to drain or to flush

[TC4Rnr]

probably a dead horse topic, but I'm a newbie in regards of automatic transmission.

just bought a 2004 Sr5 V6 with 123k miles. the trans fluid is brown. the previous owner changed it at 26k.

so I called up couple local dealers for getting the fluid changed, only to get conflict answers from them, and to me, they both make some sense.

answer a.) Butler Toyota, Indy,
quote: We do NOT do drain and fill on these transmissions, because you couldn't get all the old fluid out, what it does is to cross contaminate the old with the new fluid. we hook up the transmission cooler return line to our machine to replace all the fluid, 16 qts. of them. so flush only, $185 total.

answer b.) O'brien Toyota, Indy,
quote: We do Not flush the transmission, because each one of them create their own enviroment, if it shifts fine there've gotta be something right with it. I've seen so many problems caused by tranny flush WITH NO CLEAR REASONS, I just don't want the liablity. Better be safe than sorry, drain and re-fill the fluid, few quarts at a time, do it again in 3 months, so replace the fluid gradully during a long period of time. the fluid is cheap enough to be played around with compare to the cost of a transmission flush. do it yourself or we can do it for $80 total.

I have no idea what I'm gonna do.

 

[Kmvreter]

... a 2004 Sr5 V6 with 123k miles. the trans fluid is brown. the previous owner changed it at 26k.

answer b.) ...
so replace the fluid gradully during a long period of time.

I have no idea what I'm gonna do.

I vote for the drain & fill. You don't want to risk sending sediment through the solenoids. Search the forums on this topic.
And DIY because it's even easier than an oil change (no filter to change.) You can buy alot of fluid for $80. All it will cost is the fluid so buy the Toyota OEM Type IV at the stealer. The drain plug is behind the skid plate. Fill through the dipstick tube.

 

[CJ3Flyr]

Re: Re: to drain or to flush

I vote for the drain & fill. You don't want to risk sending sediment through the solenoids. Search the forums on this topic.
And DIY because it's even easier than an oil change (no filter to change.) You can buy alot of fluid for $80. All it will cost is the fluid so buy the Toyota OEM Type IV at the stealer. The drain plug is behind the skid plate. Fill through the dipstick tube.

:iagree: I would recommend a drain and fill 2x/month for 2 months. That'll get you full of fresh fluid and let sleeping dogs lie. That's a pretty conservative approach and it's hard to go wrong or lay blame on that advice after the fact.

If it were mine I'd just flush it out. The thing about flushing wrecking a trans was true in the old days. I don't know if any modern transmissions have the issue but the legend lives on. The last time I saw a trans blow due to a flush was 1985. And to blame the flush may not be fair.
:cheers:

 

[wm69]

Official Toyota USA recommendation is "drain and fill; do NOT flush"

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=48740

 

[jeober]

Various:

Dexron VI is a newer lighter viscosity synthetic based fluid. It states WS replacement on the Super Tech bottle but please do your own research on this.

"Flushing" is nothing more than intercepting fluid flow to the trans cooling and replacing with new fluid. The oil/trans shops do it continuously with a machine - You can do this at home 4 quarts at a time. This is the best way to get the old fluid out - It's not perfect but far more efficient that drain and fill. You do need to keep PRECISE accounting of the amount of fluid you remove and add each time and you do need a way to add new fluid to the sump (I used a pump through the transmission cooler inlet fitting).

I have "flushed" twice. The last time I used Super Tech's DX VI.

108,000 miles and the truck still runs like new.