Transmission fluid swap

I drove about 20 miles between each drain and fill. My thermostat is also pinned open.

 

I thought there was a removable dip tube so you could get it all out?

 

It doesn't all come out. There is still at 2+ qts in the pan. I got almost 7qts total when I drained my pan and then removed it

 

Valvoline is good too. I did a complete exchange when I had my 15 Tacoma that used WS.

 

OEM Toyota WS is about 12.50 to 14.00 a quart. (theres your baseline)
AISIN, ATF0WS Arguably the only closest things to OEM. Paid on Rock 7.50 a quart.
(some people feel only oem for longevity, others like the instant savings of MaxLife (forum reviews can vary on they feel it works))
I went with AISIN, they are the manufacturer of the transmission. They know what it likes.

$25.92 bucks for Maxlife (Just checked Ama....) (1 gallon container)
30 for AISIN, ATF0WS (4 bottles @ 7.50 each) Rock does charge to ship.
54 for Toyota OEM WS (figure 13.50 per quart x 4)

What I dont trust with MaxLife is that it covers specs from all over the place.
Dexton 2,3.... Honda, Toyoto, Mercedes, BMW....
How can one lubricant cover all of them? Does it cure cancer too?
Dont get me wrong, stuck on the side of the road and need to fill it?
No problem. If at home doing maintenance? Not going to cheap out for only a few bucks.

 

What about undoing the transcooler line?

 

Way easier. Pin the t stat, pull a cooler line and turn the truck on to pump 2 or 3qts out. Dump same amount back in. Do that 3 or 4 times and you're set.

 

Holy moly. That looks like it’s been in for 200k miles.

 

Is there any data for those oils where one can see the difference?
My uneducated and ignorant understanding, it does not "cover" all of them, it is just the requirements for the ATF are so close to each other that by adding a couple of more additives they "cover" many manufacturer's requirements. Probably i'm wrong, but it is just my thought, so just putting it out.
BTW, my 2008 4runner uses this ATF for 244,000 miles and never complained, knock on the wood.

 

Grab a translator and have fun.

https://www.oil-club.ru/forum/topic/18441-atf-svezhie/

 

This is the way

 

https://www.tundras.com/threads/transmission-drain-and-fill-procedure.154250/

 

Did a 2.5gal pump and dump change. Oem fluid looked just like OPs. I'll probabky do another 6 quarts in 1 or 2k miles.

All I did was pull the lower hose from the t stat and pumped out 3qts, added 3, pump 3, add 3. Color definitely improved but still on the darker side.

 

Miles? What brand of fluid?

 

37k. Amsoil

 

Any further details on this - Does it matter which hose I pull off - the line closer to the pin? How long do I keep the truck on to pump 2-3 quarts.

 

What advantages of pulling the hose vs. opening the drain plug?

 

Which hose doesn't really matter, as long as you pin the tstat open. I used the bottom hose as that is the OUT line. Just takes a couple of seconds...I was using my remote start, but having someone in the truck would be safer.

Pan doesn't drain everything. I wanted to do a big exchange in one go...pan drop or drain just gets rid of 4 or so quarts.

 

Drain plug drains exactly the same ~3 quarts every time as the hose pull. Do it 3-4 times exactly as hose pull and you are GTG. When you drop the pan you empty 4 quarts the max. So, pretty much the same, not 100%.
But watewer, different jerks for different folks

 

I'm all about the annual drain and fill. It keeps fresh additives coming in and keeps the fluid a nice color.

This year I will replace the magnafine filter I added to the return line after my aftermarket cooler. I'm expecting the trans fluid to be a bit darker this year as it went through trans break-in.

 

That's how I did my Tacoma when I had a real remote start. If and when I get around to this job on the Tundra I'll need a helper. BTW, the OP's fluid was seriously ugly. When I did my Tacoma at 100,000 miles the OEM WS that I drained out looked brand new.

 

So after 100k your oil was cherry bright red? No discoloration at all? If you put your oil and a brand new quart of WS in a glass cup, you couldn't tell them apart?

 

mine looked like OP's as well. Probably some initial break in material

 

Clear a few things up in this thread. Draining the pan is not the same as pulling a cooler hose off. If you empty the pan and fill the pan, as soon as you start the truck, the old fluid returning to the pan from the cooler mixes with the new fluid. So the idea here is to pull off the correct cooler hose and divert it into a container so no mixing occurs. So the best way to do the fluid exchange is to drain the pan as much as possible, fill the pan with the amount drained out, remove the return hose, and do 3 qts at a time. After 11 or 12 qts, you should have cherry red fluid as the oil is pushed through in a serial fashion and very little mixing occurs. I did a write up on changing the filter and exchanging the fluid. I hope these comments and my write up can help someone but if you are doing the drain and fills and that's what you are comfortable doing, please keep doing them.

 

Personally I'm a fan of.....

Draining pan/vac hosing pan. Refilling what you took out + enough weep out fill plug. Run vehicle. Pin open tstat, using the cooler lines to pump old fluid out, and new fluid at the same time, at the same rate.

That way you have pretty fresh fluid.

You could also just pump fresh fluid in and and old fluid out until it runs clear, but that usually requires a bit extra fluid, more expensive.

 

The cooling/lubricating circuits are separate from the main high pressure and torque converter fluid routes.

You will always have mixing of old and new as fluid doesn't not flow in series, there are different, parallel circuits. This means much of the fluid suspended in the valve body, TC, clutch actuators, etc will be sent back to the pan, not the cooling lines.

That said, I can see your best shot at replacing all the fluid is pan first, then cooling lines.

My preference is to start at low mileage doing the pan annually. No cooler lines for this bandito.

 

Is there an inspection cover and a way to access the converter to drain it? I did a tranny fluid drain and replace in my wife's Highlander a few yrs back and drained the converter as well.