Transmission 2016-2023- 6 SPEED AUTOMATICS COULD BE LOW ON FLUID DIRECTLY FROM FACTORY

Nope it's not that bad.

Follow the write up on the second gen. very similar to that. their is a YouTube video too. practice once or twice getting truck in "temp check mode" our 3rd gens use the "D" instead of "AT temp" Jumper the pins 4 and 13 i think... start truck. move lever thru all position including sport and back to park. then go to drive and and neutral back and forth 5-6 times. the D indicator will flash twice and go back to park and as you do that you won't see those gears indicated as you do it. then you know you are in "temp check mode" 10-15 minutes later the "D" will come on and stay on exactly 7 minutes to work / check the level.

You can drain the pan before and add any extra you want and the "excess" will drain over at the correct temp. This is what i did the first time...

Mexico built 2017 here. Fluid was quite brown and darker then i would like for 31,400 miles but no burnt smell and just a touch of red left. Glad i changed it and did not wait any longer.

Got 2.0-2.1 QTS drained out. Added about 4.5 QTS back in. The fill plug is a little difficult to get to. 24mm short shallow socket. Then at temp i got about 2 QTS came back out/overflowed. Math says i was about 0.5 QT low, not too bad... but the fluid is /was dirty i will do again at next oil change and now i am comfortable with this and its pretty easy. I think i drive pretty easy and don't drive up mountains and don't tow a lot / often and i once in awhile carry some heavy loads in the bed.

I can load a pic of fluid condition if anyone wants to see it.

You guys need to be checking not only the level as soon as you can but check the condition and service every 20-30k and maybe more if you tow a lot or live in the mountains or drive aggressively. The brownish likely is break in clutch material so its needs to be serviced early the first time. DON'T WAIT until 50k, 75k or god forbid 100k to do this. Do it ASAP!!! Make sure you do on level ground to FYI.

 

Bought a TRD Sport new in 2017, from reading this thread or another like it i demanded as part of the deal to buy the truck that they check the transmission fluid level, the salesman was like...*shrug* " It's under warranty"...but i held firm and the level was over a quart low....Fast forward to last week, i negotiated a trade in for the '17 and purchased a 2020 TRD sport with a few more luxury's and again as part of the deal i want that tranny level checked...

So, this morning i dropped it off to get the clear bra and some added protection on the 'A' pillars and the roof back to the sunroof, the front windows tinted and then off to the shop to have a official transmission fluid change, the P.O. from sales was for a change, i'm unsure if they will just check it or actually change it out.

 

Not a very active thread, as soon as they started to add fluid it ran out at temp, apparently they have to hook up the SCANTRON-9870XTG at the same time and it costs $87,098,770,897.43

Ok by me, at least i won't have that nagging at the back of my thoughts, 2020 taco came from the dealer topped off....

 

Is that what they told you or did you observe that check of fluids. My service clerk was pretty much like yeah whatever we'll check it. But the afterwards receipt said nothing of it on there. Did this cost you extra to have this done and how much time did it take. Also did they actually put the procedure on the receipt?

 

The Invoice states " Customer requests to check Transmission Fluid Level"
Cause: Customer request transmission fluid level check, tech verified fluid level is correct, performed road test and health check 366991 tech verified fluid level in transmission correct, test drove and performed health check

They never had a problem checking my transfer case or tranny when i asked at or around my '17 being at 60,000 miles, in fact i think they did a transfer case flush for about 150.00$.

When the service guy called me to tell me my truck was ready he asked me in detail about this thread because he owned a Tacoma, he hinted that using the scanner on his time to do it cost nothing for an employee.

It was part of the negotiation on the sale of the new truck so it was assigned a Purchase order number and my invoice explains as much, i also got the windows tinted and half off the cost of a paint protection film over the front and up the A pillars and across the roof in front of the sunroof.

My 2017 was over a quart low when i purchased it, so i was adamant that this one be checked, also this is the 4th Toyota my wife and I have purchased from this dealer so they treat us pretty good.

