Transmission Fluid Change procedure

[Mack1611]

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.

That young girl is also a smoking hot Harvard Graduate!

 

[Hammer0313]

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.

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.

 

[Mike Beyers]

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.

Thanks!!

 

[1jzgte]

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.

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

 

[Hammer0313]

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.

 

[d4vid]

Video of my transmission cooler flush

After plenty of good advice from this thread and others, I did a pan-drop and cooler line home flush, and posted a video of my experience:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKmMrPAr3iM&feature=youtu.be

 

[1jzgte]

Great video!
Dude you've got a series of 4runenr videos. The front differential looks gross! How many miles on your vehicle and do you use 4wd often?

 

[d4vid]

Great video!
Dude you've got a series of 4runenr videos. The front differential looks gross! How many miles on your vehicle and do you use 4wd often?

Thanks! About 67,000 miles now, I bought the car at 20,000 miles, changed the front diff fluid at about 40k, I use 4x4 embarrassingly infrequently!

 

[MyFirstRunner]

What do people use to refill the trans fluid? I was going to add a Derale aux trans cooler and will need to top off the fluid afterwards. Only saw one video where some manual pump was used to get the fluid up there.

Anybody have recommendations for topping off Trans fluid levels?

 

[Hammer0313]

What do people use to refill the trans fluid? I was going to add a Derale aux trans cooler and will need to top off the fluid afterwards. Only saw one video where some manual pump was used to get the fluid up there.

Anybody have recommendations for topping off Trans fluid levels?

When I did mine I used a cheep manual hand pump from the parts store, easy breezy. I dont remember the brand but it was under $10 bucks.

 

[Hammer0313]

What do people use to refill the trans fluid? I was going to add a Derale aux trans cooler and will need to top off the fluid afterwards. Only saw one video where some manual pump was used to get the fluid up there.

Anybody have recommendations for topping off Trans fluid levels?

Just so you know the engine oil and transmission fluid on these 4Runners run on the cooler side. At least running empty, I haven’t towed with mine yet so not sure how it handles heat while towing.
The pic below is me running empty from Florida to Georgia, about 7 house on the interstate at 70-80 MPH. Not sure if a transmission cooler is needed unless towing or trying to muscle over some mountain pass out west on the heavier side of GVWR.

 

[MyFirstRunner]

Yes, it's for towing my pop-up camper that is running about 3400 lbs loaded. It may not be necessary, I know. We've mostly stayed pretty close to home (within 100 miles or so) but will be doing our first long trip which will be about 1000 miles round trip from Cincinnati to Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan at the end of July. I sold my old Scan Gauge II with my 3rd Gen (dumb, dumb, dumb) when I upgraded to a 5th Gen. The way I see it I could get a new Scan Gauge for $150+ or add an aux trans cooler for a third the cost.

Will 1 quart be enough to top it off after adding the Derale 13504?

 

[Hammer0313]

Yes, it's for towing my pop-up camper that is running about 3400 lbs loaded. It may not be necessary, I know. We've mostly stayed pretty close to home (within 100 miles or so) but will be doing our first long trip which will be about 1000 miles round trip from Cincinnati to Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan at the end of July. I sold my old Scan Gauge II with my 3rd Gen (dumb, dumb, dumb) when I upgraded to a 5th Gen. The way I see it I could get a new Scan Gauge for $150+ or add an aux trans cooler for a third the cost.

Will 1 quart be enough to top it off after adding the Derale 13504?

I think the trans cooler is a great idea for towing, especially on those longer trips. Not sure about the amount of fluid after install, I usually buy extra fluid just to be sure I'm covered.

 

[1000MPH]

What do people use to refill the trans fluid? I was going to add a Derale aux trans cooler and will need to top off the fluid afterwards. Only saw one video where some manual pump was used to get the fluid up there.

Anybody have recommendations for topping off Trans fluid levels?

