Manual trans fluid underfilled at factory

No hater here, I love mine. But all three were low for me.

 

No, i was not able to touch the factory level in the fill hole.

i drained out 1.9 close to 2 quarts.

new redline fluid starting seeping out of fill hole when i was close to 2.5 qts.

I got it documented at dealership ....i was told by dealer that its notchy because its breaking in.

im an auto mechanic, and just did it myself

 

When I went through this exercise, I did not measure drained quantities - how long did you let the fluid drain? My total fluid drained was a bit lower than I would have expected based on Toyota's numbers, but not enough to be alarming (I drained both diffs and transmission fluid into the same pan with a 10ish qt capacity). Quality of fluid was a different situation.

Agreed, but I waited a long ass time after opening both plugs and filled with about the right (a bit low) quantities per the owner's manual.

No offense but "if", "should", "if" again, and "could" are all a lot of assumptions for a generally mediocre quality service department (in most cases that's a best case scenario). Back when the auto trans were shipping with low fluid, multiple dealers would just lie about doing the manual fluid checks. The average dealer would've just bs'ed OP.

OA

 

Yeah, I try hitting other gears first in this truck too, it just doesn't like to go into Reverse.

 

That is very odd. You just going to live with it?

 

Yeah, I will change out the fluid here soon after the weather breaks in hopes that it helps. I usually don't mind unless I am somewhere where traffic is waiting on me to back up.

 

I spy an assumption in your last sentence.

In the end, it doesn't matter. OP did the fluid change already.

 

Solid catch! Agreed.

OA

 

After changing my fluid getting into reverse was WAY easier.. rest of gears pretty much the same very smooth. I almost shifted into reverse at red light the other day... forgot to shift into 1st gear waiting for light to turn green.... then when it went green I sorta panicked a little and shifted fast ... into reverse. Glad I didn't release the clutch.

 

Draining a MT does NOT remove all of the fluid

I assume the 3rd gen manuals have a fill port just like all the rest, it's easy to check the fluid level...remove the fill plug and stick your finger inside, if you can touch the fluid (or if it starts to drip out when you remove the plug) then it's full. If not, then it's not.

Obviously don't do this while it's hot...

 

Just curious, what fluid did you use? Thanks!

 

Tijuana and San Antonio are still short filling fluids on the 3RD Gen. 18 months into production?

Must be a cost saving strategy.

 

I bought the Amsoil MT fluid 75w90 OK'd by Toyota and for the diffs I used Severe Gear 75w90 also ok'd by Toyota.

They now have a transfer case gear oil which they didn't have last summer when I changed my diff and tranny fluids. I will get some of the transfer case lube and change that out this spring.

Don't forget to get a pump... you won't be able to change fluids without it.

 

Do the math.. Toyota fluids are not cheap.... over a year it's MILLIONS of coin. Makes production cost savings a thing.... and the dealership is "supposed" to top off BEFORE change of ownership. The money gets shuffled around by the accountants...one accountant sees what they did there... and says f-it, production wont fill it full... let the customer figure it out.

Production mgr gets a hefty bonus... owners get a hefty bone-r up the ass, aka: bone-ass.

 

No hate here, just a question. Why was the tranny low on fluid?

 

We still don't know that it was actually low. Draining the transmission is not an accurate way to find this out, there is still a substantial amount of fluid left behind in the trans. Checking the fluid level properly is simple, remove the fill plug and see if any fluid drips out. If you stick your finger in and can touch fluid then it's full. If you can't, then fill it until you can and boom...done.

 

That's what I was going to get at, you truly don't know how much you're getting out because some is left behind. But what irks me is OP has problems with shifting, drains and refills himself with new fluid, and works fine. Why is this problem occurring or is OP feeling a placebo effect and something else is wrong.

 

Could just be the result of fresh fluid versus that which had some miles on it, or the result of different brand fluid. I like Redline MT90 myself, the first few weeks especially it feels like a brand new trans it shifts so smoothly. Also, there's a bushing in the shifter that can cause notchy shifting and is often mis-diagnosed as bad/low fluid when it needs to be replaced, but that's less likely on a new truck.

 

It's one of 2 things.... 1...The tranny WAS low on fluid...
2...The placebo effect of fresh new oil. All Motorcycle riders know that the clutch feels so nice and smooth after
an oil change (most use motor oil in the clutch as well).... New oil just feels better..! Especially if it's the
correct amount..!!

 

What purpose do the "Dealers" serve if they refuse to check and top off ALL fluids before delivery.Dealerships are outdated and add little if any value to the end user.