pruney81

So, I did a drain and refill on my 95 A340h today and I put in about 4.7 quarts. It drives better and shifts smoother, but it's reading about a notch higher that the hot mark. Will this hurt it or should I drain the little extra out?

pruney81

Forget it I just went out there and checked it after driving and it's right at the low hot mark. I freak out about my truck sometimes. Anyhoo... I put in Valvoline DEX III high mileage and it is alot smoother. It was flushed just 19k miles ago and the fluid that came out was still red but it definitely liked the new oil. I would recomend to anyone with an auto to just drain and refill frequently your truck will thank for it. I'm kinda scared of flushes from the stories I've heard anyways

Robrt32

you should add if you have done it regularly its good for it, but if you haven't done it in 75 or 100 thousand miles its safer not to touch it , if nothings wrong with it

pruney81

Well yeah, if you haven't touched your auto tranny fluid in 75-100k miles it's probably gonna die soon anyways. Mine has 162k miles and was flushed at 143k miles right before I bought it. I just wanted to add some new fluid to it just as preventative maintenance. Getting up into the higher miles for me anyways I just wouldn't feel comfortable having it flushed. Plus It's 180 bucks as opposed to 20 to just drain it. I plan on just draining mine every 15k or so until it dies on me.

Robrt32

I know of 2 right now with over 200 , the transmision is fine in both and neither have ever been touched so not not all the way true.... People are gonna do what they think is best but i know i have seen several go bottoms up after a fluid change.. its to many to be just a fluke.. its something to it.. I heard a mech. at a dealer☺☺☺☺ explain it 1 time but i can't remeber what he said.. But he was turning down a fluid flush to my boss telling him it would do more harm than good..

GSGALLANT

I disagree! A flush, if done right, using the tranny pump's own pressure will not hurt your tranny. What hurts your tranny is gunked up tranny pump suction filter screens that prevent fluid from getting to the tranny pump, causing it to cavitate, and starving your tranny components of fluid.

Periodic cleaning of filter screens, combined with flushing out the old fluid will do wonders for how your tranny shifts and for how long it lasts.

If it's been a really long time since the last flush (or it's never been done), drop the pan, clean the filter and pan out really well, refill with new fluid, and flush out the rest of the fluid from the torque converter and cooler lines. Drive the truck for a few weeks or so, the repeat all the above. Any debris that gets "loosened" by the detergents in the new ATF will be caught by the filter screen, which will be cleaned again during the second flush and pan drop.

4runnerx3

pruney81, was the motor running when you checked the fluid level?

Robrt32

All i know for a fact is what ive seen, Ive seen it more than a few times.. I know of several running fine thats never been changed.. Like i said people will do what the feel is right

pruney81

Yeah the motor was running, I followed the procedure in the FSM for the drain and refill. I drove it for a while then checked it once and it was high. I then checked it later on and wiped he dipstick and then checked it again and it was fine. I know it's okay I just got a little freaked out for a minute and was about to drain some. I only used about 4.7 qts. and I spilled a little so it's good. The FSM says a drain and refill is 4.5.

GSGALLANT

Tranny level is very dependent on the fluid temperature. If you checked it immediately after a long drive, then the temp might have been a bit too high. Generally after a long drive or a drive at high RPM or with lots of hills, rule of thumb is shut down the truck and park it for 15 minutes after the drive, then go start it up again, slowly go through all the gears from 'P' down to 'L' and back up to 'P' with your foot on the brake, then go out and check the level.