Transmission Flush...or Exchange?

[LCMemphis]

I would like to do one or the other on my recently acquired LC with 102 K miles. After searching and reading, thought I needed an "exchange" but Toyota Service advise yesterday said they only do flush.. and that's the better way to go.

Are we confusing terms here or is a flush a more thorough cleaning? i just want to do it right the first time and have no reason to doubt the dealer. Thanks...

 

[linuxgod]

the maintenance manual calls for draining the pan and adding ~3 quarts. I would skip that - all you ever do is drain off any solids and dilute the fluid.

some shops do 4 of the above and call it an "exchange", figuring they get most of the old fluid out. I would skip that too, mainly because the method below is better and costs about the same

a true flush should involve disconnecting the transmission cooler line and cycling at least 12 quarts of fluid through the system until the fluid coming out is clean. A good Toyota dealer should have a Toyota tool for this but you could do it in your driveway if you were careful not to run it dry during the exchange... the only trick is triggering a solenoid (either by hand or with the Techstream software)

My dealer charges $125 labor for the flush, plus fluid (BYO or they supply it). I do a full flush every 30k, but I tow A LOT.

 

[LCMemphis]

Thanks....that's what I want..a true flush as I don't want to wait any longer since I can't find any service records of previous owner doing tranny fluid replacement. Price sounds pretty reasonable.

 

[linuxgod]

Thanks....that's what I want..a true flush as I don't want to wait any longer since I can't find any service records of previous owner doing tranny fluid replacement. Price sounds pretty reasonable.

If you don't have records, do the front and rear differentials and the transfer case too for sure. Brake fluid flush would be a good idea as well.

Coolant should be done at 120k so you can go a little longer there. Personally I'd just wait until the radiator and/or water pump needs to be done and do both plus coolant and hoses at the same time

 

[LCMemphis]

THanks for suggestions..I'll probably do all of those you suggested and wait on radiator

 

[bloc]

If you haven’t already seen the thread look for the radiator failure public service announcement. Basically a hairline crack forms along the forward edge of the small flat raised part-number area on the top tank.

Eventually this crack pops wide open and spews coolant everywhere. Your mileage is about where people often start to have this problem.

 

[Cruiser Jimmy]

On Toyotas website you can log into my Toyota and see all the maintenance records for your Vin number. That’s what I did with my 200 series.

The records never showed a transmission flush, and at about 172,000 I got it done at the Toyota dealership. The service tech said my fluid was definitely dirty and needed to be changed, so I did it.
I did notice a small power increase and mpg increase as well.

Recommended mileage change is every 90,000 miles, or if you total 60,000 miles. Pretty much won’t do anything other than a Toyota dealership flush.

My dealer charged me $300 and that was with fluid and labor. Not really complaining about the price.

 

[SWUtah]

Just make sure the dealer is not putting any cleaners or anything other than WS transmission fluid in your transmission if they’re going to use a cleaner tell them hell no

 

[LCMemphis]

Thank you guys..I'm gonna double check Toyota site with my VIN but otherwise will go ahead with Tranny and diffy flushes.

Bloc, is the hairline crack in the radiator top covered as part of Toyota's PSA or do we repair on our own? I'll have that looked at.

 

[bloc]

Thank you guys..I'm gonna double check Toyota site with my VIN but otherwise will go ahead with Tranny and diffy flushes.

Bloc, is the hairline crack in the radiator top covered as part of Toyota's PSA or do we repair on our own? I'll have that looked at.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by PSA.. most guys are taking care of it on their own. To my knowledge all of the cracks and failures have been well out of warranty. I do seem to remember some long-time toyota customers calling corporate and getting help covering the cost of repair.

One point.. just seeing a crack doesn't mean it will definitely fail in an hour. Many rigs seem to go a long way with the hairline crack with no problems. But, enough have busted open that unless you know when the crack formed (if you have it) it is probably smart to plan to replace the radiator soon. Also fwiw, it seems toyota JUST updated the design.. the one I bought and installed in May was the older design, though I'm sure I'll get a lot of miles out of it. A few people in the main thread are getting a newer radiator with a better top tank.

All the details and pics you could ever want here: 2008-2010 Radiator Failure and Public Service Announcement

 

[LCMemphis]

Thanks Bloc...PSA=Public Service Announcement. That's a good tip also on the newer radiator.

 

[bloc]

Ah.. I assumed it couldn't be that simple and you meant some toyota extended service program or something. And I'm the one that originally said PSA.. hah.

No, this is all on the forum. Toyota hasn't really acknowledged it being a widespread problem.

 

[M1911]

These failures happen out of warranty. I’m not aware of any TSB or of Toyota covering radiator replacement out of goodwill.

 

[linuxgod]

These failures happen out of warranty. I’m not aware of any TSB or of Toyota covering radiator replacement out of goodwill.

