How to Drain/Refill Automatic Transmission

I just used a paper clip to jump the OBD 2 port. AT Temp illuminated once it reached the right temperature.

 

used ScanGuage

 

just jump the OBD. Many people try all sorts of ways to gauge the temp, they may be accurate, they may not, but the OBD method is simple, and you know its done right. I was hesitant at first shorting out the OBD, but its not that big a deal.

 

Talked to service manager. He said I have world standard trans and it's good for 100k for Tracy fluid. I'll probably just gona do drain and fill anyway to see what condition it is

 

I have a 2012 2W/D PreRunner and it definately has the A/T Oil Temperature light in the RPM cluster. It's right below the battery light when turning key on. In Red. Just wanted to verify for everyone interested. Great writeup by the way. Useful info!

 

Those of you who have done this were you able to complete the drain and fill during the winter months? I'm at the point I need to complete this but with the winter months the trans temp doesn't get to where I need it to be. I have a scan gauge in the truck that I can verify Temps. Looks like I will have to wait until spring to complete.

 

cover the trans cooler with cardboard, keep the air from flowing thru, the coolant will bring temp up, might have block off part of radiator too. its a temporary thing, just watch temps of all in the process.

 

Good point, didn't think about blocking off the trans cooler. I will have to give that a shot.

 

I did my truck today trd 4x4 2012 . 62,000 miles . I removed the over flow and the drain plug .i had a clear bucket with measurement printed on it . I had about 84 ounces just shy of 2 and 3/4 of a qt come out. I put 3 qt back into it set up the temp mode . After the truck was at temp I removed the over flow and nothing came out. I stopped the engine and filled the transmission with a half more of atf for a total of 3.5 qt. I waited a hour . Started the temp setting again after about 3 min the trans light lit up (its 79 degrees today). I opened the over flow drain and had about any where from 12 to 16 ounces come out before I thought it looked like trickle . I think it took about 3.2 qt fill my pan and I believe the tranny was slightly under filled from the factory.
What do you guys think?

 

I think I need to do this.

 

Depending on your truck's year it could have easily been under filled from the factory. There have been reports of such.

 

My truck is a 2012 I am the only owner .

 

It's usually the trucks with the aux. trans cooler (part of the tow package). It seems fluid wasn't added to accommodate the capacity of the cooler when your truck was bornt.

 

agreed...........
I never wanted to mess with mine before, but after the dealer screwed up the blower install, I think its time to do ALL maint for me.

They did a drain and fill (i paid for it atleast) at 60k, and 80K...........Im not close to 100K

 

I'll go with that . Because I have the tow package .

 

I decided to check my tranny fluid to see how the quality was. Bought it at 60k and just rolled over 100k so I thought I would change the oil. Followed the steps on ODBII and once at proper AT temp, removed the check drain plug with allen wrench. I got a steady stream of red fluid so I put plug back in quickly. Prob lost 1/4 quart. That means it was way overfull, correct? Should have only dripped out?

 

this should have probably taken me about 2 hours but it took over 3. the Harbor Freight pump did not screw on to either the quart or gallon bottles of Valvoline MaxLife so i poured a few quarts in a Home Depot graduated 4 quart bucket, pumped, refilled with fresh, repeated. pumping kind of sucked. next time, 1 hour.

in my '12 with 46,500 miles i drained about 10.5 qt and refilled 12 quarts. i mistakenly drained about a half quart during supercharger install last month so this seems about right when you consider the shit be low from the factory. used aft looked ok - dark but still red hues if you look at it right. drained about 1/4 quart from the level check after idling the truck for about 15 minutes to get the transmission temp to 115 degrees on UltraGauge.

spent about $90 on atf, pump, tubing, washers.

nice work OP and TW

 

Well.... my buddy could really use some help. (Me too, so I can learn for next time)



I got a buddy who called me yesterday and said he accidentally drained some tranny fluid when intending to drain oil. (Oops) so he was asking for some help on refilling the ATF. I went over to see where he drained from and how we can get this fixed.

He accidentally pulled the overflow plug and said it drained about 1 quart and stopped. (Shouldn't it only drain if it was overfilled? This was the first service done since he bought the truck from Toyota, so I imagine they would t have overfilled it)

He said he read that you fill through the 24mm and it will start to overflow back out when full. (I hadn't done a flush, full or drain on a Taco so we were just sort of in the dark).

So we bought 2 quarts of atf in case we spill some or whatever.

Going off the idea that it would spill back over the 24mm, we began. Well it didn't overfill, it took both quarts.

Stupidly we realized, well what the fuck.. we are doing this on an incline... maybe that's why it didn't spill over. tightened the 24mm and pulled to the street so we could check on a flat surface. Nope.. no overflow.

Then I found this thread.. saw that the overflow should release any excess... pulled the plug, it drained about a quart then stopped on its own.

Any thoughts on this? Other than "Idiots!!!" In some sense I would think, we are back level and it's okay.. but if the overfill plug is just overfill.. why would it drain some when he first started this adventure?

Help would be greatly appreciated. Should he just suck it up and go pay a shop to look at it? Is there a way to check the levels?

 

Your first step is to start at the begining of this thread and read it.

You can easily fix this without going to a shop. The tranny just needs to be at the right temp when you check it. Follow the steps to verify the temp and try again.

 

Sorry for being a lazy SOB and not reading but do I have to get the Toyota WS fluid for a drain and fill or can I mix some regular auto parts atf? I hate my local dealer.