How to Drain/Refill Automatic Transmission

BTW....shipping out the old ATF tomorrow. Be on the lookout.

 

Dam, I shouldn’t have thrown out Mark’s bottles.
That’s ok, I have plenty of freezer bags.

 

Seems potentially confusing. Or a good way to end up doing two D&F's in quick succession, depending on how you look at it haha

 

Or for some an engine oil change

 

The 5mn hex does say "check" on it. But as long as it's my rig I certainly know the difference. I still have the hex if needed in the future

 

Yes indeed... just search and the Valvoline Maxlife is compatible with Toyota WS...I won't share how much I paid per quart for the WS last week
https://sharena21.springcm.com/Publ...2d889bd3/3fa3136a-09bd-e711-9c12-ac162d889bd1

 

Once again, this thread proved invaluable. This was my second D&F, did the last at 65K, had wanted to run two or three full cycles but only got one in. So figured I’d do another cycle with my 5K oil change, probably won’t do another until 90K with my diffs and transfer case.

Anyway, MUCH easier the second time around getting into temp mode. Used a paper clip this time, not my original idea, but genius.

Transmission was noticeably smoother afterwards.

A promise to myself: I will never use a bottle pump, ever again. Next time I’ll fill from the engine bay with a funnel.

 

Gravity is a bitch as you age, but is quite the friend for tranny fluid.

 

It wasn’t just gravity I was fighting…the fun of contorting myself into bizarre positions to fit myself under my nerf bars, only to have to reverse just to get the next bottle…condensation from the AC dripping into my eyeballs as I attempt to feed the pump tube back into the fill hole…the cat heat shield slicing into my hand as I work, because I was too lazy to put on gloves…but yeah, fun times overall

 

A funnel down through the bay is the way to go for sure! Just have a few rags on hand for when you end up making a mess

 

And how would you know that Zack?

 

Ive done this change once in the summer, but not winter. Anybody have an idea how long it takes to warm up to temp check in cold weather, especially if its just idling? I realize its subjective if the truck was warm previously, but any experiences welcome.

 

Personally I do this during spring or summer. Working smart not hard....but I've heard it can take up to 20 minutes to heat up to complete the job.

 

A few weeks ago when I did another D&F the ambient temp was mid 30s. Took a long time. Sitting in the truck in Drive with your foot on the brake helps build heat quicker. Honestly if you added a bit more ATF than what you took out, Im not sure why you couldnt go for a short drive to really warm it up. Suppose you run the risk of going over temp if you do that, but it wont take long to cool back down haha

I didn't time it, but based on what I was seeing Im not sure it ever would have gotten up to temp just idling in Park (truck was cold to start with).

 

maybe ill go for a ride before i drain, and by the time i get to the check it will still be warm but under the check limit.

 

I did one once on a cold truck at 10°. Took about 45 minutes

 

Well, I'm in the "harder, not smarter" camp! Lol. Did this last winter, about 45 degrees in my garage and, yeah, 20 minutes is about right...

 

After the shift procedure for temp check mode, the at temp light turns on then off, then is supposed to come on again when shifting into park. I am getting the first light, but not the second when shifting into park. Anyone seen this or can tell me whati may be doing wrong? I did this procedure about 60k ago no problem, but something’s not right.

 

No one huh, ok I’ll ask a different way. Does everyone always get the two lights, one after shifting then one when shifting to park?

 

As long as the AT TEMP light appears once after you do the shifting procedure, then the next time it appears is when the trans temp is in range for the overflow plug to be pulled right?