DIY: Full Flush for Automatic Transmission

Thanks for the info. I'm not familiar with the driveshaft on the tacoma. I will have to read up on it more it seems. Not too worried about it at this point since it only happens every so often. Are the u joints hard to get out?

 

You don't have to take the u-joints out to grease the slip yoke, you can just unbolt the driveshaft, take the boot loose and pull it apart at the slip yoke and grease it, the re-assemble. That's what I did. You only have to remove the u-joints if you wanna add a zerk to more easily grease the slip yoke in the future.

 

Ahhh...now I understand. Sounds pretty simple. I will definitely grease it pretty soon to try to head off a problem later on. Much appreciated.

 

I'm in the middle of this job right now on my '15 prerunner. Are the lighting sequences any different on my truck? I know they got rid of the A/T temp light on the prerunners in the earlier years of the generation.

It all seems to be the same up to the A/T light going out after going into the last shift to P.

I shift to N, then the 6 between N and D, light comes on, goes out, then when I go back to P it comes on and stays on.

It's 80 deg out but I can't imagine the temp is already that high. I only attempted it about 3 times then turned the truck off immediately...

FWIW the first time I tried it woudln't go off, so I opened the check valve and I got almost 2qt back (I bought 14, thought I only overfilled by 1 cause I have an unopened one left)

 

The lights work the same on your truck, the temp range is 97-115°F, if it's lit solid, pull the check plug and let it drain until it trickles.

 

Yeah I opened it back up after it stayed on again and this time nothing is coming out

 

Add half a quart or so and try again.

 

Same thing. behaves as it should until the last time it's supposed to turn off and it just doesn't. I turned the truck off immediately to make sure the fluid doesn't heat up. You can barely feel the temp difference of the fluid on your hands..

 

The light turns off when the temp is out of range, you check the fluid level while the temp light is lit.

 

Right so now the fluid is cold, the light should go out the last time I go into P, then come back on 10-15 min later when it has warmed up from idling. If I understand that correctly.

What I'm saying now is the light is on as if the temp is already within range, but it can't be. The truck hasn't idled for more than 30 seconds a few times over the course of hours that I've been trying (had some other work to do so would let it sit then come back and try again)

 

Okay this is odd. From the beginning:

Added about 1 qt extra after flushing about 12.
Couldn't get it into temp check after about 6 tries.
Decide to open check plug - 2 full qts drain out.
Try again a bit later, still not getting the A/T light after going into P the last time.
Add 0.5 qt, wait a bit, try again, same thing.
Drain about 1/8 qt, try again, same thing.

Go back to drain a bit more of the 0.5qt I added and nothing comes out?
I figure maybe it's getting stuck around in the solenoids in some gaps, so I cycled through the gears slowly a few times. Then tried doing the combo slower but I wasn't even getting the first A/T light back up at N, so I turn off truck and restart to go back to my original speed.

In the middle of the N/D/N combo this time one of the shifts fell short or something and the rpms stumbled more than usual...

Thoughts?

 

If the light is coming on and staying on in park then the fluid is up to temp. 97° is not hot at all. Do you have a scangauge or ultragauge that you can monitor the temps with?

 

No I'd have used that all along if I did. Didn't think it was necessary haven't seen anybody have any serious issues

 

These trucks run rough with the 4&13 pins jumped. I get mine into temp check mode and then remove the wire so it will idle normally. Next time I do mine I'm not even gonna do the temp check procedure, I'm just gonna go by the temps displayed on my ultragauge. I verified that the temps match the specified range given by Toyota (97°-115°). My temp light came on at 97° and went off at 115°.

 

Its really easy after you've done it a few times. How long had it been since you drove your truck before you started the exchange? Also, good call on shifting through all the gears before checking the level, the valve body can suck up quite a bit of fluid.

 

I was driving it around just fine all last night. It's my daily. I'm gonna add some more, back it outside and leave it sit for a few hours now that the temp is dropping too, and then try it maybe late at night or something....I have a roadtrip to do tomorrow. If I can't get it to go into tempcheck, what's my next option? Can a shop read the temp for me?

All I am looking to do is just make sure that at the correct temps, I drain whatever will come out of the 'check' plug yes?

 

Yeah, good idea. If worse comes to worse you can drain the pan entirely and add 3.2 quarts, which will get you pretty close. some people just put in about 3.5 quarts, drive around the block, then pull the check plug skipping the temp check entirely. You could do that to get you by until you can properly check the level. These transmissions aren't terribly picky about the fluid level, so long as its close. Many of our Tacos come a couple quarts low on fluid from the factory.

 

Gotcha. Okay, that makes me a bit more relieved. Gonna go workout and let it set for a few hours and give it one more shot. If not then I'll add back in the ~1.5qt or so I still have sitting out then do the around the block check.

Thanks for getting back so quick.


To any others who may be thrown off by my difficulty getting into temp check:

Don't be discouraged to attempt this. the job is super easy. I went through the oil cooler lines up front like some have done and also used the sprayer pump to add fluid, less hassle and I needed a sprayer anyway. Just follow the instructions and you'll be fine.

 

You are pulling the plug with the truck running, right? It's a 5mm allen head... Not doubting you, just trying to make sure we're on the same page.

 

Ha, I doublechecked the notes just now and realized I was supposed to be opening 'check' with it running...I had been turning the truck off lol. I'll do this when I try it in a few hrs. But yeah I was using the right bolt.