I am trying to find a shop in the Philadelphia area that will do a transmission fluid drain / fill on my 2005. I talked to the service manager and a tech at Carousel Toyota, and they told me not to bother and that they never do that for vehicles with WS fluid. Has anyone had any good experience with a dealer or other shop in the area in regards to a fluid service for their transmission? I know that its a bit of a complex process, where the vehicle needs to be brought up to temp, filled and then the level needs to be checked. Its not a job I want to do myself, and I want to find a shop that has experience do this. Any recommendations?
Transmission Fluid service
- Thread starter bobdod04
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You are literally going to get a different response with every toyota dealer you call. Seriously, I went through this about a month ago and every place I called had a different answer.
Sure. No. No need. Do a flush, don't do a flush. Do a drain, don't. Blah Blah Blah. These are supposedly TOYOTA certified dealerships with specially trained mechanics and no one could get their stories straight.
This tells me 1 thing. There is no consensus. I have looked up the averages, and there appears to be a very low incidence of transmission failure. I don't have the data to tell you what this means. I have no idea if most people went without or had one type of service over the other, but what it does tell me, is that the tranmissons are pretty reliable.
There is no Toyota spec'ed opinion on service. So, I have no idea what most people are getting done.
Sure. No. No need. Do a flush, don't do a flush. Do a drain, don't. Blah Blah Blah. These are supposedly TOYOTA certified dealerships with specially trained mechanics and no one could get their stories straight.
This tells me 1 thing. There is no consensus. I have looked up the averages, and there appears to be a very low incidence of transmission failure. I don't have the data to tell you what this means. I have no idea if most people went without or had one type of service over the other, but what it does tell me, is that the tranmissons are pretty reliable.
There is no Toyota spec'ed opinion on service. So, I have no idea what most people are getting done.
Toyota calls its WS fluid a "lifetime" fluid, which is auto-industry jargon for "fluid that lasts for the life of the fluid." There really is no such thing as a "lifetime" fluid; typically "lifetime" is about 100k miles, although I have heard that Toyota recently rolled back their WS recommendation to 60,000 miles, down from 100k. Like anything, it all depends on your purposes. The benefits of frequent fluid changes are not immediatley known; rather, they become known when you get to higher mileages and start having problems or avoiding problems. So if you're planning on driving the 4Runner until the wheels fall off (200k+ miles), might as well be habitual about oil changes every 5k and transmission and differential changes every 50,000-60,000. Certainly won't hurt anything, except the money it costs to have it done. If you're going to drive it to 100,000 and sell it, then you won't necessarily see the benefits of frequent fluid changes, but the next owner will.
My plan is to keep the truck for as long as possible. I am over 100k already.
There are three "plugs" under the tranny. A "drain" plug and a "check" plug on the bottom of the pan, and a "fill" plug on the side of the tranny, toward the rear and near where the drive shaft hooks up. You just put a fluid transfer hose up there and pump fluid out of your ATF bottle. No dropping of the pan required.
progress4m
Member
Change it yourself (this is what I did) it is not hard at all…
Anyone have a good set of step by step instructions? I've searched and read the long thread on how this is done. Found a bunch of different write-ups that all contradict each other and don't really go into enough detail. If there was a good write-up, I'd think about doing it myself, but I am not going to mess with it if I am not positive about everything I am doing. It frankly sounds like a pain to do yourself and I am fine with paying someone to do it.
This is the one I followed:
DIY: Full Flush for Automatic Transmission - Tacoma World Forums
I hear ya on it being a pain, but it's a judgment call and depends on your situation. For me there were two factors which led me to the DIY route: 1) Cost. Stealer wanted upwards of $300 to do it; I could do it myself for the cost of fluid. 2) Product. I knew stealer would only fill it back up with Toyota WS fluid, and I wanted to use Redline ATF.
In hindsight, I had a few things go slightly wrong on my change (documented in another thread), but I think that's the exception rather than the rule. Do I wish I would have paid someone to do it? Not really. But I don't fault anyone who doesn't feel like taking it on themselves, since it can be a pain and you (and your garage floor) will end up covered in smelly ATF.
crashman
New member
for what its worth before I got my 4runner I was at a trans shop for estimates on my 2000 s10 blazer and asked what transmission he worked on the least and he said Toyota!! he told me the only time he had one in for service was a guy that had a light come on in the dash they had it towed to his shop and he read the owners manual just to find out he put it in neutral LOL
1clean4runner
New member
Everything you need to know about the tranny fluid change is here...
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/maint...ission-fluid-servicing-sealed-non-sealed.html
If you still don't feel confident about doing it after reading that, take it in. I try to avoid dealers.
Good luck!
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/maint...ission-fluid-servicing-sealed-non-sealed.html
If you still don't feel confident about doing it after reading that, take it in. I try to avoid dealers.
Good luck!Everything you need to know about the tranny fluid change is here...
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/maint...ission-fluid-servicing-sealed-non-sealed.html
If you still don't feel confident about doing it after reading that, take it in. I try to avoid dealers.
I've read that thread, and no where did I find anything resembling a DIY instruction on the sealed transmission. There is plenty of info on how to check the level, but not how to actually change the fluid. The link to the tacoma transmission service further up in this thread is more helpful, though its for a tacoma and not a 4runner. I know they are similar, but I can't be certain.
Changing the fluid is NOT difficult if you have a lift...If not you have to be crawling around under the vehicle.
I have mine done at a local transmission shop. They buy the tranny fluid from Toyota. There are compatible fluids..but they're just as expensive as the Toyota fluid. My truck now has about 190k miles on it...I've had the fluid flushed 3 times already...Cost...about $80.
I have mine done at a local transmission shop. They buy the tranny fluid from Toyota. There are compatible fluids..but they're just as expensive as the Toyota fluid. My truck now has about 190k miles on it...I've had the fluid flushed 3 times already...Cost...about $80.
Thats the type of shop I need to find. The Problem with Philly is that there is a garage on every corner, but they are mostly expensive / poor quality work type shops that look at you funny if you don't drive an old american v8.
You don't need a lift, there's room to just crawl under there, but wear clothes you don't mind trashing after you're done because it's messy. The procedure was the same on my 4Runner as it was on that Tacoma link. Once you're under the truck, it looks exactly the same, same tranny pan, same motor, same tranny lines, etc. Just get a good torque wrench, or tighten the plugs until they feel pretty tight and STOP. I think I got screwed by my 2 year old harbor freight torque wrench that's never been calibrated when it wouldn't "click" so I just kept turning ... :redbrick:
