V6 Transmission Fluid and Filter Replacement made easy

[AuSeeker]

busy, so don't have time for a deep search, but dug up this elsewhere: I believe you have to warm up the transmission, jumper pins on the OBDII plug under your dash (don't remember the exact pins) cycle your transmission from park to drive six times to put the transmission in check mode.

sounds a little bit like what the dealership was saying.

You put it in check mode before warming up the transmission, the proper light flashes tell you when it is at the proper temperature.

 

[rwh963]

i'll have to research that procedure. i've also read that some think the toyota ws fluid is not up to speed, and that there are better alternatives?

 

[AuSeeker]

Yes some say that the Toyota WS doesn't hold up well to higher temperatures, but I can't attest to that as I'm not an expert on testing fluids.

Any fluid that has been rated to be compatible with WS applications should be fine, some are bound to better than others, that will be up to you do research and choose.

 

[timbo_slice]

I completed flushing my transmission oil last Saturday.

1. first, make sure the car is on level ground, (1 ramp on each tire).
2. I removed the oil level plug, drained around 1qt then plugged it back in.
3. I removed the drain plug, another 2 qts came out and then plugged it back in.
4. I then removed the 20 bolts to remove the pan and gasket, another 1 1/8 qts came out.
5. I removed the filter and replaced it with the wix on and cleaned the pan and the 4 magnets in the pan, there's a bunch of grease like fine metals. it's very important to remove those.
6. reinstalled the pan with a new bolt (old one was rusted enough that it's starting to break when loosening it, broke 2 bolts while removing it.
7. disconnected the transmission hose from the upper part of the radiator and filled with 4 1/8 qts of atf thru the radiator using an oil pump. (easy peasy this way).
8. connected another hose to the end of the hose and towards an empty container on the floor with a mark for each quart of oil. (used an empty wiper fluid container).
9. started the car until it filled up to at least 2 quarts and stopped the engine.
10. refilled another 2 quarts of oil then repeat item# 9 until you get a reddish color atf. (I used at least 14qts of oil)
11. put back the hose to the radiator and you are done with your flush.
12. all in all, my old atf oil has been used for 70000 miles and it still reddish in color but a bit darker. it seems like I could go another 30000 miles with the old one.

Here's the youtube link how simple it is to flush it. https://youtu.be/Q3fu0wiabFQ

This is how its done folks. Wish I had a picture handy of the connection to radiator (or "heat exchanger" in toyota manual) from transmission but it is on the right hand side of the radiator at the top. It almost seems too easy! Dont forget to follow a guide on fluid temperature check before doing a fluid level check at the end of the process.

 

[mwebster22]

This is how its done folks. Wish I had a picture handy of the connection to radiator (or "heat exchanger" in toyota manual) from transmission but it is on the right hand side of the radiator at the top. It almost seems too easy! Dont forget to follow a guide on fluid temperature check before doing a fluid level check at the end of the process.

Agree that this is super easy, but my connection to the radiator was on the left, drivers, side. This on an '06 V6.

 

[sharpie223]

Yes some say that the Toyota WS doesn't hold up well to higher temperatures, but I can't attest to that as I'm not an expert on testing fluids.

Any fluid that has been rated to be compatible with WS applications should be fine, some are bound to better than others, that will be up to you do research and choose.

Is there any list of alternative fluids that are WS compatible? I've tried searching this forum for one but haven't seen much. I found one list through google but it looks to be fairly old and not updated.

I do notice that a lot of people recommend valvoline maxxlife. As a high mileage atf, this would include chemicals to swell the seals, correct? Is there anything comparable without these high mileage chemicals added?

If using an alternative fluid, is a friction modifier required?

Asking these questions here as this is my first post and can't start a new thread, but I think it's on topic for this.

 

[rwh963]

so lets see:

if i chose to do this job myself, i will need:

1) 4 qt of WS fluid
2) a fresh hand pump or appropriate funnel
3) 3 crush washers (2 drain, 1 fill)
4) some type of scan tool (this i am unsure of, wondering if auto stores loan them out).
5) shudder fix (if desired)

don't see the need to drop the pan at this time.

need to print out the step by step procedure.

 

[rwh963]

i called two of my local dealership service depts. need to hear back from one. the other says that WS fluid should be changed by 120k. being at 200k, they would change all of it for $230. hook it up to a machine and remove it all. they said they do not drop the pan (no need to unless the gasket is leaking). sound reasonable?

i don't mind paying about $200 for this service. if anything goes awry, i can bring it back to them.

 

[Bluesky 07]

i called two of my local dealership service depts. need to hear back from one. the other says that WS fluid should be changed by 120k. being at 200k, they would change all of it for $230. hook it up to a machine and remove it all. they said they do not drop the pan (no need to unless the gasket is leaking). sound reasonable?

i don't mind paying about $200 for this service. if anything goes awry, i can bring it back to them.

