Tranny fluid, to flush or not to flush?

[Sandman_scc]

Hello everyone, I'm new to this forum and have a question. I have a 2000 4Runner with round about 173k miles and normally only on cold mornings it tends to hesitate when shifting. Now I know it makes sense that the fluid's cold and that can make it sluggish but it worries me, plus the fluids alil browner then i like to see. So getting to my actual qeustion, what's everyone's thoughts on a fluid and filter change with this high of miles? Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Sherwood4Runner]

Everything I hear says not to flush because it can knock loose any kind of gunk that may have formed in the transmission. Instead most people do a drain and fill.

Take a look at this tutorial. Dropping Pan And Flushing Transmission

 

[shootmymime]

has your tranny been serviced before? if so how many miles? recommended is every 60k miles to get the fluid changed. have you ever seen good fluid? smelled it? its supposed to be a simi red/pink that is not turning a dark red brown. this is a sign of the tranny being hot and breaking down the fluid.

the problems with just drain and fills is that you are only getting about 1/3 of the fluid out. about 5qts are in the pan while the other is in the torque converter and throughout the tranny, so you still have 2/3 of dirty fluid that contaminates the new 1/3.

so in order to properly answer your question or give you advice; has the tranny been serviced before? if it has then doing a flush would be the best bet. if it has not then doing a flush would be bad, exactly like Sherwood4Runne said.

hope that helps man.

 

[Sandman_scc]

Sorry, I should have worded my initial post better. I work at a used car lot and service and detail cars, so I know what good fluid looks and smells like. I guess really I'm trying to find out if there's any known auto. transmission issues in the 3rd gen. 4Runner.

I had an '89 yota truck for 4-5 years and loved it, so i had to snatch this 4Runner up when i had the chance. But I don't know much about the motor or tranny, I'm used to a 22r with a 4 speed stick. It had one previous owner and he did most routine maintenance like oil, brakes, timing belt at 77k (which I really need to do again soon) but I don't know about the tranny. But, being in the car buisness I know certain cars and trucks have their own little quirks. Also I've always been told the same thing that flush and filter change is bad for the same reasons, especially on trannys with such high miles.

I really appreciate any help, tips, opinions, or anything. I'm probably just over thinking it, it mainly drags the shift into 4th gear out. Mostly right after starting it up and driving and is worse when it's cold. I know i'm off to a bad start on the forum, babbling on and on.

 

[fourwd1]

As someone who has actually had their auto trans flushed, I have to say that those who have "heard" it's bad, are clueless.
You can read all the "tutorials" you want by wanna be experts, but you don't know until you try it.