How to: drop, clean, and reinstall the 2nd Gen transmission pan and filter

Awesome timing! I was JUST thinking about searching for a DYI / walk-through on how to do this and - viola - a brand new thread is posted on how to do this.

I bought my 2013 TRD sport in Nov of 2018 with 120k miles (has almost 160k now) and only hope that the transmission fluid has been changed already, don't really know.

Great job on the write-up and great pics!

I'm really looking forward to doing this, along with a complete flush, very soon.

 

Glad it’s helpful!

Post a pic of what drains out.

 

Does anyone know of a magnetic drain plug available for A/T in a 3rd gen?

 

Or can anyone give me the dimensions of the stock drain plug?

 

You might want to ask in a 3rd Gen forum, in case the plug is different. Like this one:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-automatic-transmission-fluid-level-check-diy.547455/

 

Thank you Hook, very much appreciated

 

Big thanks to OP Hook78 for putting this together . . . the best step by step ever! Couple of things I did to make it easier on myself:

As Hook says, soak the pan bolts the day before. I used 10W whatever oil was on my shelf; brushed it on the top of the case flange where the threads go all the way through and tried to get oil under the head. Bought some extra M6-1.0x12 bolts in case I broke one (didn't though).

Didn't have a 24mm socket for the fill plug, but had an old 15/16" that was wore out just enough to make a nice snug fit on the plug. (24mm = 0.94488", 15/16" = 0.9375") The plug has a pretty shallow head, so I ground the socket down to where the points begin to get full contact. It bit just fine, no slipping.


To keep from spilling on the driveway when dropping the pan, I put a trash bag over a (well used) cheap plastic cement mixing tray and positioned it underneath. It was big enough to contain any splashes.


Didn't feel agile enough to fool around with a pump under the truck, so 4 feet of plastic tube and a funnel worked good. Buck and a half for the tube and pinched a funnel from under the kitchen sink; zip tied it to the intake plenum. Didn't spill a drop.


Last note, the local NAPA had the ATP 17061 filters for $25; the bolt holes in the gasket are slightly undersize so a couple of bolts inserted keeps the gasket in place.

 

Awesome post! Good to know the bolt size for the pan. How’d your magnets look?

Love the technique for filling, I may adopt that on the next one.

 

Magnets looked about the same as yours, some accumulation of very fine dark particles.

In the aviation maintenance world, filters are cut open and the media inside is examined to get a system health assessment. I have not seen any photos of anyone doing this to ours, so here goes.

2010 DCSB A750E 127K miles, original fluid and filter (or strainer if you like, dictionary definition is the same). Daily drive, occasional 1,000 mile cross country, tow a 4,000 lb boat & trailer 20 miles each way up and down hills 80 times a year. Never off road.

Left side is the top housing, strainer in the middle, bottom housing on the right.


This is the inside of the bottom, some glitter sticking to the liquid residue.

Inside the top.


And the strainer itself. Not many particles throughout the mesh, the three dark areas at the top of the picture and along the left side are similar to the goop that collects on the magnets. Close up it looks like there may be some aluminum specks in there, but a little piece scraped off jumps to a magnet. The mesh is non-ferrous and has a lot of surface area.



Not as much accumulation as I expected, but I'm no expert. This truck ran just fine at twice Toyota's recommended fluid change. I don't think I will ever try to clean and re-use these, no way to assure you've got it all. For me, $25 is cheap insurance.

 

Now that I can see the design of the strainer, cleaning it is somewhat futile. I thought the mesh material was only where the fluid ports through, not a continuous layer across the whole unit. Nothing wrong with cleaning what you can see, but only a small portion of the mesh is accessible. Can’t hurt though.

Might be better off letting a magnet gently slide around in there on both sides and then retrieve it...

 

Great info. Time to put this one on the schedule.

 

Hook78 thanks for the great write up and I am planning this once I get all my parts in.

A question for the high mileage guys on their very first tranny service. I have read through the other threads where guys have not done any service with 143K-200K miles. Has there been any repercussions after performing the drop, clean & flush? I am at 157K. Thanks!

 

Wondering the same thing dude! Definitley over 220k and im thinking about doing the whole process. don't know how it was treated before I got her.

 

My $0.02 with no first hand experience on a high mileage unit is that it wont matter. As long as you do it right and get the correct level of fluid youll be fine. In fact some even say that a D&F is the best way to go, cause you've still got roughly 2/3 of the old fluid in the and 1/3 new. Then you do another one with each oil change until eventually its mostly new fluid in there.

 

Shoutout to @Hook78 for putting this together. Lots of other threads cover the info needed but this is clean and concise in one place, makes for a good reference.

I did mine this past weekend. Just rolled over 90k on the clock, so figured it was time. No major hickups and the old fluid that came out still looked / smelled good. But I feel better about it now haha. Plus was good to get the sludge off of the four magnets and give the pan a cleaning.

If you live in the salt belt, definitely make sure you have new crush washers on hand. USPS didnt get mine delivered in time so I had to reuse the old rusty ones. No leaks, so I guess technically its ok but Ill be changing those out in 5000 miles when I do a D&F for sure. Also not a bad idea to have a scraper on hand to get any oxidation and dirt buildup off the surface of the trans housing before the new gasket goes on.

As others said be prepared to make a huge mess when you take the old filter off. As you can see mine was pretty grimy. Not too bad on the inside though. As a side note, the Toyota OEM gasket is a much nicer and slightly thicker material than the one that came in the filter kit from Napa.

 

Nice work!

Did you see post #49, one member cut the strainer up, and now that I’ve seen how it’s constructed I think it’s pretty difficult to thoroughly clean. I might be inclined to replace it on the next go-round.

 

I did see that. Based on what I could see in my old strainer, it wasnt needed. But I had the new Napa one on hand so I installed it anyway. Only like $30 IIRC.

I did use a new OEM gasket instead of the Napa one though.

 

Hook78 thanks once again for the write up sir!

160K and no tranny service, although not one issue with transmission, shifted great and I do have the OEM cooler.

I dropped, drained and installed new strainer, gasket, etc. 4.7qts out, 5.0in. AT TEMP Mode - less than a drizzle.

Today I drained 3qts out and put 3.5qts in - drove 10 miles and will check level in the morning.

Tranny performing great! Last photo 160K color on left, right is after 5 new quarts.

 

That’s some dark fluid but not as bad as I’d think for your mileage. Glad it worked out for you and thanks for sharing the photos!

 

A fellow amateur gunsmith I see