1st gen high mileage

I think as many others have stated, just do a drain and fill or 5 until fluid starts coming out cleaner. If I had bought the truck new I would probably have just done a drain and fill every 2nd oil change and things would have been golden (well bright red I guess). That's impossible to do now so I'm just planning to do drain and fills every 2k or 3k miles or so until the fluid starts looking better. My fluid is slightly dark and doesn't smell too bad. Definitely not burnt. My truck is at 177k right now. Shift performance is not great but hoping to improve slightly.

On my old Camry (1996 body 465k miles true engine mileage unknown) it got stuck in 3rd gear some time after I got it. Decided it couldn't hurt to flush trans as it stopped shifting. Flushed out nasty watery burnt fluid. Fluid now is still dark but better than before after about 10k miles. After all this it started shifting again but shifts were rougher than before flush. All that mattered was that it was shifting again. Still have that thing as my winter beater.

 

Another vote for the periodic drain and refill method. I drain and fill once every 10,000 miles in all my vehicles. The fluid stays red and the transmissions all seem very happy.

 

I just wait for my pushrods to start tapping then add a quart. Still on the factory filter.

 

Actually, those prices were not from a dealer. They are from three different service shops here in Indianapolis. Two were at or close to $600....the cheapest I found was $355, all of the quotes were for a drain and refill only (including filter change). The Toyota dealership quoted me $399 for a flush. I know better than that. I am trying to get a quote for just the drain and refill w/new filter.

I have a 2013 Tundra.

I'm confused by the comment "There's no reason to be concerned about refreshing the fluid in the tranny either 3-4 quarts at a time (spill & fill)". Are you saying to NOT do that?

Also, what price should I expect to pay for a drain and refill? And does that include the filter change?

 

Ah. You're in the 1st gen section. Your trans has no dipstick only drain and fill hole. Theres a whole procedure on doing that and it's somewhat complicated.

 

As others have stated, you're in the 1st Gen forum, so the comments you're getting are specific to 1st Gen trucks. I don't know what the transmission is in a '13 Tundra, but I'd bet it's an Aisin transmission and is of similar design as our 1st Gen Aisin transmissions. If that's the case, it doesn't have a filter in a traditional sense, it has a screen that doesn't need to be replaced. Repair shops should know that. Of those quotes, the dealer is the best deal. With the others you're only getting about a gallon of fresh fluid and an hour of labor.

There's nothing wrong with refreshing transmission fluid with the spill and fill method: drain out the 3-4 quarts that are in the pan, then replace with the same amount of fresh fluid. It's just not a very efficient way to do it because you're only replacing about 25% of the capacity of the system each time.
But honestly, it's the easiest way to do it and it gets some clean fluid into the system. It's also the method specified by Toyota, so there's that.

It's about as much effort as an oil change, so that should be a good starting point. The fluid is probably more expensive than motor oil. And as stated above, that would not include changing the filter because it's not necessary.

 

Just to point out, I'm a 1GT owner and mine is same.

 

LOL! Feels like when I was a kid in 1995 in an AOL chat room and found out I came to the wrong place.

Regarless, still good info. I'm going to do the "spill and fill" as it was called. Which the Toyota dealership clarified for me that they call it a "Drain and Fill" removing and adding 3-4 quarts. By title, that's...what is it....OH! lying! It's lying