mkgarrison5

hey guys just curious on what you guys use for auto tranny fluid i have an 02 tacoma 4x4 extra cab v6 auto and i just drain and fill every 15k miles or so with valvoline high mileage (83k miles on the truck)... never really had it brown just a dark red... what do you guys do... i have never flushed this truck nor do i think its ever been flushed

GSGALLANT

I drain it, remove the pan to clean the filter, refill the pan with Toyota ATF, then flush out the rest of the fluid through the cooler lines.

rearviewmirror

I need to change mine.. is there a write-up on the trans line refill method?

mkgarrison5

never removed a cooler line before all i do is just open the plug on the train pan. let it drain for a good hour or so. it usually drops about 5qts or so. its best to let it drain over night. but since i do this every 15k miles or so my tranny fluid from what i can tell is fairly clean.....

anything wrong with valvoline high mileage auto tranny fluid??

mkgarrison5

oh and when you take the pan off do you have to replace a seal?? and how do you clean off the screen?? never done it. i just drain and refill

Elkaholic

Gadget explains what there is and what he uses here.

http://www.gadgetonline.com/TransFlush.htm

ebelen1

I had a shop use the machine to get all the old fluid out and replaced w/ Amsoil synthetic. At the same time, we dropped the pan and cleaned the magnets. Now, I just drain and refill annually. The drain and refill is only a small percentage of the total fluid but since I've done this, the drained fluid is still red as can be.

ARB1977

The first time i did i disconnected the return line going into the tranny, drained the pan the refilled with 4 qrts redline D4, started her up and pumped out a gallon of fluid, shut her off and fill the pan with another 4 qrts. I did this about 4 times. Now every 30K i just drain whats in the pan. Right now ive got a mix of Redline D4 and Amsoil Universal ATF and to make filter changes eaiser i added a permacool remote filter kit between my stock and TRD cooler.

mkgarrison5

anyone use valvoline high mileage auto tranny fluid??

GSGALLANT

Toyota ATF is not that expensive, and it works great, I would stick with that or a high end synthetic if you want to spend more money. We have quite a few un-official writeups on doing a full flush yourself. See this thread to get you started.

metalhed

I use the regular Valvoline, no problems.
I just drain the pan and refill, once a year

mkgarrison5

can you explain your method in better detail.. interesting

GSGALLANT

It's the same method as in the link I posted in post #10... essentially. Although I don't recommend pumping it out a gallon at a time, though, because the pan only holds a little over a gallon, and you want to make sure you always have fluid at your pump's suction (which is the opening at the bottom of the filter). After I've drained, removed, cleaned, re-installed and re-filled the pan, I flush it approx 1 quart at a time to get the remaining fluid replaced. I also remove and clean the filter screen while the pan is off.

mkgarrison5

gotcha thanks man!!......... if i were to ever "flush" thats how i would do it.. personally i just drain and refill.. it all gets mixed together with old and new fluid. though i would think getting atleast a few quarts out of the coolant line maybe a good thing to do. maybe ill do it your way but not for the whole 14qts or so. i think half would be suffice...

GSGALLANT

If you are considering going through the trouble of doing half... why not finish the job while everything is set up? It's only another 5 quarts, then you know that all your fluid is clean.

mkgarrison5

yeah true just dont like that fact that i would have to crank the truck a dozen or more times