Transmission Longevity? (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

I strongly believe that the "Don't change old transmission oil, it will fail!!!!" is a complete myth. It might be true for transmissions that are failing anyway, but not in the general case.
If the alleged grounded clutch material suspended in the old oil was everything keeping a transmission working, it wouldn't have worked in the first place.
Anyway, I did a first change at 280k miles on my 2005 and it didn't seem to miss a beat 15k later.
I feel a little better I’m not the only guilty one! 😂
 
the dont change oil part is only for transmissions that have run an insane amount on one charge of oil ie 80000 miles etc, they are the ones that mostly fail after an ATF change/flush
and yes, the above mentioned transmission will fail anyways either you change its oil or not - just probably sooner with new oil

if you keep changing ATF at regular intervals, no problems there
 
I strongly believe that the "Don't change old transmission oil, it will fail!!!!" is a complete myth. It might be true for transmissions that are failing anyway, but not in the general case.
If the alleged grounded clutch material suspended in the old oil was everything keeping a transmission working, it wouldn't have worked in the first place.
Anyway, I did a first change at 280k miles on my 2005 and it didn't seem to miss a beat 15k later.
I agree.

Except the way I've heard. "Heard" as never seen it happen nor am I a transmission expert. Clutch plates may be held together with gunk, of old fluid and clutch material. We then flush with nice clean new AT fluid, which cleans the clutches. They then fall apart.

BTW:

I just got in 4 cases of Mobil (not to be confuse with Mobil 1) MV Full Synthetic.

I still like the Mobil 1 the best, and use in 98-02 Transmission and all Power Steering. But this new reformulated Mobil MV, which was a blended. Is now a full synthetic, and now rated for: Toyota/Lexus/Scio: Scion FZ, Type D-II, Type T, Type T-III, Type T-IV, Type WS (JWS 3324)

Some say the Toyota WS is a full synthetic, I've my doubts! But as far as I know; Toyota, when they came out with WS, did not say backward compatible with T-IV back. Nor do they today and still have T-III & T-IV available. Although I've always suspected it is backward compatible.

Years ago I spoke with Mobil 1, with respect to Mobil 1 MV full synthetic and WS ATF compatible. They did not have a WS rated ATF, sold in the USA. But outside the USA they did and likely still do.
 
I'm probably approaching time to flush fluids again, but I've been towing a few times this last year or so with my 310k cruiser w/ the stock trans. Nothing terribly heavy (<5-6klbs), and as long as I keep temps down I have no concern it will just continue chugging along. Probably the most robust transmission I've ever heard of personally. The majority of the time I am towing w/ OD off, and temps stay in a very healthy range even on the Texas Freeways
 
I'm probably approaching time to flush fluids again, but I've been towing a few times this last year or so with my 310k cruiser w/ the stock trans. Nothing terribly heavy (<5-6klbs), and as long as I keep temps down I have no concern it will just continue chugging along. Probably the most robust transmission I've ever heard of personally. The majority of the time I am towing w/ OD off, and temps stay in a very healthy range even on the Texas Freeways
Curious as to: what yr 100 series, ATF temps you're see and at what OAT (Out air temp) with full sun?
 
Wow…3 trannys? Holy smokes! So you sold the 2000 LC….which one do you have now?
Check out his signature. Looks like a 2011 GX 460. These probably have a different auto from the 100 series.
 
Curious as to: what yr 100 series, ATF temps you're see and at what OAT (Out air temp) with full sun?

2000 4 spd. With OD off, a comfortable cruising speed for me is around 60MPH (GPS of 65ish). I use torque pro to keep an eye on my trans temps, and it seems to report around 150-160degF most of the time on driving through town, and between 140-150degF on the fwy. Temps seem pretty consistent for me even during a June trip, where OAT was around 100degF in full sun.

I did have a few climbs out past San Antonio that slowed us down quite a bit.. still trans temps didn't really get about 170 and I just tried to keep enough momentum to stay about 50 ish on those hills. Having a good sense of when the truck is happy is key.. If it's cycling through gears, or out of it's comfort range of RPMs, time to slow down.

1650984971098.png
 
Hi Flint…👋🏻…Ya…I’m not hard on it at all. It’s just been my daily driver for 22 years. But no off roading and I’m easy on the ol’ gal. 😂

I only wish I had the wisdom in my 30’s when I first got her that I have now. I’m trying to make up for my reckless days now. Lol. Im pretty sure she feels for me and is going easy on me. *crossing fingers*

Thanks so much for chiming in. You know I always appreciate the help!