This is what I did and everything went well. IIRC, it was $179 here north of Atlanta but I see you live in a more expensive part of the country.

 

[rwh963]

heard back from another dealer service. they explained that they don't have a machine to do a full replacement. they would just work through the pan and replace about 5 qts. there is always the "fear" that a full replacement could dislodge some stuff, but if so hopefully it would be flushed out.

the second place quotes $250 for the service. so i all most likely go with the full replacement for less (closer to $200 after coupon). was going to do the pan change myself, but i think this one service i will let the "pros" do it.

 

[mwebster22]

When I did mine I used 13.5qts. So at over $10/qt plus $35 for the filter, it's not cheap.

 

[AuSeeker]

Is there any list of alternative fluids that are WS compatible? I've tried searching this forum for one but haven't seen much. I found one list through google but it looks to be fairly old and not updated.

I do notice that a lot of people recommend valvoline maxxlife. As a high mileage atf, this would include chemicals to swell the seals, correct? Is there anything comparable without these high mileage chemicals added?

If using an alternative fluid, is a friction modifier required?

Asking these questions here as this is my first post and can't start a new thread, but I think it's on topic for this.

I can't advise you on this, I still use WS fluid, but I wouldn't hesitate to use Valvoline MaxLife if only from reports of some owners here testifying to how good it seems to be in their T4R.

That being said nowhere does Valvoline advertises or states that MaxLife ATF is "high mileage", they do however state that for the MaxLife motor oil, here's a link to Valvoline's website showing the properties of Maxlife ATF, and if you look at the list of vehicles it will work in you'll notice Toyota WS is on that list, as for any other brand if it states that it will work in place of Toyota WS ATF then it should be fine to use in these transmissions.

After clicking on the below link, click on the "PI Sheet" link for the properties of Maxlife, nowhere on either link did I see it mention "High Mileage" for this ATF.

https://www.valvoline.com/our-products/automatic-transmission-products/maxlife-multi-vehicle-atf

As far as adding any other additives, the only one I would suggest is Shudder Fixx, even if you don't have any "shudder" from your transmission I would still recommend adding it, it's designed to make the torque conventer work more efficiently, the torque converter not working efficiently is usually the cause of what is termed as "shudder" from the transmission.

https://www.amazon.com/Lubegard-19610-Tranny-Instant-Shudder/dp/B0002JMLQU

 

[rwh963]

i was told by toyota service that WS is a synthetic. is that true?

 

[j4run]

Is there any list of alternative fluids that are WS compatible?
I do notice that a lot of people recommend valvoline maxxlife. As a high mileage atf, this would include chemicals to swell the seals, correct? Is there anything comparable without these high mileage chemicals added?

There are _many_ threads on this. Here's a good list of Toyota WS compatible fluids, with a good discussion. I'm going with Maxlife.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...a-ws-atf-automaitc-transmission-fluid.373083/

 

[tgraham]

I just changed the filter in a 2006 V6 and wanted to share a few notes, since I found so much helpful info on this site. As the OP indicates, this is an easy job on this era V6, as there is NOTHING in the way of the pan!

I did not do a full flush - only refilled what was lost using the workshop manual's procedure. I also used the $10 OBD Fusion iOS app connected to a generic OBD2 module and custom PIDs to monitor the fluid temperature during the fill procedure. I actually forked over the extra $10 for the 2006 Toyota extension pack, but alas, it did not include the ATF temp. Fortunately, I found the custom PID info elsewhere on this site (repeated here to be complete).

Random notes:

- This task as I did it took ~4.75 quarts of ATF-WS. I had 5 quarts on hand and started to get nervous towards the end as the dealer was closed when I was doing this job.

- I used a Wix 58136 filter, which looks exactly like what came out and includes a neoprene gasket. I tightened it to "snug" using a cross pattern typical of transmission pan reinstallation.

- TSB 0129-08 alters the temperature range at which to inspect the fluid level (see attached chart). The updated range for the 5 speed automatic is 36-46 degrees C (was 46 to something higher). In my case, the temperature topped-out at 41 degrees C idling.

- Here's the custom PID information that I used for OBD Fusion. I found this elsewhere on this site, but needed to split the Mode and PID for OBD Fusion:

ATF Temp, Pan, deg. C
Module/Header: ECM
Mode: 21
PID: D9
Range: 0-80
Equation: (((E*256)+F)/256)-40

ATF Temp, Cooler, deg. C
Module/Header: ECM
Mode: 21
PID: D9
Range: 0-80
Equation: (((G*256)+H)/256)-40

Hopefully some of this will be of help to someone else. And I appreciate all of the great information from previous posters on this site!

Travis