Early transmission service worth it?

Service manual only states to do a drain and fill.

 

Been doing this for years without issue.

Get the truck on a level surface.

Remove fill and drain plug.

Drain, replace drain plug, fill, replace fill plug, torque drain plug, and fill plug, turn on the truck, wait for the right temperature (cycle the gearshift a few times while waiting). For monitoring temps, use whatever method you want. Your truck, your choice.

Remove check plug and drain until it trickles.

Torque check plug, turn off truck check for leaks, done. Remember to use new washers. As always, perform at your own risk, even if it's stupidly easy.

 

Stop terrifying the guy. It’s not the end of the world.

 

Ordered the fluid. Plan on doing it next weekend.

 

Do you have an OBD tool? It makes doing the check process much easier and assures its done correctly. I personally use the OBDlink MX+.
Here is the proper way to do the check procedure using an OBD tool.
https://youtu.be/Ep5CNhdMnhE?t=2808

 

I have almost 500K on my 2011 and 280K on my 2013 tundras. Never have changed a drop of transmission fluid. Small construction related business hauling heavy loads frequently with many short stop and go trips daily. Both trucks are 4wd and run well and shift smooth.

 

Thats awesome that they are still going but that fluid is toast and its way too late to change it.

 

I have driven the three tundras I have owned over a million miles combined. Never a major failure of any kind. I’ll stick with the process.

 

Thats totally fine! My goal is a million miles on 1 Tundra so I keep my fluid fresh. Not sure if your truck has it on the computer but 2014+ definitely has a thermal degradation counter for the ATF and even Toyota says that when that counter reaches 60,000 its time for thay fluid to be replaced. Toyota allows the reset of the counter if half of the fluid is replace. If you have an OBD tool and are able to check Id be curious what your number is at. Mine was at 2705 with 47,000 miles but I also dont tow and have a added cooler, the number goes up faster when the fluid is hotter. That Toyota WS fluid isnt some magic oil thay will just last forever, even Toyota knows that.

 

Really? How do I check this? I’m curious?

 

I just called my toyota dealer and asked about what is involved in trans fluid change.
Its a drain and fill, $200 CAD. Im not pissing around on the garage floor for $200, they can have at it.

 

Another data point:

2020 Tundra, 50K miles, 2970 - has aftermarket transmission cooler

2014 Sequoia, 98K miles, 65960 - does not have a transmission cooler

I have a sample of the transmission fluid that will be sent to Blackstone to see if the correlation and counters are correct.

 

Damn. That’s a HUGE disparity

 

Thats actually the maxed out number I believe. It cant go any higher. You can reset it easily with TechStream.

Edit: the number it maxes out at should be 65535 according to some other Toyota forums. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/atf-thermal-degradation-estimate-from-ecu.535949/

 

My OBDlink mx+ has it as a display item you can choose from.

 

Wonder if my Scangauge II will show it.

 

I’ll plug my scanner in and take a pic and post once my wife gets back, it was definitely in the 65K. I was trying to go off memory on hers.

 

Here’s the value, I accidentally mixed some numbers, but it’s maxed out.it is indeed 65535

 

Tundra with cooler. Thought it was 2900 (apparently I need short term memory exercises) but it is 3900. Still a pretty big difference. I have doubts on the accuracy of these counters, so it’ll be interesting to see the Blackstone results.

 

A guy I work with has a 2007 Sequoia that has 330,000 on it. He drained and filled the transmission once at 150,000. Shifts fine even today.

 

Interesting stuff. I'm assuming doing a drain and fill every year isn't going to reduce the rate this number accumulates?

 

I believe it, our Sequoia shifts smoother than the Tundra.

 

I believe you have to manually reset it.

 

No you need to reset it with TechStream or maybe another type of scan tool can, the normal OBD readers can only display it. Toyota says to reset it if half or more of the fluid is replaced. I just reset mine because I dropped the pan and filter last year which was about 6qts and then I did another drain and fill this year of 4.5qts so figured it made sense to reset it. Whether or not it actually makes any difference in how the transmission acts is up for speculation.

 

This just popped up on my youtube feed

https://youtu.be/Kb3GQRzkLVQ?si=uACb8G1IHelklfNh

 

Welp I just did the transmission service today. The fluid was dark red but did not look terrible. I have 73,000 and this is the first transmission fluid change done on it.

honestly I’m not sure if it was just me over analyzing things or not but it felt like it was shifting smoother than before. I have only drove like 10 miles so we will see how things go in the coming weeks.

thanks for everyone’s encouragement/help.

 

Mine was noticeably smoother after the fluid exchange

 

I have 32K miles on my 2018, no fluid changes done except oil. Everything seems ok but thinking about coolant, diff, front and rear, transmission fluid changes. I’ve done some light towing but not many miles. Any ideas….

 

At 30k your front and rear diffs are due along with the transfer case. You can hold off on the transmission but I'd personally do a drain and fill although Toyota says 60k. The coolant can wait til at least 50,000, Toyota says 100k and then 50k after that so personally Ill be doing it every 50k.