Transmission Fluid Change
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fightman80
New member
I'd be interested in this as well.......
pat161
New member
It's been covered in depth before, a search will turn up some good info.
In a nutshell there are 3 possibilities.
1. You unscrew the drain plug from the tranny pan, let the 3 - 4 quarts that will come out drain. Re-install drain plug and re-fill through the tranny dipstick tube. Make sure the level is right, drive until warm and then re-check and add as needed.
2. Same as above except you also remove the many small bolts holding the tranny pan and pull that after draining. You will need to split the dipstick as the bottom is connected to the pan, you'll see where. This way you get a bit more fluid and can clean the magnets and filter, or put in a new filter. I also suggest a rubber gasket so you don't have to scrape RTV again next time.
3. These above ways only get about 1/3 of the fluid, much is stuck in the torque converter. Some do a home flush by pulling the lines into the cooler, below radiator, and pumping dirty fluid out while sucking fresh in.
In a nutshell there are 3 possibilities.
1. You unscrew the drain plug from the tranny pan, let the 3 - 4 quarts that will come out drain. Re-install drain plug and re-fill through the tranny dipstick tube. Make sure the level is right, drive until warm and then re-check and add as needed.
2. Same as above except you also remove the many small bolts holding the tranny pan and pull that after draining. You will need to split the dipstick as the bottom is connected to the pan, you'll see where. This way you get a bit more fluid and can clean the magnets and filter, or put in a new filter. I also suggest a rubber gasket so you don't have to scrape RTV again next time.
3. These above ways only get about 1/3 of the fluid, much is stuck in the torque converter. Some do a home flush by pulling the lines into the cooler, below radiator, and pumping dirty fluid out while sucking fresh in.
Nelsonmd
New member
fightman80
New member
Nunyabiz
New member
Well, I just did this yesterday along with my mechanic.
I live in a Townhouse with no garage so have absolutely no place at all to do anything more than checking my oil.
Fortunately I know a good mechanic that lets me help him.
Take the drain plug out obviously, drain it when very warm.
Need to unbolt the fill tube which is in 2 pieces, then take out about 20 or so bolts, think they are M6 and need to be torqued back at 65in-lbs I believe so pretty lightly.
Will need to undo your sway bar to move it out of the way of the trans pan.
Check your screen, IF it needs it take it off and clean it with brake clean.
If the screen needs to be cleaned you "may" have problems on the way. Mine was spotless, looked like new.
Check your pan, see what you got on the magnets (hopefully nothing).
Drain out your external cooler if you have one.
Drain your torque converter.
To actually "Flush" most everything out you need to put everything back together. You will the RED seal packing RTV from Toyota or some Permatex Right Stuff.
Fill the trasmission back up to full, take off one of the lines leading to the radiator and have something like a gallon milk jug available.
Have one person turn the car over and ATF will fly out of the line into the jug from the Torque converter, only do about 1 quart at a time then shut it off and replace a quart.
Do this probably about 6-8 times I think until you can see new fluid mixed in with the old which can be hard to notice if your old fluid is in good shape like mine was.
There is probably half of the ATF in the Torque converter.
Personally I use nothing but Amsoil ATF, best you can get and works wonders. Redine D4 is also very good. If you use standard ATF make sure it is the right one, what ever Dextron III compatible ATF that floats your boat.
You will need around 14-15 quarts.
Run it through all the gears a couple of times and check your fluid level for the "cold" level.
Takes quite a bit, like running it on the hwy for 30 minutes to get it "hot" especially with synthetic fluid.
I may have missed a couple of things here, I was just helping so might have missed something along the way, wasn't difficult just time consuming.
I live in a Townhouse with no garage so have absolutely no place at all to do anything more than checking my oil.
Fortunately I know a good mechanic that lets me help him.
Take the drain plug out obviously, drain it when very warm.
Need to unbolt the fill tube which is in 2 pieces, then take out about 20 or so bolts, think they are M6 and need to be torqued back at 65in-lbs I believe so pretty lightly.
Will need to undo your sway bar to move it out of the way of the trans pan.
Check your screen, IF it needs it take it off and clean it with brake clean.
If the screen needs to be cleaned you "may" have problems on the way. Mine was spotless, looked like new.
Check your pan, see what you got on the magnets (hopefully nothing).
Drain out your external cooler if you have one.
Drain your torque converter.
To actually "Flush" most everything out you need to put everything back together. You will the RED seal packing RTV from Toyota or some Permatex Right Stuff.
Fill the trasmission back up to full, take off one of the lines leading to the radiator and have something like a gallon milk jug available.
Have one person turn the car over and ATF will fly out of the line into the jug from the Torque converter, only do about 1 quart at a time then shut it off and replace a quart.
