ATF color condition?

Greetings fine people,

Have a 2005 Taco Pre-Runner w/ 160k mileage. I was curious about the condition of the ATF. I had it flushed at 70K, BG equipment, no filter change. Then same mechanic at 120K dropped the pan and drained, no filter change. So the pic is 40K fluid. No towing or off road (2 wheel drive), highway only - runs like a champ, I change oil myself religiously at 7K (high mile full synthetic).

Regarding the fluid pic at 40K - which option would you think to benefit longevity?

1. Draining the partial amount of existing ATF through the bolt (no pan dropping, or filter change) and replacing what drained with new.

2. Drop the pan, clean the mags, replace the filter, replace what drained with new.

3. Leave it be.

Just want to preserve the truck for as long as I can to hand off to my Son after college - hoping to get 225K out of it.

Many thanks for your opinions,

Alpsman

 

Very hard to determine the "condition" of the fluid by color.

Frankly, I'd suggest to do a fluid/filter change. Filters are cheap....about $12, comes with a gasket from RockAuto. Fluid is the expensive part.

 

Fluid drain, filter change, re-fill.

 

Looks fairly red to me, which is good.

edit to add: I’d go with #2. I did it and it was pretty easy. Remember that the pan torque specs are in INCH/lbs, not Foot/lbs. You’lol snap the bolts if you torque them to foot/lbs.

 

3 gallons of Maxlife is less than $75 at Walmart.

If you are concerned why not drop it all now and then in ~60k when you are ready to give it to your son you can change it again and he’ll have fresh fluid and won’t need to worry about it.