I think that's what I'm going to do. Where the 5th gen's "return cooler line" connects on the metal piping to the radiator is NOT on the bottom, like the 4th gen's apparently are. For my 5th gen, it almost looks easier to just access and disconnect it from under hood! I'm not thrilled with the location of this.

Did this today for the second time. All went smoothly. First time I did it, a few years ago, I didn’t put enough new fluid in and nothing came out during the temp check. So this time I added extra to make sure I put enough in and over corrected as two quarts came out during the temp check! But the whole process is really quite easy.


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Just did this as well today. A couple of notes:

- 3.5 quarts came out of the pan for me
- The pumping volume was much faster for me - it would pump out 2 quarts in about 10-15 seconds.
- Rather than pump fill, I just took the rest of my tubing and ran it up through the engine bay from the fill hole. Stuck a funnel on the end and it filled much faster than pumping.
- When I picked up the Toyota ATF WS from the dealer, they quoted transmission flush at around $350. Between 14qts of fluid and the tools I needed but didn't have yet, I'm sitting at around $175. Not bad for a few hours of work.

Taking it out for a test drive in a bit but thanks to OP and everyone else who added to this!

Am I thinking about this correctly? 2005 V8 with trans-cooler and no dipstick.




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you can use whatever location is easiest for draining... im not sure on v8's but for v6's the bottom port on teh radiator is the output for the trans fluid, very easy to just pull the rubber hose off that port & attach a piece of tubing down to the drain pan.

but by far the easiest & fastest way to add fluid is via the fill hole on the side of the trans, its whats its designed for. as @zparsons mentions in the post above yours, just run a tube up from the trans fill hole in the engine bay on pass side & attach a large funnel, you can hang the funnel from the hood or have a helper just hold it near the top of the fender & you can refill the ~2qts & it will take about 2 minutes to add 2 qts. will take much much longer to try & refill via the trans cooler lines. ive done this twice on my 4runner in the last year & it works so fast & easy with a 3/8 clear hose for the drain that fits to the radiator port perfectly & attached to the funnel for filling, no leaks & quick & easy process.

Yea I think I’ll just fill via fill hole on the transmission. I have a small hand pump I used for the diff fluids so I’ll just extend the tube to the top of the truck so I don’t need to lay beneath it.

I guess I’m still curious if I have identified the correct spot to drain the old fluid. I think so and I guess I’ll find out when turning on the truck on.


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crawling around the underside of a vehicle with a hand pump makes no sense when it's so much easier to fill from above with a length of clear vinyl tubing and a funnel. Let gravity do the work.

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yes the fill hole is the best way to fill fluid on these trans, its what its designed for, people who mess with using the trans cooler line or hand pumps are just making things harder than they need to be. look at the pic posted by lester lugnut, that is exactly how to do it using a funnel & let gravity do the work... except i suggest to use as big of a funnel as you can fit in the end of the 3/8 tube, it will add 2 qts in 2-3 minutes.

& look at & try the bottom port of the radiator that the trans cooling lines connect to for draining, the port fits 3/8 tubing perfectly & is a nice straight shot to a pan on the ground underneath the port, i used about a 1.5-2ft piece of tube.

thank you for posting that pic, that is exactly how i did it but i had a helper hold the funnel for me above the fender while i filled it. easiest way there is to do this aside from conjuring up an elect pump that has been mentioned on other threads.

That's how I did mine last year, even looks like the same size funnel, also blue lol

So what's the point of draining from the drain plug if the subsequent fluid is then being drained from a transmission cooler line? Am I missing out on something if I only drain 2 qts from cooler line and then refill 2 qts until clean fluid comes out?

Also, what's wrong with filling via trans cooler lines? Seems a few have done it.

the point is because you want to get the old fluid thats in the pan out first & replace with the same amount of new fluid, that way your not pumping ~3.5 qts of old fluid into the trans when you start the draining of ~2qts out the lines. what comes out of the line when starting the engine comes from inside the trans & torque converter so starting with a pan full of new fluid gets you that much further ahead of the game.

filling via the cooler lines you are fighting pushing fluid through the narrow long lines, using the trans fill hole on the side of the trans as its designed for is a straight shot into the trans. using gravity to do it via a funnel & 3/8 tube is the easiest & fastest way to refill the fluid, aside from using an electric pump. there was one guy on here that used the cooler lines & said it took almost an hour to let gravity push the fluid through the lines. theres just no reason to do it that way compared to the fill hole in the trans.

That makes sense. I knew there was a good reason for doing it this way. Just wanted to understand what the reason was. Thank you.


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This was really helpful, thank you!

2005 V8 146k miles

Okay finally did this yesterday. Here are my steps below. Thanks to the OP and others who have shared!

Drained pan via drain plug - a little over 3Qts came out. It was black and I suspect it’s never been replaced (pic 1).

Refilled what came out via fill plug with 3/8 tubing and funnel up top (pic 2). The flow was nearly as fast as me pouring it in.

Turned the truck on and drained 2 Qts via transmission cooler into a jug (pics 3 &4). This took about 25 seconds.

Replaced 2 Qts via funnel.

Repeated these steps (2 Qts out / 2 Qts in) until I exchanged a total of 13 Qts. It started to look a lot cleaner towards the end.

I couldn’t get the truck to go into A/T temp check mode. I think it may have been too warm as I had used the truck a few hours prior. When I did the initial pan drain I removed the overflow plug first and a warm stream of fluid came out. I’m going to let it sit and attempt it again when I know it’s a cold start.

If that doesn’t work I’ve ordered an OBD scanner with Bluetooth ($30). I plan on
using the OBD Fusion app ($10) and buying the Toyota add on ($10). It’s probably useful to have one of these anyway.

UPDATE - I attempted to put the truck into A/T Temp check mode again a day later. Well wouldn’t you know it worked like a charm. This leads me to believe it was too warm yesterday.








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thanks for posting an update on this & glad it worked out for you the way a couple others & myself explained. you just confirmed what ive been saying on these trans fluid threads, that a funnel & hose into the fill hole using gravity works very fast & is by far the easiest way to fill the fluid, going through the cooler lines or using hand pumps etc makes it way more difficult than needed.

also thanks for using the correct WS fluid & confirming with pics how much fluid comes out on a pan drain on these 4runners & tacomas, it is ~3.5qts when at the correct level, one guy on here insists its 5-6qts & uses T-IV fluid in a WS trans...

that fluid looked pretty dark, your transmission will be very happy for another 60-100k miles depending on useage.