ATF Drain and Fill

thank you much; that's a very informative thread

 

I did all my dino fluid change last May at 60k miles.

 

how did you filter look at 60K? would you change it again after seeing how it looked? I'm at 66K, planning this and am on the fence about the filter change?

 

I was already planning on dropping the pan so not a big deal. The filter is more like a strainer, looked ok visually but will do it again at 120k miles. Pan bolts came off easy for me, benefit of living in the desert.

 

I just did just like the guy says in the video, but I used the transmission temp reported by the computer. I did it at 120k miles on a 2014. My ATF looked the same as this.

 

General consensus seems to be right around 4 quarts

 

What does u use the stp atf for?

 

Power steering. Owner manual required Dexron II or III. The one I got is Dexron III.

 

Finally did this today at 25,500 miles. My truck was cold and first thing this morning I drained 4 and 1/2 quarts (17 ounces to be exact) . The old fluid looked exactly like this, new fluid is ruby red. Used a small hand pump to add the new fluid. I was noticing before the drain and fill my shifts were not smooth, with the new fluid, shifts are smooth once again. Will be doing this every 20-25K miles moving forward.

 

I just did another 4qts today, about 7,000 miles since the last one. Fluid still looks about the same as it did. I do oil changes twice a year once in the spring and once in the fall so Ill do another one in the spring and hopefully maybe the fluid will start looking a little redder.

 

are you guys going through the whole process of getting to temp, filling till it runs out or just putting in what you took out?

 

So far the 2 times I've done it i just did 4qts since over 3.5 have come out each time.

 

I’m simply draining the ATF in the pan via the drain bolt and refilling with what I took out.

 

cool kind of what I am thinking

 

I used a cheap pump as well. I braced my hand on top of the pump against the frame and pushed up on the bottom bottle. This way there was not a chance of the hose falling out.

 

Its actually what Toyota calls for in the service manual for all years, just a drain and fill of the pan. The draining from the cooler on previous years was never a Toyota sanctioned way of doing it. While I obviously would love to have the option to do so on mine I obviously don't but if all Toyota ever called for was a drain and fill of 4qts I'm sure its fine as long as you are mixing the same exact fluid, although other WS compliant fluids say it's safe to mix Ill probably just stick with Toyota WS. My plan is to do it twice a year when I change my oil so that way even though I'm only doing four quarts at a time eventually I'm hoping the fluid comes out looking clean.

 

It is a Good plan. In my experience with other Toyo machines who've aged past 300K (3rd gen 4runner, 5th gen camry, 2nd gen prius) a drain/fill does them Wonders. The 4runner made a significant whine in 1st-3rd gears, after a couple months after the drain/fill, the whine slowly went away, now its almost all gone. Like you I plan to drain/fill it every other oil change or about once a year. Luck.

 

So for the 2019 and on, since they removed the t-stat plate and just has the puck, I am guessing the fluid is always circulating. So when my scan gauge tells me that my trans is at the right temp to check oil level, pull the plug? We’re as with the previous models you had to pin it to get to the right temp. Will probably just put back what came out and call it a day, but when the time comes at xx miles I will replace the filter and would want to check the level the right way.

 

I wouldn't recommend changing the filter. The chances of snapping of the heads of the pan bolts is very high and the filter isn't one that you need to replace. Here is a good video about it.
https://youtu.be/Y2f7dFNP82k

 

Short of your fluid getting too hot, it’s actually better to replace some of the fluid often than to change all of it at longer intervals.

 

Interesting video. I my self have never thought of the trans filter that way and will look into it more. Now as for the bolts, the chances are high, if, you live were there is salts or corrosion issues. I have done a filter change in a previous tundra I owned. I have also dropped more trans pans and valvebodys than I can count, never broke a bolt. I am not saying it isn’t possible but the chances of it happening on a bolt that isn’t compromised by an outside issue are slim. That guy has some interesting videos but not everything he says is correct. I just watched a video about oil consumption that he made and compared conventional oil to synthetic as a reason for oil consumption, which is false. Either way always good to learn new things and I will be looking further into the trans filter. I usually don’t keep my vehicles for that long so the chances of me even changing the trans filter at slim. Still wondering if the drain and fill procedure has changed since there is no t-stat to pin.

 

When it comes to the temp can't you just let it run for 5 minutes or so, then drain out the extra?

 

If it is hotter than spec when you pull the check plug you’ll drain too much and be low. If colder than spec you’ll retain too much fluid and be high. There are a bunch of methods to do it the right way. That being said, I’ve measured and refilled the same amount with fluids the same temp and it’s always come out spot on. 4 qts per drain and fill for my truck.

 

I read the procedure in a Haynes manual, and it says to drive it around some period of time until it reaches normal operating temperature. After watching all those Youtube videos about precise temperatures I was thinking "So, is it important or not?" I did find one Youtube video where they used a scan tool then checked with a temp gun, and they were close. The temp gun was a few degrees below the scan tool. I was thinking I might use the temp gun and let it get toward the lower end of the range hoping the actual temp is still within the upper end.

FWIW, on my 2003 Tundra I just drained a gallon and put in a new gallon about every 40,000 miles. I sold the truck recently at 120,000 miles, and the last time I drained it recently the fluid looked good.

 

Need to remember though that engine oil get contaminated from combustion. Where the transmission fluid does not.

 

I have been in the refill with what comes out crowd and have done 4 quarts the past two times even though 4qts was a bit more than what came out. Today I decided to level the truck, found the sweet spot in my driveway using a couple boards under the front wheels and a magnetic level on the pan. I have an OBDlink MX+ that I used to watch the temp and opened the check bolt at 127°. I ended up getting 27.8oz out so almost an extra quart was in there, considering its a 12qt systen I'm sure its not a huge deal but I feel better having done it. Not sure what Toyota defines as a trickle but I waited til the stream was too weak to flow on its own and started to go down the side of the pan and then plugged it back up. While under there I also replaced my fill bolt because I had rounded it off a bit getting it off with a 15/16 socket, so I went out an bought a 24mm and a new plug and gasket. Here are the part numbers incase anyone ever runs into the same situation.
90341-18059- FILL PLUG
90301-15004- O-RING GASKET

 

I used both the scan tool and an IR Temp Gun. The temp at the bottom front of the pan matched the scan tool very closely. The front of the pan was a little different than the back of the pan.

 

I’m in the “drain & fill” club as well. Didn’t do mine till around 60k. Shifts better.

 

Did you just measure what you took out? and refill same?

 

Measuring the trans temp for the level check process was far easier than I expected. I have a scan guage setup on the truck so watching the pan temp was very easy. I put in what i pulled out the first time i did a change at 70k miles. 20k miles later i more accurately did the level check and I’ll bet i overfilled the first time