Transmission fluid change questions

I want to replace the transmission fluid on my 2017 SR5 tundra with 140,000 miles. Bought it recently and don't know last time it's been changed. I'd like to follow toyota's procedure exactly but I'm slightly confused about after step 14. Is it saying I need to drain, run, and refill 3 times before the temp check refill? One drain is 2.2 qts so 6.6 qts in total? Just want to make sure im not reading it wrong. Dont want to mess this up! Thanks!

https://cardiagn.com/ab60f-automatic-transmission-2015-tundra/

 

The instructions are basically describing multiple drain and fill cycles to replace a good portion of the fluid in the system. You are reading it correctly and some people will do even more of drain/fill cycles to replace more fluid. Regardless of how many cycles you plan to do, make sure you have extra ATF just in case you spill.

 

Just drain pan, refill 4 qts. That’s it. Every 100,000 miles. They are sealed. My 07 Tundra has 196,000 miles, running smooth on original fluid. Will probably do 4 quarts drain and fill at 200,000 and another at 230,000. It’s best not to mess with it. Many Toyota dealers won’t even recommend or provide the service. Definitely not to be concerned within your first 100K ….

 

I hope you never buy a bmw.

 

Here is what I did with my 2019. Parked and let sit over night to allow the car to cool and the transmission oil to cool. Then I drained all transmission oil in my transmission pan. Measured exactly how much transmission oil drained and replaced that amount with new Toyota WS transmission oil. I will do this every 30,000 miles.

 

this is adequate.

my advice...add one more step.

once you do all that....let it idle for 15 minutes and open the check valve. let it drain till it trickles. if nothing comes out, you need to add fluid.

once you do that...you are safe.

 

After 15 minutes of idling do you open the check valve when the truck is running or do you shut it down before opening the valve?

I’ve owned the truck since new, so I’m the only person to service the transmission.

 

as it's running.

I usually drain ~3.8 qts then I refill with 4.5qts

warm it up....as it's idling I open the valve and drain till it trickles.

bam - you are done.

 

i won’t buy a BMW. I plan on getting my Tundra to at least the 500K miles. I baby it. Took it to dealer every 3000 miles for first 150K, have the book stamped every time,I get lifetime free oil changes with purchase. Only run 92 octane, run synthetic blend oil, and now take ot on every 5000 miles. Runs strong like a dream. I had the water pump replaced at 120K, haven’t changed the antifreeze since. You guys using non Toyota fluids and parts are destroying your trucks. I just changed out the Fuel pump housing and sending unit, spark plugs, serpentine pulley, belt and tensioner and clean the throttle body every 10K and run seafoam every 20K. Once you drain the original Toyota transmission fluid, if you don’t use Toyota fluid you just wasted your tranny, all for thinking you need to treat it like a 69 Pontiac and change it every 30K. You’re missing the point of Toyota engineering.

 

But what octane fuel?

 

@FrenchToasty - let me know when your trans falls out from under the truck - I’ll help you pick it up out of the street.

 

Great, thank you.

 

Both the 4runner and the tundra love the amsoil fuel efficient, my scientific opinion; it’s better than WS which is not a lifetime fluid, especially in the EXTREME USE environment we live in.

 

You’re F’d.

 

https://youtu.be/eRxSu4-4ojo

 

No fluid is lifetime, no matter how much you spent on it.

 

AMD in the video above (Awesome channel BTW) ALWAYS recommends changing the Transmission fluid at 60k and the oil at 5k regardless of how you drive. He isn't making money off of you so that advice is more credible, to me anyway. If you watch some of his videos you will come to respect his views.

 

Yep. I would even go 30K or less if you have a car with CVT transmission. Fluid is cheap.

 

FYI - He has another one that is for trucks and mentions bypassing the thermostat if you have an external trans cooler.

 

When you pin the trans cooler open, Be careful not to scald the shit out of the back of your hand on the hot cat converter

hypothetically speaking

 

What ever you do dont follow this guys instructions. Anything with a drain port and a fill port is not sealed. It has a check plug for a reason.

I have done 3 drain and and fills myself. I can confidently say unless someone has fooled around with the tranny you will get roughly 4qts out, usually a little less. Refill with 4qts and call it a day or do the check procedure, if you have an OBD tool it makes it very easy. If you have a truck with the atf lines running to the radiator you can use that as an easy way if you want to do a complete fluid exchange which I believe is around 12-14qts.

 

I guarantee you don’t have 196K miles on your transmission. I’ve taken my 07 to the dealer every 3-5K miles and since I hit 150K miles I take it in every 5-7K miles to change out synthetic blend oil. It’s not a 1965 Pontiac, stop playing with your fluids every 20K miles. If you didn’t use genuine Toyota fluids then your toast anyways and will start to see problems soon. The dealer laughed when I tried to get them to change spark plugs before 100K, they refused to even talk about timing chain service and the transmission they say don’t kick a sleeping dog.. these Tundras aren’t Kia or Hyundai or Ford, if you wanted a Trunk to tinker around with and mess with the fluids every 20K your just wasting time and money and are probably using cheap non Toyota specs as well. It’s a shame. We’re not in highschool auto shop anymore. Enjoy your Toyota, buy an old junker if you like fiddling around with your cars trying to play mechanic or do what I do now, dealer service every 5-10K or 6 months like I do on all 3 of my Toyotas. I’ll get 350k on my Tundra and probably 500K miles on my Highlander and Camry.

 

The fact that you bring a truck to a dealer for an oil change and think the transmission is sealed kind of makes your opinion moot for this topic. I do all my own engine oil, transmission, differentials, transfer case, filters, brakes ect. Its not fiddling around, I can guarantee you I am servicing my truck better than the kid changing your oil and over torquing everything on your truck with an air gun. Im glad your truck still runs though but I bet my fluids look much better than yours do.

 

Toyota makes their own engine oil? News to me

 

They pay Mobil 1 to rebrand theirs.

 

So if I put mobile 1 in there my engine will probably prematurely die because it didn’t have a Toyota logo on the bottle when I poured it in? What if I put one on with sharpie?

 

The engine knows Mo!

 

There is a certain joy watching folks get balled up over WS Trans fluid.

I reckon if they put that much effort into learning a high paying trade, life would be better.

 

I put TGMO labels on my Kirkland 0w-20. Don't tell my truck.