Easy way to drain transmission fluid (1 Viewer)

[tg470]

I changed the transmission fluid today on my 2003 LX470. Once the pan is emptied and refilled, I found it was exceedingly easy to just let the transmission pump out about 2 quarts at a time from the tranny cooler in front. Disconnect the bottom hose from the hard pipe (it has the angled out hard piece) and place into a half gallon jug that can conveniently sit on a small ledge inside the bumper. I found disconnecting the power steering cooler right hand bolt (10mm) allowed enough movement for easy access to the hose.

Run the engine enough to fill 2 quarts, empty, add 2 quarts, repeat until fluid runs clean, you run out of fluid, or you decide it's time to be done. I use about 10 quarts total.

One thing I was surprised to find is there is no thermostat to bypass on this model/year. My 2008 Sequoia has a thermostat to be bypassed on the transmission housing. Later years using ATF-WS may need that done to get good fluid flow.

Hopefully this helps someone.

 

[3_puppies]

that's what us with 62 series have been doing for years, called a Rodney flush.

 

[Escape Artist]

You have the A750F five speed? I'm looking at the FSM from Toyota and it shows that cooler line in the front to be the power steering cooler on my 06LC with the A750F. Even crazier, when following the instructions to remove it to get to the oil cooler ... when re-installing it it says 'add automatic transmission fluid' well of course but what's crazy is that it says to literally add the fluid to the actual transmission. So is this an error in the FSM and this part is the transmission cooler and not the power steering cooler? Error in translation? Why or how would the power steering pump use fluid from the transmission pan? ****ery is afoot ...

 

[tg470]

I still have a dipstick/fill tube so my fill procedure is slightly different than you. The main difference is I found it wasn't necessary to disconnect the power steering cooler whereas the FSM says it has to be done. Power steering system uses ATF as well (although they say Dextron vs Type IV (mine) or WS (yours))

I also did not remove the ATF cooler. All I did was loosen the power steering cooler and remove the bottom hose from the hard pipe into the cooler. The loose hose goes into a jug.

 

[tg470]

My Sequoia has the 6 speed transmission version. It has a thermostat that has to be locked open on the transmission for this procedure to work. I don't know if newer 100 series also have this or if it's unique to Gen 2 Sequoia/Tundra. If you don't get a good flow of fluid right away, start looking for that

As others have noted, the pumping out of fluid via the cooler wasn't an original idea from me. I did try to clarify which tube to disconnect which hopefully someone found useful.

 

[medtro]

You have the A750F five speed? I'm looking at the FSM from Toyota and it shows that cooler line in the front to be the power steering cooler on my 06LC with the A750F. Even crazier, when following the instructions to remove it to get to the oil cooler ... when re-installing it it says 'add automatic transmission fluid' well of course but what's crazy is that it says to literally add the fluid to the actual transmission. So is this an error in the FSM and this part is the transmission cooler and not the power steering cooler? Error in translation? Why or how would the power steering pump use fluid from the transmission pan? f***ery is afoot ...

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Look like they missed the instructions on adding and checking "power steering fluid".

 

[hickuptruck]

Pretty similar to how I do Toyota trans flushes. Except that I initially overfill 4 quarts into the pan, and then flush 2 quarts at a time.