2020 Transmission Drain and Fill

That was my 3rd drain and fill

 

I can confirm. I’ve done the initial ATF swap on a 2018 (with cooler pinned) a 2020, and a 2021. All had 1-1.5 qt more come out than went in. I don’t think the transmission is overly sensitive to fill level. I used the fusion app to monitor fluid temp for the level check on each.

 

Thanks for the tip.
Truck has been sitting in the garage for at least a week now. Washed, waxed, and now doing all fluid changes. Will need to pick up couple more qts.

Did you just watch trans temp to check for accurate level or jump the two pins in the ODBII as outlined in the video provided earlier in the thread?

 

Worth noting in case it wasn’t in this thread earlier:

A nice and easy way to fill without a fluid pump is to grab 5’ of clear vinyl hose from Home Depot or Lowe’s. 1/2” ID with a 5/8” OD.

Slide the hose down from the engine compartment just behind the driver’s side cylinder head. Shove hose into the trans fill port; it’s a snug fit. Either cram a small funnel into the top side end or you can find a little oil jug adapter with about a foot of the same size hose at WalMart for $5. This adapter fits WS jugs. Just rip off the short hose and use the long one. If you do this, you’ll need to stab some holes in the bottom of the jugs to relieve vacuum.

Zero mess. Zero headache. Zero laying on your back pumping that little pump 400,000 times. Just slide the hose down and into the trans. You made a long-ass funnel!


And I just did mine a couple weeks ago. Easy peasy. Hardest part was removing the RCI skids.

 

That's how I do it...I do have a trans cooler so about 1 qt extra,last time I had to put 6 qts back lost almost a half qt at temp

 

I uuse my scan gauge for temps,I think the jumper method is probably better just haven't tried it yet

 

Nice, that is what I have as well.

 

Interesting trivia, the trans pan will hold about 7 qts when up on ramps before it overflows the fill. The 2020 I did (mine) I added a large cooler at the same time as the second fluid change. I thought it might need an extra 1.5 qt. It doesn’t hold much though, maybe 1/2 qt based on what I drained out.

 

I'm studying up to try a drain and fill. Where do you get a replacement o-ring for the fill plug? Are there washers on the drain and check plugs? If so, is there a kit with these?

 

Dealer will be easiest. Prices are retail.
O ring 90301-15004 $3.19
Drain and overflow

$8 35178-30010 luxlead 20 PCS Transmission Drain Plug Gaskets Oil Crush Washer Seal Rings Compatible with Toyota Lexus 4Runner Sequoia Tacoma Tundra Lexus GS450H, IS250/350, LS430, LS460, Replaces 35178-30010

35178-30010 $3.45 x 2

 

Thank you sir.

 

So this will be my first transmission fluid maintenance, the truck has 103K miles(I bought the truck with 40K) I have been slack on maintenance, just oil change and such. But I'm at a good place and am starting to learn and do my own maintenance. From the video in Page 2 the guy states to do a pan drop and fill, because of my high mileage and never do a service on the fluid before. So my question is do I need to drop the pan and do a drain and fill or just a transmission fluid change?

Thank you
Edsel

 

You’ll get two different answers on this and neither are wrong.
My choice was to drop the pan and replace filter. the filter, pan gasket, and o-ring from Toyota are pricy, but not terrible.

Doing a standard fluid swap is still a million times better than nothing.

 

A lot have broken bolts doing the pan drop plus it seems the filter is never dirty anyways.

 

I drained 3.5 quarts of WS today and refilled with 4. As always, I turned a simple job into an event. My torque wrench didn't work right, so I probably over-torqued all three bolts. The fluid did not drain out of the check plug like I saw in examples on youtube. Mine just had drops coming out at first. I put the bolt back in, loosely, and looked at my temperature again, which had dropped from 99 to 96. (Welcome to Alaska) Once it got back up to 99 again I took out the check plug again and now it drained out, albeit slower than the examples I had seen. And then it just kept going at that slow steady stream. Once the temperature got up to 110 I called it quits and put the check plug in. Of course, I dropped it in the drain pan, had to crawl back out from under the truck, fish out the plug and new crush washer, strain without my glasses to put the washer back on the right way and then get back under there, while it was still a slow steady stream and plug her back in. I was concerned about the level of course, but about 1/2 quart drained out, so I expect I'm about right on with 3.5 out and 3.5 in. I tell this tale in appreciation for all you folks who add to the knowledge base on here. Thank you all very much.

 

I realized afterwards that I put the fill plug in before letting oil out of the check plug, which is probably why the fluid drained much slower than I expected.

 

When ever I do a drain and fill and I pull the check plug it will start coming straight down, once the stream is too weak that it drains down the side, then I put it back it. There is no need to be using torque wrench on jobs like this unless you happen to be a person who regularly over tightens things, if you dont tighten it enough, you'll find out real quick on the drain bolts. I don't even own a torque wrench, but I make a click sound when I can tell it's where its supposed to be. 10 oil changes and 5 drain and fills later, no issues with the plugs, also never replaced any of the washers, the one on my engine oil pan has been stuck to the pan since its first oil change.

 

That's great perspective! I tend to over-analyze everything because I do not have a lot of experience in this area. I'm glad I measured how much came out and what I put in, because I don't think I did the check fill plug quite right. I forgot and put the fill plug in before doing the check valve. But, about 14 ounces came out of the check valve and I probably spilled an ounce messing around with the funnel and hose putting the 4 quarts of WS in. I can't imagine a couple of ounces over will hurt anything.

 

same, but ... on the click sound.

 

“but I make a click sound when I can tell where its supposed to be…”

 

Sorry if this has been answered but I stripped the check plug bolt on a drain and flush today. Anyone know the part number? I can't seem to find it anywhere. Any help is much appreciated

 

90341-10021
1 @ $3.16
If you stripped it you may need to replace the pan or remove it and weld in a nut but that may be difficult because of the standpipe. Be careful as many report snapping multiple pan bolts due to corrosion. PB blaster and heat will be your friend should you need to remove pan.

 

Perfect thanks so much and ordered it today. The bolt is the hex portion that stripped and just need to get it out but the socket is fine so hopefully I can get it out safely. Will keep you posted

 

Interested in anyones recommendations of the best to purchase OBD check to monitor trans temps for the drain and fill? Looked and there are tons of options. Just want something simple to plug in and use an app on phone to monitor temps during the drain and fill to ensure correct amounts replaced.

 

For Android phone users, the

$15 Veepeak Mini Bluetooth OBD II Scanner Auto Check Engine Light Code Reader Car OBD Diagnostic Scan Tool for Android (Incompatible with iOS)

Veepeak dongle and free "Car Scanner ELM OBD2" app will give you trans temps. Total cost ~$14 from Amazon. If you have an Apple phone, there's a

Veepeak Mini WiFi OBD II Scanner Adapter Car Check Engine Light Diagnostic Code Reader Scan Tool for iOS and Android Black

Veepeak around $20 that does both iOS and Android using the same app. Others have used the OBD Fusion app, but Car Scanner works for me.

 

OBDLink MX+. Not sure about the others but this one is already configured for the transmission temp. Others I have seen you have to program. Probably easy enough to program and it is cheaper. I saw this one on the forum and everyone that used it spoke very highly.

 

How about using one of these on the plug?

 

Second vote for the OBDLink MX+ it works right out of the box and is a great to to have for other vehicles as well. Great company and customer service as well.

 

Thanks guys for the advise and ended up paying the extra cost and got the OBDLink MX+. Help and recommendations much appreciated.

 

Thinking of doing a drain/fill during my next oil change. I'll be at 40k miles, it's a little early but it can't hurt anything.