Yet ANOTHER low transmission fluid story

Bought my 2016 DCLB 4X2 W/tow package, in April and the Salesman and his service manager assured me that they physically check the transmission fluid on their pre delivery inspection.

However, I visited the dealer today to have them check the fluid as a 5000 mile service, and guess what they found? LOW FLUID

If I am reading this correctly ... it appears to be 2 Quarts used to fill.

 

This is becoming ridiculous. Toyota needs to nut-up and make a statement.

 

Obviously they do nothing at length in PDI except pull the plastic off and wash the truck (maybe check tire air pressure) and make sure it starts up/drives. You can not trust the dealer when they say they will check it. I offered to pay the service department to check it, they claimed to have checked and said it was normal (so they charged me), then I found out they never checked it-- the bolts I marked were untouched.

 

And they say they physically check it as part of dealer prep? Total BS. I had a service manager tell me once that my 88 p/u needed to have it's timing belt changed as it was due. Since it's a chain and not a belt I wonder if they would have just charged me and done nothing.

 

Are the bolts marked with the pink tamper paint from the factory?

 

Toyota Corporate knows that "X" amount were under filled, from a specific date up to a very recent date. This is why they halted production few days, not to long ago.

Check your fluid level.

 

Can you cite your source for this information?

 

He may be confusing why Toyota shut down Tacoma production recently. It was not for realizing the problem with low transmission fluid levels but a storm that damaged the factory around May 19th. It was only down for a few days before they were able to repair the roof.

http://www.trucktrend.com/news/1605-toyota-truck-production-halted-by-texas-storm/

Unless there is more recent news but I highly doubt it.

Of course they could be using the damaged roof story to cover up the transmission fluid issue.

 

Some of the claims and assumptions being made are....baffling?

 

Yep.

When I took delivery, I asked to see the checklist my dealership did during the PDI, if there was something they didn't do but I wanted done, I brought it to their attention to do it regardless as I wanted it checked anyway. Transmission fluid level was one item in particular so we had it done the correct way and I was allowed to observe.

Level was correct from the factory and I haven't had any issues in almost 6k miles.

Truck had 3 miles on it when I got it.

 

That I am not at liberty to.

This is after the fact. Try and see if you can find the recent change in the management tier. All I can say. The problem is well older than the '16's. Yet was recently corrected. Prior to the storms.

 

?
http://asq.org/qualitynews/qnt/execute/displaySetup?newsID=21477

 

Lmao. Sound like express oil service guy while under hood.

While walking up to my window with clipboard.
"So your transmission fluid is dirty I'd recommend a flush and filter change which we can do." I smiled. "Oh its a manual" I smile and nod and he drops the subject.

 

More local to SA, and TOA some some of the same involved. Good find though.

 

Are you saying people were fired (i.e. management) because of the transmission oil issue?

 

The trans fluid is definitely not checked on a PDS. The reason is because the Toyota only pays for 1 hour of work and that includes the test drive. To check the trans fluid takes about 30min and the use of the techstream. The stickers left in the vehicle are not the techs responsibility but the car wash guy and not an indication that the PDS was never done. The homelink may have been missed.

If you feel that the dealer didn't perform the PDS you should contact Toyota Corporate. Toyota is very serious about their PDS's. It's the last step before the customer gets their vehicle and someone at the dealership would have to fall on their sword if they weren't being performed.

 

Anyone consider that the transmission level tolerance spec allows for variations we're seeing? Mine was low by a quart, then over by a half a quart, according to the dealership, and I've seen little difference in performance. This is just poor engineering and execution. I suspect there was a rush to market that was biased by epa and here we are.

Mike, you there?

 

Sorry, read you wrong and thought you where a little pissed because you thought it might not have been done. Happy motoring.

 

It would be nice if someone who was a new TOYOTA transmission expert could jump on this thread/forum and verify whether or not a quart or two low transmission oil REALLY affects the transmission shifting. Of course the oil being low will affect the quality of the oil over a shorter period of time because of the reduced capacity.

As me being a certified Auto Tech for over 20 years, I have never heard of such a thing that a quart low of a transmission fluid on a 10.7 quart capacity system could affect the shifting pattern so intensely. I don't know how the internal system would KNOW to not shift properly?

Maybe there is a sensor inside measuring the depth of oil and it says if the oil is down a quart please shift erratically so as to upset the customer so he/she will bring it to the dealership to get the level corrected.

I have been on this forum since last September and hundreds of people have said; and many have provided an invoice that states that transmission oil was low and some was added.

Here's the thing. It is hard enough to get under there and hold a FUNNEL and then attempt to pour oil into said transmission through the funnel and MEASURE exactly one or two quarts. So getting an EXACT measurement of how LOW the actual oil is; and exactly how many cc's were added is not an exact science.

I was also a SERVICE MANAGER at a dealership as well. We charged the customer accordingly for what oil they needed and they were charged by what was purchased from the parts department. Meaning if a customer was charged a quart of oil, that did NOT mean the tech used the whole quart in the transmission. We just charged the customer for the whole quart whether all of it was used or not. That is maybe why many of the invoices shown are down EXACTLY 1 quart.

As per the manual; the tow package is 10.7 quarts and non tow is 10.5 quarts. That means all the OTHER Tacos without the tow package would probably also be low.

Other transmissions have dipsticks, and I can say with most certainty that many transmission levels are NOT EXACTLY on the top fill mark of the dipstick and they function just fine.

Anyways, it would be great if a transmission engineer joined the thread and verified that being 1 quart low on transmission oil severely affects the performance and shifting because the reduced oil capacity affects the heat transference between the parts which causes the viscosity of the oil to break down faster thereby reducing the friction between the shifting plates/bands thus causing the reduced oil to not completely fill the valve body cavity which in turn causes the erratic shifting!