Transmission Service at 104K Turns Ugly

I'm Dennis, new member here! I live in East TN, retired in 2010 and figured this to be my last and best truck ever! 104K. Easy solid/shift pattern before fluid exchange.

I had my 07 Tundra Sr5 Double Cab/LB, 4X4, 6AT, 5.7 5, transmission fluid
changed and within 2 week started seeing shift pattern change...hanging in
gear. Fluid level recheck OK.

Took pan off today and garage says "quite a bit of clutch material...feel like we disturbed some debris...that is friction material." I asked about putting pan back on, filling with "heavier" fluid until replacement arrives..."if we do install the pan back we will have to extract 5 rusted bolts that broke off when removing."
My questions: Transmission failure this early? (I've ALWAYS used Tow/Haul)
Rusted bolts suggest chronic moisture?
Toyota CSP been helpful to anyone on big issues like this?
Reman vs salvage vs Toyota replacement?

 

FYI...If it isn't broke don't try to fix it. Did you have a total flush? It's best to have a 1 gallon drain...check fluid...if still good......top off.

 

Following. Hope you can get resolved. My 2013 is running great but bought used and working through fluid changes. Are you suggesting not to do a full flush for the tranny but just top off?

 

Drain and fill is all I have done on tranny's. Only failure i have ever had was a PoS GM with chronic problems.

 

Get a new mechanic. My 07 was 12 years old when I traded it in. Tranny was flawless. I did have to replace a $18 power steering pressure sensor at 12 years old. Just my opinion.

 

million mile Tundra is a 2007....

 

And a 5.7.

https://www.tundratalk.net/threads/another-1-million-mile-tundra.770336/#post-9487452

 

It has died off, used to be great.

 

If there were a lot of transmissions problems with 07 then this is the forum where you would hear about it.

 

The 4.7 and 5.7 have different trans 4.7 is a 5 speed the 5.7 is a 6 speed

 

This is ridiculous

 

https://www.tundras.com/threads/hard-shifts-after-pan-drain-and-fill.63579/

I shill got a weird 3 to 4 shift but I’m still trucking along just fine after 12k miles.

 

Like others said, it sounds like you got a flush and not just a drain and fill. But the bolts breaking seems to be very common and easily fixable if they know what they are doing.

 

I'm guessing you don't know if they did a flush or drain & fill, or what kind of fluid they used. Having your transmission flushed by careless, irresponsible mechanics in bad shops is a really bad idea. Dirty flush machine? Wrong type fluid? Flush machine contaminated with another fluid type, or dirty fluid from previous work?

If I were in your position, I would tell this "mechanic" to bolt the pan back on the transmission using the remaining screws, finger tight, and to push the truck outside. I would then do the following myself. If you don't have the skills or the time, then you'll have to find another reputable shop, and have them go get your truck.

(1) Replace/repair the broken-off screws, clean up the pan, replace the strainer, and reinstall the pan.

(2) Drain/flush ALL remaining fluid possible, and refill the transmission with Valvoline MaxLife. Many Toyota owners have found this synthetic fluid equivalent to Toyota ATF WS. For the full transmission volume, it will be much cheaper for the experiment.

(3) Then see how the truck drives. If you still have rough and irregular shifting, damage has been done.

Maybe the few hundred expenditure above will be money down a "rathole", but if the transmission is fine after a little TLC, you've saved thousands. If the transmission still has problems, then you gambled and lost.

Your other best option is a low-mileage salvage transmission. Labor will probably equal or cost more than the transmission. And, I would definitely find another shop to do the work.

Welcome from the Texas Hill Country.

 

Not trying to argue with your buddy as I'm sure he knows a lot more than me but I wanted to talk about that 3rd bullet point. I just dropped the pan on my 18 year old Tundra and replaced the "filter". The filter is really just a mesh screen that tries to trap bigger particles. While I can't see the entire thing, I didn't see anything of concern in there. Also, there were zero metal shavings on any of the magnets. The truck has around 175K miles. I'm really not convinced there was any benefit to me replacing that filter and I would say unless you have a suspicion something is wrong, dropping the pan is a waste of time. Maybe that's different for HD trucks like you mention.

 

I'm not too well versed in truck maintenance, can someone explain the difference between a flush and a drain and fill? I'm guessing the drain only gets a certain portion of the contained oil, as the rest is trapped in the assembly and cooler?

I'm just over 50k and just trying to understand everything for future maintenance. It seems like I've read so many conflicting things on transmission stuff. Sorry, not trying to hijack op's thread, but may be good info for others still.

 

For a complete transmission fluid service, one can do a drain (from the pan plug) and then fill. Now, move up to the rubber transmission hose and disconnect. Turn truck on and pump out 1 quart at a time and turn off. Fill at dipstick/refill plug 1 quart. Repeat x10 (or whatever your fluid capacity). You just performed a safe flush and saved $$$.

 

The use of a flushing machine in a commercial shop is a problem even if the guy does get it hooked up right. How many guys on tools are going to thoroughly clean the machine after a previous service of a failing transmission with metal filings and clutch debris? Clean fluid is essential to an automatic transmission; consider the tolerances necessary to prevent excessive fluid leakage past the spool valves. Probably in the very low thousands of an inch, if not ten thousandths.

 

This happened to my 2000 Celica... My brother flushed the transmission when he worked at Jiggy Lube, and it was probably the worst thing ever.. had issues shifting and had some hang time between shifts... it still acts up today, but I'm finally getting around to ditching it at 167k...
Apples to apples my 07 Tundra 5.7 2wd has 224k on the same transmission has been serviced twice early in life due to issues with seals, and I've sorta ignored it... I will be doing a drain and fill, but it's been good so far.

 

Nothing is more confusing than trying to get a straight answer on transmission fluid changes on these trucks. The engines don't have a dipstick to check it and my service manual has nothing in regard to transmission fluid changes. I go back and forth between the people who swear you should never change it and those that drain and fill every 30k to 60k miles. Even the dealers don't have consistent answers. I don't get it but I have 30K miles before I have to make a decision. Lol.

 

5.7L Tundras have always recommended an ATF drain/fill every 30k miles for towing/hauling. If you do not tow/haul, Toyota doesn't recommend changing it.

I have never flushed ATF on a Tundra, as it requires a special spacer plate to hook up a flush machine. But I have flushed plenty of other automatic transmissions and there seems to be a lot of misinformation about flushing.

Flushing is a GOOD thing on healthy transmissions. It can accelerate the failure if the transmission is already starting to fail. Flushing a healthy transmission will not damage it. Period. Flushing machines do not allow used/old fluid to interact with the new fluid so there is no risk of cross-contamination among vehicles.