Trans Drain/Fill: How Many Times???

Well, I've finally got all the tools, pumps, and setup on my OBDlink MX+ ready to go for my transmission drain and fill. Can't seem to find a common agreement on if I just do it once, twice, or multiple times. This is my first trans service at 83,333 miles.

Any suggestions, tips, or opinions???

 

I would flush it instead of drain and fill x amount of times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKmMrPAr3iM

This guy does a filter replacement to, but just start about 16:00

 

There seems to be an ongoing debate about whether a "flush" is actually good for the transmission.

If you're trying to make up for a few missed intervals, I might do a drain and refill, then do another in a few weeks.

 

My shop did mine at 32,000 miles. He said it looked a little brown, and it should be red. He did a flush, which to my understanding means he hooked up the machine that sucks the old out while replacing it with new. It has a clear filter looking thing inline that you are able to see the fluid pass through.

 

Do you recall how much it cost? I've been neglecting mine , and I'm at 95k now. I figure I better at least do a drain and refill this year!

 

I had to dig out the receipt, it looks like 15 quarts of atf-ws world standard GPMTI @ $184.35 and $139.99 labor.

 

Thanks! This confirms my suspicion that I'm too cheap to pay someone to do it.

I'm planning on doing all of the other fluids this spring, anyway. Might as well add it to the list.

 

Because there is none for a drain and fill only.

Just do it until your satisfied.

 

I used the transmission pump to exchange all the fluid by removing the return line after the cooler but before the trans and putting it into a bucket. I marked a bucket with what originally came out of the pan and fill with new fluid when it got to that point that way the pan never ran dry. There is a full writeup on TW and maybe a video on YT.

In the end I used about 14 quarts just to make sure all the old fluid was out. Also I was shifting through gears to make sure the valvebody was also "flushed."

 

Thanks for the feedback -- found some info over on a Honda forum that said: Do the poor man's flush -- drain/fill once, then drive it for a few weeks to a month (depending on how much you drive), then repeat two more times to get about half new fluid in

 

Half new fluid mixed with half burnt fluid hummmm.

 

Yeah, I don't even want to wade into the Flush Vs. Drain/Fill debate -- I've gone down the rabbit hole on that one

 

That's kind of how I feel about the drain and refill altogether. But, that's what the manual recommends.

Some of the fourth gens actually had a so-called lifetime fluid. It was the Toyota WS. But, I wonder if that recommendation was based on specific driving conditions, like how our manuals don't recommend ever servicing the transmission fluid except in certain circumstances (or was that the gear oil?).

My gut tells me you're better off with new fluid than old fluid, but I don't know enough about these things to really be confident either way.

 

You guys ever check out Car Care Nut's YT channel? He's a Toyota tech and he swears by it and has a really simple how-to on the drain/fill

 

This is the method I used. Obviously it will be slightly different for our Runner since we don't have a OEM external tranny cooler.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diy-full-flush-for-automatic-transmission.68462/

 

I just had a transmission flush and refill done today on the 2018 Limited I bought about a month ago. It is the first transmission service on the vehicle at a little under 62K miles. It was $249.99 plus sales tax. I also had the brake fluid changed (they remove the air from the brake lines afterwards), the power steering flushed and changed, and the engine coolant flushed and changed. I would have had them change the differential fluid but I have a 4X4 shop doing that next week along with installing rock rails and skid plates.

 

Don’t overthink it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jJr30r6RRgw

 

Thanks Slopemaster -- yep, got this video in my bookmarks.

 

The varying and radically different points of view on that topic are frustrating. The Car Care Nut says drain and replace, the guy who does the Toyota Maintenance channel thinks that's insane, you should flush and replace with all new fluid. I've talked with people at 2 shops who said it's lifetime fluid, you don't have to do anything. The Owner's Manual says check the fluid every 30K miles, replace if you do a lot of towing or off road driving. The guy at the shop who did the work today for me said for a 4Runner at 60,000 miles, flush and replace. They said if you had a Honda (forgot which model) with 150K miles that had never had the transmission serviced, we would refuse to do the work. At some point you've got to make a decision.

 

Battling viewpoints of Toyota mechanics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0Da10l5uas

 

That's why I ultimately went with the drain and flush. I really like the Car Care Nut (and am basically going to follow his maintenance interval recommendations), but I found the video from the Toyota Maintenance guy more persuasive.

 

Hey WNC2018 -- are you saying that you're going with the Drain/Fill or a full trans flush?

 

Just did a machine flush on my 4Runner. It has 70k miles on it. I let the dealer do it because the machine they use is awesome. I never flush if it’s never had it at almost 100k. That’s a no no & youre stuck doing a drain & fill.

If you do it at the dealer or shop remember it takes a long time to get the temps correct to even use the machine flush. It can take up awhile

 

I had a drain/flush done today.

 

My take away from all the videos is that it depends on your mileage, which method you choose. IMHO, any amount of fluid change is better than nothing. It’s taken me well over 4 years to get 30k on the odometer, so I’ve got awhile before I need to fret about it.

 

Drain and fill. Every 60k or so. WS is dark when you buy it, so you really can’t go by that. I’ve got 2 Toyotas and a Lexus so I got a fluid pump. Makes life easy.

 

Did a drain/fill last week but the damn thing took 4 quarts of Redline. At $16 a quart I don’t want to even think about a flush, $200+ just on fluid.

 

IMO you can't do any damage by changing the fluid too often. But you can certainly do damage by not changing it often enough. That being said everyone has their own idea of what's best. Honestly, do what you're comfortable with. A drain and fill is super easy and won't take long or cost much and it's better than nothing at all. If you did one every 10k your basically refreshing the entire system every 50k.

I was sitting at 50k and basically did what this guy did in the video. The idea of having all new fluid sits better with me.

Just make sure you put a few extra quarts in at the end prior to doing the fluid check. I was low when I first did the fluid check and had to add several quarts to get it right, took a couple fluid checks to get there. I started the day with 4 new gallons of fluid and went through all of it between the flush and the fluid checks.

 

So, just thinking out loud here, would i be comfortable draining half my motor oil and adding half fresh? Just sayin.

 

To each their own.