shop for trans service

my 2011 has just under 100k miles and i’d like to get the trans oil changed soon. any recommendations for ev shops?

was going to have iconic tire do it with an alignment, but the owner had no idea there was anything special that had to be done for tacomas. that scared me into thinking twice about using them.

 

Try Toyota

 

I believe you are not supposed to change it. WS stands for World Standard and is listed as a "lifetime" transmission fluid.

 

It’s easy to do yourself. There’s write ups on here.

 

Matt, just use Toy Pros in Mesa. Contact @state48overland and let them know that I sent you.

 

It maybe life time oil but if you don’t use a scanguage or ultragauge to monitor trans temp you can cook the oil and then it’s pretty worthless. I have had Toyota dealer do it every 40k because of how I use my truck. Your mileage may vary. The dealer has the machine to flush and fill it versus just draining what you can and mixing in some new fluid.

 

yeah what is considered “lifetime”. i know enough not to fall for that.

 

“Lifetime” = “1 day past the period of time component this fluid is supposed to lubricate is under warranty”

 

Exactly! I had an Audi and they had sealed transmissions with lifetime oil. What was brutal is when people did change the oil, they would remove all the floating clutch material in the oil and suddenly the plates didn't have enough friction to grip and the transmission would stop shifting and require a $$$ rebuild.

 

The vast majority of vehicles on the road will be in the scrapyard for other reasons long before the transmission dies with the factory fluid still in it. Unless you get it too hot by towing at or over the tow rating, and do it in mountains. Otherwise expect at least 400,000 miles on factory fluid on a Tacoma, and many other vehicles. Some transmissions are known to fail earlier, changing the fluid in any of them doesn't make them last any longer. If you let the fluid get too hot you've already fried the transmission, changing the fluid later won't save it. In fact it will speed up the failure, keeping the old fluid in there will buy you some more time.

I've been driving since 1973, never had a transmission serviced and never had any issues. Took several of them past 200,000. Currently at 207,000 on my 07 Tacoma. The money spent on a fluid change every 40K or 50K will just about pay for to have the transmission rebuilt at 400K. I'm going to save my money to pay for a rebuild down the road. If I keep it long enough to need it.

Transmission FLUID isn't oil. It's basically hydraulic pump fluid. Lubrication isn't it's primary purpose. And it doesn't get dirty like engine oil.

 

Lubrication IS one of its necessary purposes (whether primary or not) and it DOES burn and break down which affects its ability to lubricate. If you are cool never changing your transmission fluid that's fine. I off road frequently in 4L which keeps RPM up, tow frequently through mountains, and am happy to get the black fluid out and red fluid back in.

 

Anyone know of any shops in the west valley (Surprise) area that does rebuilds? I got 350K miles on my trans.