How to make a fluid transfer pump

1 gallon pump sprayer ($10 Home Depot)
10 ft 1/4”id x 3/8”od clear vinyl tubing ($3.25 Home Depot)
1/4”x1/4” or 3/8”x3/8” mini ball valve with barb ends. ($12 for two on Amazon)
Optional: hose clamps or zip ties for added security at high pressure.

Remove original tubing from sprayer and replace with the clear tubing.
Cut tubing to desired length. I made mine long enough reach without the need to drag it under the truck.
Add the ball valve to the end.
Cut additional length of tubing to reach from ball valve into fill hole securely.
Done.
If you want to establish a baseline level in your pump, fill it with a qt of your desired fluid and pump it back into the original container to see how much stays in the pump. It’s usually only a few ounces.
Pics on this thread.
https://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/117482-front-rear-diff-fluid-change-12.html#post3522444

 

[1jzgte]

what app and what dongle is all that?

 

[1000MPH]

Just so you know the engine oil and transmission fluid on these 4Runners run on the cooler side. At least running empty, I haven’t towed with mine yet so not sure how it handles heat while towing.
The pic below is me running empty from Florida to Georgia, about 7 house on the interstate at 70-80 MPH. Not sure if a transmission cooler is needed unless towing or trying to muscle over some mountain pass out west on the heavier side of GVWR.

I thought there was no oil temp sensor on the 4Runner.

 

[Hammer0313]

Here is a pic of the tool I use, simply plugs into the port under the dash. Leave it plugged in and it connects by Bluetooth. There are all kinds options from fluid temps, knock sensors, fuel monitoring, air, power and much more. Only option it doesn’t have is oil pressure which kind of sucks for me because that’s important to me. But the bright side is I get to monitor my fluids. I even got a thermal gun and made sure the temps were accurate. I tested the transmission pan and the oil pan and both were consistent with the scan tool readings, usually within one or 2°. Overall I like it, especially on my trips out west hitting the trails and days of interstate travel.

 

[MyFirstRunner]

How long did it take you guys to get your trans up to temp so you could pull the check valve? I added fluid in first thing this morning and it’s been idling now in check temp mode for about 30 minutes. I did the 4 to 13 ODB jump and got the D for two seconds so I’m confident it’s in the temp mode.


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[MyFirstRunner]

Ha ha, it literally switched to D as I was hitting send.

I added an auxiliary trans cooler in line with the radiator this weekend and here are a couple things that I found with mine. I had Toyota do a transmission flush when I first got the car a couple years ago. So when they did that they must’ve switched up lines because I had the blue line run into a pink back to a blue so make sure you don’t solely go on color. I felt which one was hotter than follow the other one out of the radiator back to the transmission.

Somebody else mentioned to use brake cleaner to clean out the check valve. When I first put in the 5 mm I could feel it starting to strip I sprayed it down and cleaned it out with a tiny flat head eye glass screwdriver then tapped the hex in with a hammer. No issues.

From coldstart it took about 32 minutes and check temp mode to get up to temperature to pull a check valve. Based on what I put in and what came out, I think I needed about half a quart maybe a little less of trans fluid. I used to Hayden 679 cooler.

Also I bought extra hose, and I ran one from the radiator to the trans cooler, and the other from the trans cooler to the transmission hard line. I bypassed the metal tubing that goes up and then back down, hopefully that makes sense.

Thank you to everyone for all the videos and posts and comments on this topic, took a little more time than I thought but it all made sense in the end.It’s been a total of 3 1/2 hours, with two runs to the auto parts store.


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[CutthroatSlam]

Just so you know the engine oil and transmission fluid on these 4Runners run on the cooler side. At least running empty, I haven’t towed with mine yet so not sure how it handles heat while towing.
The pic below is me running empty from Florida to Georgia, about 7 house on the interstate at 70-80 MPH. Not sure if a transmission cooler is needed unless towing or trying to muscle over some mountain pass out west on the heavier side of GVWR.

What app is this?