I'm just so glad you didn't give up on Her with your previous issue....that I know was frustrating for you.

Chances are (given your driving habits) you'll be fine for quite some time into the future. But DO have the condition of the fluid checked yearly.

Wish you well.....happy driving.
 
The model year 2000 100-Series transmission failure mode was very much INDEPENDENT of maintenance status. Good advice in this thread for "general" transmission maintenance, and that certainly "should" help with the super-low level general tranny failure rate, but from 1999 into 2001, there was a different failure mode that was independent of mileage, untraceable (by us MUD members, but probably known to Toyota) to production date range, and independent of anal-retentive transmission over-maintenance...
 
The model year 2000 100-Series transmission failure mode was very much INDEPENDENT of maintenance status. Good advice in this thread for "general" transmission maintenance, and that certainly "should" help with the super-low level general tranny failure rate, but from 1999 into 2001, there was a different failure mode that was independent of mileage, untraceable (by us MUD members, but probably known to Toyota) to production date range, and independent of anal-retentive transmission over-maintenance...

There may have been some 1999 issues by production date, but by model year the problem started in 2000.
 
There may have been some 1999 issues by production date, but by model year the problem started in 2000.
There is a slightly higher transmission failure rate in MY 1999 and 2001 compared to '98 and '02, in addition to the elevated MY 2000 failure rate that would indicate it's not limited to strictly MY 2000. Did Toyota end MY 99 and start MY 2001 with defective transmissions? Possibly, but the sample wasn't big enough to establish clear cut off production dates, nor to identify any range of bad transmissions that might have been in the supply chain. There aren't hard cut offs in Aug 1999 (for MY 2000) nor Aug 2000 for MY 2001 that would say this is simply a model year 2000 issue. Details are in the post I linked earlier in this thread.

:meh:
 
There is a slightly higher transmission failure rate in MY 1999 and 2001 compared to '98 and '02, in addition to the elevated MY 2000 failure rate that would indicate it's not limited to strictly MY 2000. Did Toyota end MY 99 and start MY 2001 with defective transmissions?

The 2000 model year got a substantial revision to the internals of the transmission - so much so that it calls for a completely different rebuild kit than for the 1995 to 1999. Obviously anything can fail with enough neglect / abuse but the higher failure rates coincide with the revision of the 2000 MY, which as stated many times is still not a high failure rate compared to the some of the Euro transmissions of the era.
 
The key to transmission lasting, is flushing properly and regularly.

How long can they last. The miles mile Toyota, had no transmission issues.

I am big, on full 12qt flushes. In the 98-02, I use Mobil 1 MV full synthetic ATF exclusively. I tried other ATF years ago, but keep coming back to the smooth shifting and cool operating temps of M1 MV f/syn ATF.

I've flushed some with as much as 350K miles on the odometer, as a first flush. They love it. Toyota uses the same, when they've a transmission running to hot, as a fix. It's top shelf ATF. If transmission has bad clutch plates, flushing may reveal (failure). But never has it happened to me, and I've done a lot of flushes on 100 series of all years and miles. My feeling is, if it's going to fails after/from flushing. I'd rather find out now, not 500 miles off into the wilderness.

We did have some bad transmission. Seemed mostly around the 2000 years give or take. But they tended to go bad first 50K miles for most accounts I read about (I've not seen one).
Nice to know all of these .

Do you have any experience on 5 speed AT?
 
BTW:

I just got in 4 cases of Mobil (not to be confuse with Mobil 1) MV Full Synthetic.

I still like the Mobil 1 the best, and use in 98-02 Transmission and all Power Steering. But this new reformulated Mobil MV, which was a blended. Is now a full synthetic, and now rated for: Toyota/Lexus/Scio: Scion FZ, Type D-II, Type T, Type T-III, Type T-IV, Type WS (JWS 3324)

Some say the Toyota WS is a full synthetic, I've my doubts! But as far as I know; Toyota, when they came out with WS, did not say backward compatible with T-IV back. Nor do they today and still have T-III & T-IV available. Although I've always suspected it is backward compatible.

Years ago I spoke with Mobil 1, with respect to Mobil 1 MV full synthetic and WS ATF compatible. They did not have a WS rated ATF, sold in the USA. But outside the USA they did and likely still do.

Summit has this in stock now in the reformulated Full Synthetic version, and a good price too

 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom