The New guy ZOOGUY intro and QUESTIONS (1 Viewer)

[Zooguy]

Hello my name is Troy,
Just drove from OKC to Amarillo and picked up my first Toyota. I needed something a little bit bigger than my extended cab pickup because I have a 14 month old daughter and we just found out baby number 2 is on the way so I needed more room in the back. Its a 1999 Landcruiser with only 153,500 miles and a factory rear locker!! Came with some tundra rock warrior wheels. The previous owner didn't do the best maintenance practices.
My wife's father is a service writer at a Toyota dealership so I took it in to them to have them do an inspection.

The timing belt had never been changed so I had them put a new one on along with a water pump and a new idler pulley that was squeaking really bad.
I figured if they'd never change the timing belt there's probably other things they had neglected so I went and bought eight spark plugs and whenever I pulled the old ones out seven of them have the letter P stamped on to the end of the spark plug indicating that they were original spark plugs.

So it's probably safe to assume the transmission has never been flushed or had the fluid changed.
I don't have very much experience with import vehicles but I'm very well-versed with GM stuff.

The old saying goes if you miss the fluid change interval on your automatic transmission that you should never change it and just keep running it because if you do change it the transmission will begin slipping ...
sooo what should i do? should I just leave it alone? Should I drain the pan and replace the fluid or should I do a full transmission flush?

 

[2020 Rocks]

If it were me I would drain and fill the transmission pan at the same time you do your next 4 or so oil changes.

 

[Zooguy]

If it were me I would drain and fill the transmission pan at the same time you do your next 4 or so oil changes.

I was advised to do something like that from my wife's father the service writer at Toyota. the dipstick calls for Dexron 2 but given this situation I didn't know if there was a different oil with more additives that would keep it from slipping or what about possibly that Lucas Oil transmission stop slip

 

[JunkCrzr89]

I would skip the drain and fill as well as the machine flush, and do a safe flush: pull return line and place in gallon jug, have someone turn the truck on for 5-10 seconds to drain 1 qt out, turn truck off, add one qt fresh atf through dipstick, and repeat this process until clean atf comes out of return line. This is the safest way to do a full flush.

 

[OEMGUY0720]

I’ll do a complete ATF fluid exchange..

 

[suprarx7nut]

The transmission in the 99 is very robust, to say the least. I would not sweat it at all. It's not going to be like your gm stuff. I'd drain the pan next time it's convenient and top off. That's probably good practice for most owners every few years.

Try to avoid checking it often or opening up the drain more than needed. Opening the case to air will oxidize the oil and wear it far more than driving would. This is a large part of why many newer transmissions have no dipstick and no simple fill spout. Checking the fluid was often more harmful than just leaving it be because you'd introduce dirt and oxygen.

The whole "never change atf" after missing a change thing is semi-valid if you've already had a ton of clutch wear and clutch material floating in the oil. That doesn't apply to a Land Cruiser with 150k unless it's towed uphill is entire life. These were built to go 500k. You've barely got a vehicle that's been broken in.

*Edit: WS talk removed since that's apparently 04+ only.

 

[JunkCrzr89]

The fluid is Toyota WS (world service) and is "lifetime fluid". It won't last forever, but it is meant to last waaaaay longer than normal fluid with no I'll effects. I would not use any standard atf. I'd use only Toyota WS.

WS is *not* backwards compatible with A/Ts prior to 2004! All pre-2004 A/Ts must use Toyota ATF Type T-IV. Last page of below TSB states: “ATF-WS is NOT compatible with T-IV or Dexron ATF.”

https://attachments.priuschat.com/a...770_96203_T-SB-0006-11_Toyota_ATF_WS_info.pdf

 

[suprarx7nut]

WS is *not* backwards compatible with A/Ts prior to 2004! All pre-2004 A/Ts must use Toyota ATF Type T-IV. Last page of below TSB states: “ATF-WS is NOT compatible with T-IV or Dexron ATF.”

https://attachments.priuschat.com/a...770_96203_T-SB-0006-11_Toyota_ATF_WS_info.pdf

Whoa, good call. Thought that was applicable across the 100 series range. Could have sworn my 99 had a service where they stated ws fluid...

I gotta go check some things...

 

[Zooguy]

I'd like to say I'm a mechanically inclined individual I've built the entire motor and transmission in my car I didn't pay anybody to do it so I would say I'm familiar with GM stuff butts being that this is a import I'm not 100% sure on stuff and I like to do research and find the answers before asking but I'm sure I'm going to come up with several silly question that have already been answered many times before

^ this is my nitrous fed 1994 Firebird formula still running the 350 LT1 motor with a th400 transmission and a Ford 8.8 hybrid rear axle

I would love to put some nitrous on the Landcruiser to give it a little more horsepower but from the research I've done the Piston rods are rather dainty so that's discouraged

 

[JunkCrzr89]

I'm not 100% sure on stuff and I like to do research and find the answers before asking but I'm sure I'm going to come up with several silly question that have already been answered many times before

That’s why this forum exists.