Transmission Fluid Change Question

D

DC runner

New member
I bought my 2005 4runner about 2 months ago. 110k miles. I have a long road trip coming up and when I looked on the Toyota service records and everything has been done, except the transmission fluid drain and fill.

This is something I would have done on my own. I have owned several other older cars, many Toyota, and have no problem filling an transmission. That said, there are several factors that make me unable to do that this time around. I live in Washington, D.C. on the hill, meaning no place to do it. Second, the nature of the transmission (sealed, WS Fluid, temperature sensitive, etc.) make it a bit more complicated than on my 1990 4runner. I work a more than full time job and am just going to pay to have it done. I KNOW.. I KNOW.. I KNOW. Me 5 years ago is screaming at me.

Anyway. I have called multiple toyota dealers and gotten many different prices. 160, 240, 354.00.. granted, I live in D.C. and it is expensive here.

So. Here are my questions.

1. What price should I be looking for? This question is best addressed by fellow urbanites. Those lucky aholes that live in the boonies and can pay 40.00 need not respond. :)


2. Flush or non flush? This one confused me. I have never flushed a transmission. I drain, refill. Whatever percentage left, just blends in. Never had a tran's die on me. However, one shop told me they would and I should and the other told me Toyota specifically is against a tranny flush.

HUH? Who is right?


Thanks!

EDIT: 2005 4runner V8 Sport Edition 110k Miles.
 
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Are the prices you quoted reflected as a drain and refill or flush?

I live in Montgomery County, MD and was quoted $200 for a flush (called a couple days ago). Plus, I have a $25 coupon at the dealer, so $175.

From reading thru the threads, seems like flush is the way to go (every 100k or so). From personal experience, I did a flush when my car had 45k miles and so far, no problems.
 
Whoa....any shop that recommends a flush turn around and run...flushing will destroy your transmission...it will losen up any large debris in the trans and send them allover....a simple drain and fill is all that's required

Btw...those of you who are about to say you did a flush and your trans is fine you got LUCKY
 
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Back flushing the transmission is a hit or miss thing... theoretically, if it is done right (back flushing through the system a couple times, ect...) it should loosen large deposits, remove them from the system and leave everything newish... in practice the results aren't always so cut and dry. as 2UZRunner03 pointed out, a lot of times they do quick flushes and so loose deposits start floating around in there and clog up the filter.

The only real problem with drain and fill is that you'll never be able to drain the torque converter so you'd need to drain and fill the system quite a many times to get more fresh fluid than old in it.
 
I recently had my tranny fluid drained and re-filled at a toyota dealership. I paid 170 for labor and 40 for parts (oil). It took almost six hours because they had to wait several hours for the engine temp to get down to 98 dedgrees before they could work on it.
 
aviator31 said:
So if you want to be safe for sure, then just don't flush it? In that case, do you just simply drain and fill it?
Click to expand...

Almost everyone at our dealership just drains and fills it a few times before sending the car on its merry way. Like I said... its a longer process and not as effective as flushing in theory... but its time honored and tested so what can it hurt? Its also easier to do in your driveway.
 
BlackWorksInc said:
Almost everyone at our dealership just drains and fills it a few times before sending the car on its merry way. Like I said... its a longer process and not as effective as flushing in theory... but its time honored and tested so what can it hurt? Its also easier to do in your driveway.
Click to expand...

What about the drain, fill, then doing the disconnect the trans cooler line to replace all the fluid without actually ''flushing''? (You know - that DIY floating around here).


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Honestly I haven't done it myself... the biggest problem is that you do not want to run that oil pump with no fluid... but I guess that could work if you did it right? Again no experience with it so I can't say either way effectively.
 
stanleybb50 said:
What about the drain, fill, then doing the disconnect the trans cooler line to replace all the fluid without actually ''flushing''? (You know - that DIY floating around here).


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Click to expand...

Thats what I did. I used a pump to pump it in the return line while the engine was running and pumping it out. I could not pump it in as fast as it was pumping it out which is why I had a friend helping and as soon as an air bubble was seen in the discharge line I would shut it off and pump more in then start it up and do some more. Did not take very long to do. Once clean fluid was coming out I shut it down and reconnected the line. I then filled the transmission through the fill hole just to make sure it had enough in it. I then drove it for a couple short trips and brought the fluid up to the required 97-115 degrees F for proper level check and ended up adding another 4 oz to bring it up to proper level. I checked fluid temp with an infrared scanner at the oil pan. I know the scanner would read a few degrees lower than fluid temp just based on heat transfer, but with an 18 degree range I just needed to hit the low end and all would be good.
 
I know several transmission shops that will NOT flush a tranny on any vehicle. They all say it's too risky and can easily destroy a valve body of any transmission.

All do a drain (change filter if applicable) and then refill. When done on a regular basis then a the transmission should last hundreds of thousands of miles.
 
After reading the link from Skyline and calling my local Toyota dealership, I may have a bit more useful info to share. First of all, if the right machine is used to do a flush, no harm should be done because the fluid is being pumped out with the same amount of pressure the tranny is already under (under normal use), opposed to being forced out with excess pressure.
Secondly, if your rig is already running toyotas patent "world standard" tranny fluid, then it is recommended to refill with it as well. This word standard fluid is $17 a court.
The service manager told me they only recommend doing a flush and refill of the world standard if your tranny is leaking or is experiencing some other abnormal problem. They also only recommend doing a flush if your rig has less than 115k on it. Flushes are done upon request and double in price. The 210 I paid was just for a drain and refill (about 3 quarts). The flush and refill would have cost me 350 to 400.
I I knew what I know now, I totally would have paid the extra coin for the flush. Oh well.
I hope this was helpful!
 
3 quarts. Really? According to the service manual, the empty refill should be around 5.3 quarts. Did they really leave in 2 quarts of old fluid?
 
Overall, IMO the major difference in conflicting opinions really has to do with whether or not your running the world standard oil. Because if you are Toyota is the only place that has the oil and the right computer/machine to properly and safely flush and or refill to exact Toyota specs.
 
According to the service guy, draining the tranny pan only releases about 3 quarts. Meaning that's all they are replenishing (still leaving about 80% of the old oil in). That's why I would have just done the full flush if I would have known. I didn't realize so much oil would be left in there.
 
You are probably thinking of how much the pan holds, not the entire tranny system which includes the torque converter, tranny cooler and cooler lines. That is where the majority of your fluid will stay unless you flush it out.
 
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