Do this probably about 6-8 times I think until you can see new fluid mixed in with the old which can be hard to notice if your old fluid is in good shape like mine was.
There is probably half of the ATF in the Torque converter.
Personally I use nothing but Amsoil ATF, best you can get and works wonders. Redine D4 is also very good. If you use standard ATF make sure it is the right one, what ever Dextron III compatible ATF that floats your boat.
You will need around 14-15 quarts.
Run it through all the gears a couple of times and check your fluid level for the "cold" level.
Takes quite a bit, like running it on the hwy for 30 minutes to get it "hot" especially with synthetic fluid.
I may have missed a couple of things here, I was just helping so might have missed something along the way, wasn't difficult just time consuming.
Last edited:
CobraSpdRH
New member
I'm at 100k and just did #1 above, plan on doing it a couple more times over the next month or so. Mine looked pretty dirty so it definitely needed it. I'm not a big mechanic myself, but even I could do this one.
^^^
"Drain your torque converter". How? Does it have its own drain plug or you did mean flush it as described?
Hacker
New member
Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I wanted to add that I used a 4th method, the one used in this video:
10 Min Automatic Transmission Fluid Flush + Replacement (Most Cars) - YouTube
I used BG Universal Synthetic ATF 312, purchased in a 4-gallon plastic bladder inside a cardboard box. It can be found on eBay, although I picked up mine from a local shop for about $100. Yes, there are obviously cheaper options, but this brand came highly recommended from a friend who has used it on several other cars.
When I drained the pan (the first step), I drained just about 4 quarts/1 gallon of fluid.
I modified the procedure in the video, incorporating a technique someone else posted in another thread -- starting the engine and pumping out about 2-3 quarts at a time, then stopping the engine and filling through the dipstick tube.
I was able to start and stop the engine myself; I drained into a gallon milk jug to make the volume measurement easier. It took about 15-20 seconds to pump 2 quarts, and there was plenty of time to see the level approach, then walk up and shut off the ignition through the open window.
My truck's fluid had been previously replaced about 50,000 miles prior (a full pan drop, magnet clean, etc), and both the stuff initially drained from the pan, as well as the first gallon or two out of the return line were quite dark.
In all, I used just under 14 quarts total by the time the fluid coming out the return line was bright red.
After buttoning everything up and driving around, I needed to add about 3/4 of a quart to get the fluid level up to the line.
All in all, well worth the time and effort.
Sorry for the bump but I just wanted to say thanks for this post. This will be very helpful for me in the near future.
I did the drain and fill method a while back. Apparently the PO hadn't ever bothered to change the fluid (it was pretty dark) and putting all new fluid and a screen would give me peace of mind.
Orlyg1521
New member
is there this, link for a 5th gen 4runner yet?
2004 toyota 4runner v6 with 95K miles
Hi,
I want to know which service should i do for my 04 4Runner with 95K miles either the transmission flush or just drain and fill? I have been hearing mixed reviews and don't know which to choose. I know the dealer and Valvoline can perform the tranny flush service. Just need to be 100% sure it is safe for my engine. Thank you
Hi,
I want to know which service should i do for my 04 4Runner with 95K miles either the transmission flush or just drain and fill? I have been hearing mixed reviews and don't know which to choose. I know the dealer and Valvoline can perform the tranny flush service. Just need to be 100% sure it is safe for my engine. Thank you
Nunyabiz
New member
IMO a drain and fill is an absolute waste of good fresh ATF.
I just do not see the point in replacing about 3 maybe 4 quarts out of about 11+.
That would be like draining about 1 quart of oil from your engine, add a quart and call that an "oil change".
All you have done is ruin 1 quart of oil and every so slightly improved your oil overall.
I would take it to a T-Tech machine with at least 12 quarts of the best 100% synthetic ATF you can get, although not a bad idea to have a couple quarts extra and then you are good to go for at least 60,000 miles.
Nunyabiz
New member
That is about 35,000 miles in about 2 1/2 years and I assume was regular ATF not synthetic.
If it were me I would flush all that standard ATF out, fill with quality Synthetic and you should be good to go for about another 5 years if that is your normal driving of about 13,000+ miles a year.
Probably cost around $150 for fluid if you DIY and what ever a T-Tech cost in your area if not.
19963.4lsr5
New member
I just got a 97 to replace our wrecked 96 and I bought 3 gallons of Walmarts finest to purge out all the old fluid. I'll do 2 drain and fills over a week of driving to work. Then add a magnefine return line filter and do the last gallon drain and fill. Then drive a little and drop the pan and change filter and clean magnets. Then buy synthetic and purge
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