Trans fluid change

Seems to be around 30-40 MPH hard for me tell what gear though. If I do manually shift it around that speed I don't seem to get the shudder. It figures its in the range where my daughter will be driving in all the time which is mostly in town, school etc.....

 

Is their multiple Maxlife products? Is there one that is WS specific or all the same?

 

I had the same thing on my 2009 w/ 143k miles. I did the flush myself with the help of instructions from TW using Valvoline MaxLife and a tube of Lubegard. Shutter is now gone.

 

Did you do a "flush" or just the drain and refill? I was planning on dropping the pan, new filter, gasket and refill from there. Also a 2 oz. tube of Lubeguard or the 15oz bottle? Thanks for the info

 

Not sure how many atf products they have but the bottle will mention if it's ok for your Toyota

 

I did the flush using the DIY instructions here. I know there are a lot of opinions here about doing a flush. When I drained the pan, the oil was completely black and was about a quart short. After seeing the condition of the oil, I wanted to get as much of it out as possible to get good ATF back into the system. If you do a drain and fill, a lot of the oil ATF is still in the system.

 

Have you replaced the fluid yet? If so, did it get rid of the shudder?

 

Not yet but I think I've decided to do the DIY flush to get more of the old fluid out and replace it with good stuff. Work just keeps getting in the way of my projects!!

 

Yeah me too. Lol. If it ain't work it's the cold!

 

Finally got the time to get this project done, man was the old fluid dirty! I took all the advice on this site to do the DIY flush, I appreciate all that commented. Here is what I did:
Drained the pan, removed the pan, cleaned the pan and magnets and put in a new filter and gasket. Pumped the same amount I took out back in. I then used the cooler line flush method to cycle as much fluid out as possible, 3 separate times. On the last fill I put in a 15oz. bottle of Lube guard platinum and 4oz. of instant shudder fix. I used the OBD wire jump technique to verify the fluid temp and checked it until a trickle was coming out. I took her for a test drive and the shudder happened a couple times but not as bad as before and the up shifting is much smoother. I'm hoping that the fluid will cycle around more and it'll get better???
Total of:
17 quarts of Valvoline Max Life ATF
1 15oz bottle of Lubeguard Platinum
4 oz. of Instant Shudder Fix
New pan gasket and internal filter

 

Drive it for a couple days to work in the Lubeguard . It takes a good drive to deglaze the converter clutch .

 

A real transmission flush that is done at a shop has a machine that can exchange gallons of fluid in minutes. For the pressure required to flush that quickly, that's what can cause issues in old transmissions. Newer ones should be fine but the cost of a flush when there isn't anything noticeable is hard to justify. If I had a machine like that I would use it once a year on my vehicles. However, the DIY "flush" is really just a drain and fill, even with dropping the pan and having the return line pump new fluid back in. All your doing is starting the truck intermittently and using the transmission to cycle the fluid through. It doesn't use much pressure and takes more time to get all the new fluid in and old fluid out.

 

Are you saying that a cooling line flushing machine is faster at flushing a transmission than if a guy were to do the job at home ?

There is no difference between a flushing machine used at a shop and a guy doing the job at home other than things done at the shop are a little cleaner with the machine and the job goes a little quicker .
The new fluid is still introduced into the transmission by the transmission pump for both the machine as well as home . Pressures are the same unless you sit in the truck with your foot to the floor .
If you are introducing new fluid into the transmission through the cooling lines , you are in fact blending the new fluid with the old fluid until the fluid comes out red . This is called a flush

 

I did the method suggested here because I just bought this truck and don't know the history. I've been told that a flush machine can break stuff loose because of the pressure and cause other problems down the road. I should have videoed what the fluid color was the first time then on the 3rd. flush, it looked almost new. If I knew the history and it had been flushed on the regular I would have had it done but this way seems to be the safest way to exchange the most amount of fluid.

 

This is the answer I wanted and the man I wanted to hear it from! Thank you sir, I'll drive it for awhile then report back. If not what am I looking at?

 

I wanted to follow up since we've been driving for the last couple weeks. We have had no shudder issue so I believe the problem to be resolved! Thank you to all who posted and gave suggestions. Anyone who reads this and has the same issues don't be skeptical, it works. Big shout out to Gearcruncher!

 

Thanks for reporting back!

 

I’m a big fan of transmission flushes. I had a Jetta with 200k and a Benz I still have with 180k and I would get them flushed at the dealer every 50k. It doesn’t costs that much more than doing it yourself at home in my opinion and nice to have it done professionally and know all the fluid is fresh and the filter is new.
I’ve never had an issue with the transmission after a flush, for me it always worked better after or the same.
Two questions:
1. Has anyone had an issue with trans after a flush that wasn’t there before? If the trans had no issue before and you flushed for maintenance did something happen after?

2. @gearcruncher @jeffmort - what do you guys think of having a flush done by the dealer and telling them to use the formula described for routine maintenance:

17 quarts of Valvoline Max Life ATF (OR OEM TOYOTA FLUID)
1 15oz bottle of Lubeguard Platinum
4 oz. of Instant Shudder Fix
New pan gasket and internal filter

 

Here is how I would do it

# 1 remove the pan and filter for inspection
# 2 If the bottom of the pan , the magnets , and filter are super clean , go ahead and flush
# 3 if the pan was dirty and there is evidence of high solids , put pan back on , do not flush

I have fixed hundreds of transmissions that were flushed without removing the pan during the flush .
Usually quick lube shops who do not follow proper flushing procedures . They pay me for their foolishness

 

Interesting. You think Toyota would take the pan off and inspect first? Would it be safer to flush after cleaning out the solids/shards from the pan or no difference?