He explained that after they hooked it up to the machine and got it to temperature that they started to add fluid and it ran directly back out so apparently when all the criteria are met that's what is supposed to happen.

 

Ok. I'll try showing the Tech's this thread and hopefully they check it correctly. Thanks

 

I have a 2020 Tacoma,is the low fluid problem fixed on this model or should I get it checked?

 

I went to a different Toyota dealership to have the 5k service done and asked them about having it done they said they will do it but I have to pony up $60 for the 2 to 3 hours the test takes. The good part is that if it is low that I will get an extension on warranty. Not sure if I still have to pay though if it's low.

 

Same

 

Told them to manually check it at least 15 times. Lets hope they will!

 

I ask the service guy about mine and I guess they have some machine that does it. Sounds like the same method but it's hooked up to a machine to put the transmission fluid in and out the overflow tube. Said it took about 2 hours to do, so I'm guessing it's the same thing. Most of the time was to get the fluid up to temp.

 

Got it. I'm curious to see what method they use and what their findings are. I'll probably end up rechecking it myself if they say it was filled up all the way since I don't trust others.

 

He told me it would be $60 to run the check, I would guess that's just the shop cost. He said if it was low they would look into extension or warranty and hopefully I get my 60$ back. Better safe than sorry 50k miles down the road.

 

If they try to charge me, I'll just call Toyota Corporate and work with them. Couple people I know got 100k drivetrain warranties just by doing so.

 

Just got a 2020 as well and plan on doing this myself. I've done ATF fluid spill/fills in my other vehicles with sealed transmissions so I'm pretty familiar with the process in general. Luckily I have a ScangaugeII to help with atf temp which is key to check levels. When at proper temp, fluid should trickle out in a steady stream.

Will report back as soon as I have confirmed.

 

So I did get charged $60 for the check on fluid, but it was all good so it's fine with me. At least there is documentation so if it ever is a problem it's on file.

 

On the bill of materials, are they only listing their time or does it also show fluid, crush washer, time for checking... etc? There is no level indicator that I have seen (maybe a pressure transducer in valve body) so to check level, someone would have to warm things up and crack the level plug. If you crawl under, you should see if they had cleaned up the tranny pan in the level bolt. So in your case, do you see if they actually checked if the level was correct based on the pan?

 

This is all I got.

 

Any more updates on this? I just got a 2020 and I plan on doing this. So it sounds like 2020 maybe at the right level?

 

My 2016 Tacoma TRD Sport was exhibiting signs that the trans fluid was low since day one. They did the TSB for delayed engagement reverse to drive etc and it helped a little bit but the transmission would still clunk when going from 1st to 2nd or 2nd to 1st gears. I wanted to have the level checked but the stealership wanted to charge me $120 Canadian to diagnose the issue. Guess it's quite the procedure to physically check the level. I never got the fluid level checked until recently and now I'm at 60,000km's. The dealership was generous enough to waive the diagnosis fee because I just told them to check the level/drain/and put the correct amount in. They found the transmission fluid level was low (didn't say by how much) and now I'm $180 out of pocket. There shouldn't be any other reason for the fluid level to be low I'm guessing? Could it be burning off? I contacted Toyota Canada to try and get reimbursed/extend my power train warranty, and they said no way Jose. I'm currently going through CAMVAP to try and get this sorted out. Toyota claims that they check the trans fluid level at every service. They referenced Service#3. I looked at all my invoices and they only reference checking brake fluid, engine coolant, power steering fluid, and washer fluid levels. Being that the service data for checking the trans fluid level is a 10page + document and takes 1 1/2 hour+ there is no way they actually physically check the fluid level every service. Am I off my rocker or is Toyota being bastard liars??

Oh, and any communications that I've had with Toyota Canada is via Telephone. They won't ever give me anything in writing.. Sneaky sneaky...

Cheers,