Transmission flush or not?

[SolRayz]

So I'm still a little confused whether the tranny fluid needs to be changed on my '03 V8. I've had her since 80K miles and now she's at 130K. Not sure if it was done by the previous owner, but I do know that the vehicle was maintained fairly meticulously at the same Toyota dealership in the first part of her life.

Planning on doing both diff's and transfer case myself this weekend. Is the tranny fluid truly "lifelong" or what?

 

[OrdnanceMarine]

So I'm still a little confused whether the tranny fluid needs to be changed on my '03 V8. I've had her since 80K miles and now she's at 130K. Not sure if it was done by the previous owner, but I do know that the vehicle was maintained fairly meticulously at the same Toyota dealership in the first part of her life.

Planning on doing both diff's and transfer case myself this weekend. Is the tranny fluid truly "lifelong" or what?

The fluid isn't anything special so if you definition of "lifelong" is "will last longer than the factory warranty" then yes, it is "lifelong", otherwise it definitely should be changed at periodic intervals. The question is "how often?" and this seems to vary depending on application. If your fluid temp never goes above 200F then it ought to last a really long time and 100k mile flushes might be adequate once you've done the first one to flush out all of the break-in contaminants. If you tow heavy in hot conditions up steep hills and don't have access to your transmission fluid temp during these events it's likely you're cooking the fluid and it wears out more and more quickly as the temp rises.

You could buy yourself one of the WIX used oil analysis kits off of Amazon for $12 or so and send a sample in to see if the viscosity is good and whether you're seeing any kind of excessive contamination. I sampled my factory fill when I flushed it two years ago and posted it up in this thread [URL="http://www.toyota-4runner.org/maintenance-detailing/126591-oil-analysis-mytransmission-factory-fill.html#post1196658"]My ATF Analysis[/URL] so others would have something to compare to. The next time I'm under my truck (probably when I install my shocks/springs in a few weeks) I'm going to suck out a sample and send it in and see where it stands and I'll post that also. I recently installed a Magnefine in-line transmission filter for the added protection.

 

[SolRayz]

I'm not sure I'm brave enough to drop the pan, do a propper flush, change the filter, etc etc. Would it be adequate to simply drain, and refill?

 

[OrdnanceMarine]

I'm not sure I'm brave enough to drop the pan, do a propper flush, change the filter, etc etc. Would it be adequate to simply drain, and refill?

Dropping the pan will allow you to see how much iron has attached to the magnets at the bottom of the pan and is a pretty easy task. Seems to me like there was something like 9-11 quarts of fluid inside the system and you'll get less than 3 from draining out the pan, plus it is a pretty big pain to get the fill level correct on the "sealed" transmission as you have to do this from underneath the vehicle with the engine running and the transmission in gear with the transmission at the right temp so that alone is enough of a hassle to convince me I only want to do it once and be done for as long as possible, unlinke the usual Honda drain, fill, drain, fill, drain and finally fill routine (they warn against flushing their transmissions).

 

[OrdnanceMarine]

I'm not sure I'm brave enough to drop the pan, do a propper flush, change the filter, etc etc. Would it be adequate to simply drain, and refill?

In Fort Lauderdale the biggest mountains are the freeway overpasses so I'd probably only change my transmission fluid with less than 50k miles if I spent time towing or wheeling in places where your transmission has been hot.

 

[Ask10]

Seems to me like there was something like 9-11 quarts of fluid inside the system and you'll get less than 3 from draining out the pan....

Just FYI, when I did a cooler flush on my 3rd gen it took a hair over 15 quarts of fluid before all the old fluid from the converter, pan, etc came out, so I would venture to say that our 4th gens use close to that amount. I could be wrong though of course.

 

[BOSMECH]

Since you have a 03 like I do, here is what I do that is drain 1 gallon and then put 1 more gallon back in from the transmission dip stick, I do this every other 2 oil changes.

 

[Yeti187]

A video that may be of interest if intrigued about what's involved with a fluid and filter change: 2004 Toyota 4Runner Transmission Fluid and Filter Change (Part 1) -EricTheCarGuy - YouTube

 

[MikeInNH]

In Fort Lauderdale the biggest mountains are the freeway overpasses so I'd probably only change my transmission fluid with less than 50k miles if I spent time towing or wheeling in places where your transmission has been hot.

The Second highest mountain in Florida is "Space Mountain" at Disney World.

 

[SolRayz]

Actually you are all wrong. The highest peak in SoFl is a local landfill and you can watch it grow!

I'll be under there this weekend to assess the transmission situation. But I may just wimp out and follow the drain 1 gallon and refill routine mentioned earlier.

 

[OrdnanceMarine]

Actually you are all wrong. The highest peak in SoFl is a local landfill and you can watch it grow!

I'll be under there this weekend to assess the transmission situation. But I may just wimp out and follow the drain 1 gallon and refill routine mentioned earlier.