Some folks have complained to their regional Toyota office and have received at least a partial credit.

Mine started to fail before 100k and so it was covered under my Toyota VSA.

 

[RandyCSVT]

the maintenance manual calls for draining the pan and adding ~3 quarts. I would skip that - all you ever do is drain off any solids and dilute the fluid.

some shops do 4 of the above and call it an "exchange", figuring they get most of the old fluid out. I would skip that too, mainly because the method below is better and costs about the same

a true flush should involve disconnecting the transmission cooler line and cycling at least 12 quarts of fluid through the system until the fluid coming out is clean. A good Toyota dealer should have a Toyota tool for this but you could do it in your driveway if you were careful not to run it dry during the exchange... the only trick is triggering a solenoid (either by hand or with the Techstream software)

My dealer charges $125 labor for the flush, plus fluid (BYO or they supply it). I do a full flush every 30k, but I tow A LOT.

I saw the how to video on DIY flushing and decided I don't want to spend that much time under the car flushing fluid. With beer breaks included it will take me half a day. lol

I called around to 4-5 local Toyota dealers and have received conflicting info. Some have said you never change it (staying away from them). Another dealer said they would hook it up to their machine and flush it for $400 and another said that flushing can sometimes damage higher mileage transmissions so they simply replace what is in the pan three times making sure to warm up the trans and cycle through the gears inbetween pan fluid changes. According to them this leads to you having fresh fluid in the trans with no risk of damage and will cost me about $220.

Other than cost, is there a good reason for not doing the multiple pan swaps vs a flush? Part of me isn't stressing it too much since my wife's work tacoma is at over 200k hard miles on the original fluid with no trans issues at all.

 

[linuxgod]

If your transmission is old and worn it's possible the fluid isn't as slippery as it once was. Changing the fluid out with new fluid that is more slippery and provides less friction can make a marginal transmission start to slip.

There's no great reason I'm aware of not to swap all the fluid instead of just a portion of it though. IMO the 3 quart pan swap is really designed to remove any solids/shavings from the system than to actually change the fluid. The "swap the pan fluid 4 times" trick doesn't really swap all the fluid either, since it just dilutes what's in the system.

My local dealer charged me $126 for the 12 quart flush, plus the cost of fluid. I think ATF WS is about $7-8/quart so $200-250 should be the right price.

 

[32cls6speedmt]

Interesting. He states tsb was out on toyota ws atf that it is good till 100,000 miles. Check out 7:40 mark of the videol

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

The man can talk about auto transmission fluids and make it sound really interesting! He has some great videos, so thanks for posting that. I guess we'll have to stay tuned for episode 5 of the series where he talks exclusively about Toyota transmission fluids (video not released yet).

FWIW, I swapped my fluid last week and noticed that I took out considerably more fluid than I put in. This is because I replaced what I took out but then had a great deal run back out the overflow drain once it got up to temp. The fluid was original, based on the color and known maintenance history, so maybe mine was a bit overfull from the factory. The initial drain from the pan netted 4.75 quarts.

Either way, it functions properly and even shifts a bit smoother too since the fluid swap.

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

BTW, I learned from the comments on that video that transmission fluid and motor oil use the same base stock. This makes sense, because when I went to recycle all my used automotive fluids last week, the tranny fluid and the motor oil all went into the same big container. Interesting stuff.

 

[DirtNap]

Question: The standard maintenance schedule doesn't have a service interval to change trans fluid. Plugs yes, oil yes, coolant, yes. But nothing for trans (or brake fluid). For "standard" use I don't think they even recommend changing diff or transfer case oil. (For towing they do -- trans, diff, xfer case -- but I don't tow).

Is this the kind of thing where you are just supposed to "inspect" periodically ...and change it if it appears dirty? Or should it really be changed more often/regularly than the manual specifies? Or are the folks in the thread big towers (I know at least 1 said so)? Or is this a case of folks "waxing the frame"? (-;

FWIW, my truck's P.O. did the trans fluid, diffs, and xfer case. Just wondering what I should really do to maintain it vs. Over or under maintaining it.

Thanks all,
DN

I saw the how to video on DIY flushing and decided I don't want to spend that much time under the car flushing fluid. With beer breaks included it will take me half a day. lol

I called around to 4-5 local Toyota dealers and have received conflicting info. Some have said you never change it (staying away from them). Another dealer said they would hook it up to their machine and flush it for $400 and another said that flushing can sometimes damage higher mileage transmissions so they simply replace what is in the pan three times making sure to warm up the trans and cycle through the gears inbetween pan fluid changes. According to them this leads to you having fresh fluid in the trans with no risk of damage and will cost me about $220.

Other than cost, is there a good reason for not doing the multiple pan swaps vs a flush? Part of me isn't stressing it too much since my wife's work tacoma is at over 200k hard miles on the original fluid with no trans issues at all.