How to Drain/Refill Automatic Transmission

Did this yesterday. I practiced putting it in "temp check" mode a few times first. Drained about 2.5 litres, topped up with about 3.0 litres of Toyota WS. As the tranny was good and hot before draining and the change went quickly, once I had it buttoned up and shifted between all gears, it was still hot enough to be in the proper range for checking. About 0.2 litres came out before "slow trickle".

Thanks for all the help and advice provided by all on this forum.

 

While it may seem common sense, the fact that some people accidentally drain their tranny fluid when attempting an oil change tells me some people might need to know this:

Make sure you do this on a level surface!

Great write-up, hoping my wife's 4Runner has the AT Temp light!

 

The dealer wants 260 for this job thanks for the awesome write up!

 

Did my own version of this yesterday. I flushed out the entire 3 gallons by disconnecting the ATF line that connects to the top of the radiator and pulled the hose down and out in front of the skid plate and run that into a bucket. I then connected a hose to the inlet of the radiator and connected that to a pump I used to pump in the new fluid.

I pumped out the old fluid two quarts at a time by starting the motor for about 15 seconds or so. I had to do it that way because it pumps out quicker than I could pump it back in.

Some thoughts. My first idea was to have the tranny suck in the new fluid but that did not work so next I tried gravity feed which was too slow. You have to pump it in. Next time I'm getting a higher velocity pump to do this job quickly.

It's about time I got around to doing this job. Been putting it off and now I have 110K on an '07. The old fluid coming out was black. New going in was bright red.

 

Thats a good idea you had there! I as well have 126k on the truck and have not done a trans fluid change since 30k So I need to get on this ASAP.

 

Yeah. This worked out quite well. The reason I tapped in at the top of the radiator was because I could disconnect there without any fluid leaking all over the place.

 

Your truck have the cooler, cause thats where I thought about pulling the hose?

 

Yes, it has the cooler but I found it much easier to disconnect at the upper radiator connection. It has more clearance and allowed me to pull the hose down and out. You cannot do that with the short hoses that go to the cooler.

 

First...can someone please post a picture of exactly where the fill plug is for the 5 speed auto, four wheel drive? I think I have a good idea, but am really doubting myself right now. I partially rounded the head of the bolt that I thought was the fill, and went to the stealership to order a new one before I comitted to taking it off, and they ordered the wrong one. Second, does someone have the part number for the correct plug and o-ring? The diagram at the parts counter absolutely sucks and I cannot make heads or tails of what's what. Thanks a bunch in advance for any and all help someone can provide. Also...a current link for any service manuals would be awesome too! Have a great day!

Brian

 

I don't have any pic, sorry... But it is on the passenger side, pretty high up close to the floor of the cab. I cant remember how far back it was, maybe right around the passenger door??? The bolt has a "WS" stamped on the top of it.

I didn't replace the rubber O-ring on the fill plug, just the metal crush washers on the drain & overflow plugs. I don't have a part number at the moment.

I might be able to get some pics this weekend if no one can get them sooner.

 

Thanks Sean. Appreciate it. Did you have any troubles getting the fill bolt out?

 

OP says 115-130 degrees. My Hayes manual says 97-115 degrees. Which is it? Or is it even really that important?

 

Probably the Haynes spec is if you are using an IR temp on the pan.

 

Heres a youtube video for an 07 PreRunner...im pretty confident ( well assuming) its probally identical to a 07 Toyota Tacoam 4.0 v6 assuming its an automatic transmission on his video...when i did my Oil change last month i looked at my transmission pan and looked almost identical to one on the video..I have an 07 SR5 V6 4x4 Tacoma..this guy didnt do check the temperature or show it though..is that optional or u have to do that?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sdq30go2V7w

 

This was posted by Mountain Lion on Toyota Nation.

 

If the temperature is not correct, you risk underfilling or overfilling. The fluid expands quite a bit with temperature.

 

I've been to 3 different dealers and they all told me the same thing... With the ws tranny's you don't have to service it till 100k miles. In my manual it says 60k miles if you've been towing or 100k miles if you havn't. I think it should be done at least at 60k but none of them will do it????

 

I wouldn't trust that guy who is filling his tranny without monitoring the temp. He doesn't even know the nuts and bolts on our trucks are metric....

 

Screw the dealer... do it yourself.
It's not rocket science.

 

forgive the new taco owner question,i just bought an 06 with 130km(cdn)tranny fluid is dark red doubt has been chngd,this is 4cyl/2w model,is process same or is there different method.thanks mike