The proper way to service a tranny?

[twitchee2]

So the last thing i need to do for my maintenance spree is the tranny. I have a 02 which has the auto. This past week has been a huge learning experience for me ive done, front diff/xfer/rear oil changes, put my OME suspension on, front upper ball joints and the last thing to do is the tranny and i want to know how to do it right. all the others were nice and strait forward but i need some direction for this part. I was talking to my uncle he said you drain and refill and then drain and refill again. Is that correct? I haven't gone and looked at it depth but where is the fill plug? do i need a pump? I would like to go syn as ive switched everything else, what ATF would you suggest? I put royal purple in the gears. Thanks for all input.

 

[pat161]

There are 2 different ways to service an auto. First would be a full system flush where they hook your cooler intake and return lines into a machine and pump out the old fluid while pumping new fluid back in, I think they also run some kind of detergent through there. This method removes all the fluid in the tranny including the torque converter. You can also do this yourself by unhooking the lines and running the intake into a bucket and put the return into fresh fluid and run until its clean, or just pump out a quart and put a quart back in.

For an older vehicle I personally don't recomend a flush, I would, and did on my 02 w/ 80k, just do a drain and fill and then do it every 2 or 3 oil changes. For this you simply remove the drain bolt on the tranny pan just like an oil change, but the tranny of course. Once its done draining you remove the dipstick and add fluid through it until it reaches the proper level, run it then check while warm. Last time I also pulled my pan and redid the seal and cleaned the filter.
A full flush will be somewhere around 11-12 quarts, a drain and fill will be 4-5 and dropping the pan as well will net 5-6.

 

[peter78]

I have done it two ways, the flush was at 60,000 miles and it took 16 quarts, thats right 16 quarts of fluid. At 30,000 and 90,000 I dropped the pan and got a new filter and gasket. This procedure takes about 4 quarts. I did the 90,000 one myself and found that the new filter I bought a two different stores did not match what was in my transmission. I cleaned the filter and put a new gasket and put in 4 quarts of transmission fluid in. It turns out the factory used 3 different filters during the time the 2001's were made.

 

[twitchee2]

Sense i dont know when it was done last, would it be wise to take it in to get flushed? And then just change some fluid every couple oil changes?

 

[pat161]

There are different schools of thought on the flush. Personally I say if you have regularly flushed it continue doing so. But if you have higher mileage and have never flushed stick with a drain and fill. I actually called Toyota about a flush on my 02 at 80k and the service manager said it was not a good idea to flush at this time as it had never been done so I just drained and filled myself. I take what dealers say with a grain of salt, but in this case he was trying to talk me out of a more expensive service, so I figured I could trust him.

 

[nighthawk]

Is there anything else that needs to be done? What are your opinions on the auto tranny? Does anyone have any issues with it? I've been driving manual mostly and I finally might have to get an auto as the wife doesn't drive manual. How's the 3rd gen's auto in terms of reliability and maintenance?