Since you have an easy way to fill your transmission (us folks with the "sealed" version do not) you may find this a reasonable way to do it but why not spend some time figuring out how to do the flush (I remember it took me a total of one box and had to go back for an extra bottle so 13 qts total) and do it right? Once you know where to look to find the hose from the transmission to the cooler that's inside the radiator it's super easy. Then you basically drain your pan, drop the pan, clean out the inside of the pan and install a new filter ($35 or so for filter and gasket), fill the transmission, pull the hose from the transmission to the cooler and have someone start the engine and let it pump into a bucket until the fluid starts to sputter, shut the engine off, refill the transmission pan with fluid, start engine and let it pump into bucket until the fluid starts to sputter (total of three or four times until you're happy with the color of what's coming out), then refill to the correct level and you're done.

If you want a little extra protection, install a Magnefine filter in line on one of the transmission fluid hoses.

 

[SolRayz]

Since you have an easy way to fill your transmission (us folks with the "sealed" version do not) you may find this a reasonable way to do it but why not spend some time figuring out how to do the flush (I remember it took me a total of one box and had to go back for an extra bottle so 13 qts total) and do it right? Once you know where to look to find the hose from the transmission to the cooler that's inside the radiator it's super easy. Then you basically drain your pan, drop the pan, clean out the inside of the pan and install a new filter ($35 or so for filter and gasket), fill the transmission, pull the hose from the transmission to the cooler and have someone start the engine and let it pump into a bucket until the fluid starts to sputter, shut the engine off, refill the transmission pan with fluid, start engine and let it pump into bucket until the fluid starts to sputter (total of three or four times until you're happy with the color of what's coming out), then refill to the correct level and you're done.

If you want a little extra protection, install a Magnefine filter in line on one of the transmission fluid hoses.

Oh my! $28 a bottle on amazon and I need 13qts for a full flush!!! How much should a proper flush cost at the steelership?

edit ok nevermind...amazon is ridiculous at times. Found it for $6 elsewhere.
http://www.brandsport.com/toy-00279-000t4-01.html?cmp=fwgs2011&gclid=CI-Bicy-1r0CFQWTfgod4wcA7g

 

[OrdnanceMarine]

Oh my! $28 a bottle on amazon and I need 13qts for a full flush!!! How much should a proper flush cost at the steelership?

edit ok nevermind...amazon is ridiculous at times. Found it for $6 elsewhere.
Toyota Automatic Transmission Fluid ATF Type T-IV 1 Quart Bottle Sold Individually

You don't want the T-IV fluid in the picture, you want Toyota WS fluid. Amazon shows about $38 for four quarts shipped. I ended up at the local dealership since they were the same price as getting it shipped in from elsewhere at the time.

 

[radlynx]

i did not get the ws fluid from toyota. i got it from amsoil and it works fine.

You don't want the T-IV fluid in the picture, you want Toyota WS fluid. Amazon shows about $38 for four quarts shipped. I ended up at the local dealership since they were the same price as getting it shipped in from elsewhere at the time.

 

[JB.]

You don't want the T-IV fluid in the picture, you want Toyota WS fluid.

Are you recommending a change to the WS fluid?

An '03 factory fill would have been type IV fluid.

 

[Ask10]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my owner's manual says Type WS for the V6 03 4runner but Type IV for the V8, which is the 5 speed.

I use Type IV in mine, works great.

 

[Bob J]

T-IV in mine as well.... My understanding is that 2003 is the only 4th gen to use T-IV fluid.....

 

[Bob J]

If you want a little extra protection, install a Magnefine filter in line on one of the transmission fluid hoses.

FYI about Magnefine.....

problems-with-defective-bad-magnefine-filters

 

[JB.]

Based on the owners manual pdfs it goes like this:

2003 - Type IV ATF All
2004 - Type IV ATF V6 (4-speed transmission) - WS ATF V8 (5-speed transmission)
2005 - WS ATF All (no more 4-speed transmission)

So, 4-speed trans always got Type IV ATF,
5-speed trans always got WS except 2003.

There may be some individual exceptions due to imperfect synchrony between publication and practice.

 

[OrdnanceMarine]

Based on the owners manual pdfs it goes like this:

2003 - Type IV ATF All
2004 - Type IV ATF V6 (4-speed transmission) - WS ATF V8 (5-speed transmission)
2005 - WS ATF All (no more 4-speed transmission)

So, 4-speed trans always got Type IV ATF,
5-speed trans always got WS except 2003.

There may be some individual exceptions due to imperfect synchrony between publication and practice.

Has anyone found a cost effective alternative to WS fluid for the transmissions that call for it?

After my water pump failure at ~55k miles and the large amount of some sort of black flake deposits present in the coolant (so much for "Super Long Life"), I switched to Zerex Asian at about half of the price of Toyota's super long life coolant so I am by no means convinced that WS is the only possible solution that could ever exist for our transmission fill.