Should I replace or flush my trans fluid?

I have a 2012 4cyl auto Taco. It has 283k miles. I would like to know what you guys think on this? The only Trans flush on carfax was at 60k miles. Should I replace or flush the fluid? Or just leave it alone. Also if I were to do a drain and fill what fluid should I use?

 

Lots of opinions on this. In your situation I’d just do a drain and fill.

 

Never flush irregardless of mileage or last service interval. Drain and fill always.

 

I would do a complete change, not just a drain and fill, but that’s just me. Definitely wouldn’t do a flush though.

 

Drain and fill, if anything it ensures the fluid level is correct, thats a long time without a level check.

 

Watch the most recent Toyota Car Care Nut channel vid on do's and don'ts re transmission fluid. IIRC, in your case, he said don't mess with it. Check this vid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJr30r6RRgw

 

If you know what fluid is in there, I would do a drain/refill with the same brand ATF. But first, I would replace the ATF filter. If you don't know what is in your transmission, I would do a flush.

I believe the OEM ATF on the 4 cyl is Type-IV. In a flush many switch to Valvoline MaxLife Multi Vehicle ATF which is compatible with both Type-IV and WS.

 

Replacing the filter and a simple drain and fill to the correct level is optimal. I use the WS fluid

 

This^^^

 

Drain, measure and and re-fill with Toyota OEM WS fluid. If the pan is dry and leak-free, I personally wouldn't mess with a pan removal on a transmission/car that is shifting fine that has over a quarter of a million miles on it: one frozen, stripped or snapped bolt on the pan or the internal ,filter and your whole day is ruined.

 

https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/129-1002-automatic-transmission-and-power-steering-filters

 

I have posted this before on TW...

This is a very opinionated and controversial topic when it comes to servicing (multi geared) automatic transmissions to say the least…
If you have zero history (in your case over 200K miles with no (known) service) on the transmission maintenance or repairs then I would highly recommend taking it to a transmission shop and have them check it out 1st…

Changing your fluid cannot cause any damage by itself, if everything is fine inside the transmission… The issues start to appear when you change the fluid if your clutches are already worn or damaged from use. If you go and replace the fluid after they are already worn out. this can cause slipping…

Look at the color of the fluid, smell the fluid,… And worst case, drop the pan and use a transmission drain pan to catch all the fluid that comes out and then see what all is in the pan… An experienced transmission builder can tell the differences in materials in the bottom of the pan, like friction material, variety of materials, such as bronze, steel-backed babbitt, plastic, nylon, or cast iron, parts of snap-rings etc etc… You can feel the grit from the clutch friction material…

You can put the old fluid right back in it if it looks like it will require a rebuild… Done it many times when a customer didn’t want or have the budget to rebuild the transmission…

What happens is the same friction material that makes the clutch friction disc grip to the steels in the clutch packs (bands are the same way) as it wears off the friction material from the disc mixes with the ATF and causes it to grip… Remove that gritty fluid and put in fresh ATF, now you no longer have (or very little) that grit in the fluid as well as on the clutch fabrics (disc) and now it slips or no longer moves under it’s own power…

These are what old (used) good friction disc look like during a rebuild… Notice the teeth on the inner part of the disc…





These are very bad friction disc on a rebuild… to the right, notice the inner teeth disc, the friction material is about gone…






And these are wasted… lol

 

Q. Do you intend to keep the truck for another 5-10 years? If so, then do a drain and fill just one time. DO NOT do a flush!!! If you don't plan to keep it long term, then just drive it until you get rid of it.

Simple advice.

 

Negative on WS folks, pay attention, he has a 4 cyl engine, which has 4-speed trans auto which takes Type-IV ATF.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...sions-write-up-your-4-speed-automatic.325531/