change every 2 years or 30k. not only is it a coolant its also a hydraulic fluid and a non conductive fluid . When it stays in there for years and years it looses its ability to cool, act as a hydraulic fluid and it becomes conductive with all the particulates that are deposited from the clutches etc. bad things happen when you have electrical items submerged in a conductive fluid.

pm me ill send a diagram ( I sent a schematic via pm to a non public album, you must add me as a contact to view it i think)

And with a drain plug it's so easy.


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Got my '98 3.4V6 with Auto Trans in 2006 with 75K. Now has 199K.
Have never changed trans fluid or filter.
Noticed some "shuttering" or "tugging" while driving at constant speed.
Checked fluid today after 15 minutes of driving. (in Park while idling)
Fluid below lower "Hot" notch a little - maybe 1/4" or so.
Added quart of new fluid, drove and rechecked, still low.
Not sure if the extra fluid stopped the shuttering.
What to do now?
I have been told not to have fluid changed or trans flushed at this point.
Add some quality trans fix fluid? Top off with more fluid?
Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated!

I hope I'm misunderstanding this, but you went 120k+ miles without changing the fluid or filter?

Life is busy, two kids through college, elderly parents.....

Still looks great and runs great, just want to do what I can to keep it going as long as I can.

Well, I am not very experienced with transmissions so you may want to wait until the OP responds. I can only tell you what I learned from my situation with a failing torque converter.

Was the fluid black and did it smell burnt before you added the quart to it?


Here's what I would do:

First and foremost, find the source of the leak for the transmission fluid. Either fix it if it's simple (drain bolt) or deal with it and watch the fluid levels.

Fill the fluid to the appropriate level and just continue to drive it until it dies. That could be 2 months or 2 years. Who knows. Impossible to know what damage has been done to the transmission, if any, without disassembling it. Definitely do not flush it. You might be able to get away with a fluid and filter change, but again, hard to say.

In my case I left it leaking and added fluid as necessary not bothering to change the filter. I knew the transmission would need to be replaced anyway.

Trans fluid was red and did not smell burnt before adding quart of fluid.
Have not noticed any oily spots on driveway or parking lot..but seems like last oil change I noticed some seepage. Don't ask how long ago that's been! It's way over due too!
I will stop at auto parts store and put in some good quality trans fix fluid in when I top it off.
Last week I pulled a fairly heavy trailer with small tractor up a long steep hill, and it did great with no hesitation, well after I first noticed this issue, so I hope topping off fluid keeps it going.
Thanks!

Have you tried driving with overdrive off to see if the problem persists?

I believe adding the quart of fluid nailed the problem! Still need to top it off, but hopefully that fixed it.
It seemed to run smooth, in and out of OD. Thanks.

Lot of great info, getting ready to R & R my tranny, 96' 3.4 limited 4x4. This has answered some questions. Mine threw a code, shift solenoid #3, when I drained the oil it looked like someone dumped a can of neversize in it. 214,000 mi. time to go. ugh!

Thank guys for all the info. I just pick up a 2000 runner w/185k and i don't know the true service history. So question is, is there a point where its better; to not mess with it, drain at the radiator /add fresh oil, or drop the pan and change filter, oil all the good stuff.

A340E/H
Intermittent Engagement of Overdrive
An intermittent loss of overdrive (when the engine is at normal operating temperature and vehicle speed is
above 45 mph) could be caused by high resistance in the E-17 ground splice (pre-9/90). This junction is located
in the harness that is located across the front of the engine, behind the power steering reservoir

The connector should be cleaned and then soldered back together to eliminate the crappy crimp-style connector. Vehicles
manufactured after 9/90 have the junction located at the right kick panel area, and do not have this problem. The
junction for the 9/90 and later models is called 1-15 if you need to know that.

@Johny Octane I'm having a weird occurrence where I'm driving at 30mph or over and go to slow down, at 18mph (always) i hear a clunk from transmission. This does not happen when the OD is off only with it on. On another forum (Scion) someone stated it was normal for trans to hard shift into 1st to assist with braking... Another forum said it was the torque converter unlocking... What do YOU say?

I bought the truck @ 232K miles and have since done 3 trans fluid drain and refills @ 3K mile intervals, each time removing 4QT's. It's now at 242K miles.

DK327

Can you verify the year and model for me? can you duplicate this without touching the brake pedal? is it every time or most of the time or always doing this? IM just trying to make sure it is actually "always"