not worth it.

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld

 

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$166 Toyota - World Standard Autom (00289-ATFWS)

$100 in fluid and 30 minutes of rack time because the fluid level needs to checked at a specific temperature range. While $800 is robbery, if you were a shop, you wouldn't turn a profit charging $200 if using Toyota-branded WS fluid. Welcome to 2005

 

3.5 qts. Of WS is not $100. That's all you are getting out when you do a drain.

Still, $800 is rediculous!

 

My local transmission shop does this service for $150.
They actually just did my buddies Tundra last week. Trans, coolant, brake and power steering fluid and diffs for $600 total.

 

Depends on how you drive. Do you go off-road a lot? Tow a lot? Redline the engine in 2nd gear for 10 minutes often? If so change your transmission fluid by 60k.

 

Not much towing or offroading since I'm in NY unfortunately lol but appreciate all the input fellas. Definitely informative. Don't trust much of what a dealership says now a days.

 

I’ve watched a bunch of his videos but I hadn’t seen this one. Thanks for sharing, good info.