How did your filter look?

This was the first transmission fluid change and it has 66000 miles. The filter looked good, with a normal amount of fine particles on the magnets and filter body. I could still see through the mesh, but not as well as the new filter. In addition, I ended up doing a full flush using the cooling line. I’ll try to dig the old filter out of the trash later today and get a picture.

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What scan tool are you using?

Pretty sure it's an actron. I'm a classic car mechanic. It doesn't get used much and it's in my toolbox at work. It does OBDII as well as transmission codes and ABS/Traction control. I recall it being like $160 on Amazon a few years back.

I’m digging my ScanGauge, especially now that they can read TPMS. Bit of a pain to program and mount but a helluva lot easier to use than the TechStream.

Anyone try a thermal gun measuring the transmission pan temperature from the outside? That young girl used it in that video and it was only a few degrees off; seems to be a little easier than a scan tool.

Yes, I used a thermal gun to measure pan temperature because I knew I would became immensely bored and lose focus while sitting in the vehicle waiting for a dash light to indicate proper temperature to check fluid level. I had seen Faye Hadley's video, so I used a thermal gun to wait until the pan temperature was 4-5 degrees below the minimum temperature range, and then began watching the dash light. When the min temperature was indicated, I measured the pan temperature again and was satisfied with her finding. Next time, I'll just use the thermal gun. I'll check the level when the gun reads 2-3 degrees less than the min temperature for checking fluid level when the ambient temperature range is 68-80 F. I would not solely rely on a thermal gun if the vehicle has cold soaked in sub-freezing temperatures or hot-soaked above the upper temperature limit.

Shut off the engine? You didn’t do the level check with the engine running?

I checked level with engine running. I didn't get enough sleep last night to be posting replies this late in the day ... I edited my last post to remove the error. It's my mistake attempting to recall the process when I changed ATF about 6 months ago.

Updated my post with filter photos.

That young girl is also a smoking hot Harvard Graduate!

This was great advice, thank you. The thermal gun worked perfectly, I even used a port scanner that reads the transmission fluid temperature and they stayed within a few degrees from one another. I did 3 drain and fills with a total of 10.5 quarts, added an extra 0.5 quarts with the last fill and waited until 104 degrees and opened the overflow drain. Everything went super smooth, I really like the design of these transmissions.

Thanks!!

tell us how it feels w/ the new fluid.. i immediately noticed smoother shifts and better shift points

I immediately noticed a difference; only way I can explain it is with the old fluid it felt looser. After the fluid swap it feels tighter and smoother is the only way I can explain it.
This is my first Toyota and I’m really happy with the engineering and easy access to fluid exchanges. All the major components have Easy drain and fill processes.