thinking about flushing the tranny

[newmexrunner]

my 97 t4r has 190,000 miles on it and i lost the service records that came with it (bad organizational skills) so i don't know if it has ever been done. i'm a little weary of doing it though because i've heard of tranny's failing after doing this on a high mileage tranny.

any thoughts on whether this would be a risky thing, or should i just drive the tranny into the ground since it's already so old?

 

[mikebontoft]

well that's the question... how long it has been. That's up to you. It would be nice to have a service but I have heard the same.

 

[LittleCaesar]

I'd just drain some of the old fluid out of the pan and then refill with new ATF. That way you can at least get some idea of the condition of the ATF that is in the transmission now.

 

[Brilliant]

Easiest way is to use the trans to pump out the fluid. Pull the hose on the front of the radiator and fill from the dipstick. Do a quart at a time.

You'll get most of it out this way and you wont disturb anything.

 

[Hacker]

I agree -- do the fluid changeover first and then evaluate if you need a flush.

I did this a couple weeks ago, following the method used in this linked thread and in the YouTube video I link in this post:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/89013-transmission-fluid-change.html#post1182864

The procedure is actually pretty easy, even with only one person going between watching the fluid levels and starting/stopping the engine.

Beware, I also stripped out the tranny pan drain plug when I put it back in:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/125549-stripped-transmission-drain-plug.html

My transmission had about 50K on a previous fluid change, and the fluid that came out in the change was dark but not all that ugly, so I decided I didn't need any further maintenance.

YMMV depending on what the fluid looks like that comes out.