madmaniac

just bought my truck used from a dealer. 1990 v6 4runner w/ Auto tranny. 112k miles.

i never knew how to really check the fluid(always had manuals). i had my father check it out today and it is really overfilled. theres little knotches where it says cool and hot. its like a full inch up the dipstick over hot. and thats with the tranny after about a 10 minute conservative drive around town. the tranny fluid is BLACK. my father actually thinks it could be motor oil. is that possible? can that kill my tranny? what do you guys recommend?


the transmission SEEMS to run pretty smooth. shifts when it should and i dont feel it slipping. however it does smell cooked.

i was thinking about doing a drain and refill(no flush) but not sure if you can mix motor oil and dextron(if it is motor oil, probably not but it was just a thought) i do know someone who used to change his motor oil by pouring it in the little hole for the dipstick so i guess anything is possible. should i just bring it to a tranny shop? any big name transmission shops any good?

thanks guys.

TechWrench

It really doesn't matter what may have been put in before, you can't change that. But I would recommend that you at the very least do a drain and refill as soon as possible and repeat several times until the fluid looks the normal red color. A total flush would be even better. I would think the longer the bad fluid stays in the trans, the better the chance of something else failing. If you do a search for transmission flushing, you will find a wealth of info. The cost for a complete flush can vary from $70 to $150 or so depending of the shop and method. But if it prevents a trans faliure, it is money well spent. Irreversable damage may have already been done, but waiting any longer is to get the bad fluid out not a good idea.

PS: Any chance you have some type of warranty from the dealer? Try to get him to cover the cost of the flush. It can't hurt to ask!!!

SoCal4Running

The black color is the worn off friction material from the clutches and the bands. Get that fluid out ASAP Change the fluid at least 2 times and dont overfill. Overfilling will rupture seals and gaskets, check the fluid level when the trans is hot not when cold or warm.

grafix43

im not so sure you should get the drain and fill. when doing some research on this topic a while ago i came across gadgets website which had info on this subject. I remember him saying that if the tranny ffluid is black, has metal specs in it, and smells burnt then you do not want to change the fluid. The reason is because the transmission has not yet realized the fluid is toast and will still keep running the way it is. a drain n fill will just instantly kill your tranny once u put the new stuff in. keeping the old stuff your tranny might last a week, weeks, or a yr who knows who long it will take until your tranny recognizes the fluid is ˟˟˟˟. please look into gadgets website for a complete write up and better explaination, but i just gave a real brief pt of what he said. good luck - steve

toy283

I find that hard to believe. AT the very least, drain some of it out to get the level down to where it is supposed to be. If there is a fear that the above is could be true (and I doubt it), do a series of partial drain & fills (1 or 2 quarts at a time) with 25-50 miles of driving in between each. If there is a significant amount of motor oil in your tranny (more than a quart or so), it is toast or soon will be. Nothing will prevent that from happening.

madmaniac

ok im going to do a drain a refill tomorrow.

madmaniac

http://www.jiffylube.com/AutoService....aspx?WSCID=29

i know everyone hates jiffy lube but look at service #2. should i get that done? its 89.99 for the drain and refill :wtf: and like $150 with the filter and gasket change.

should i do #2?

SLC Punk

I heard the same thing from many ASE certified mechanics that I worked with. Never experienced it first hand though.

madmaniac

ok i brought the truck to jiffy lube and lee myles. neither one of them would drain my fluid. they said if i drained it i wouldnt be able to drive the truck home. i dont know what to do now. lee myles said they could rebuild it for $1800 and give me a 2 year warranty.

MTL_4runner

Does the fluid smell burnt?

I would at the very least do a quick drain and fill yourself. That only replaces about 1/4 of the total fluid and will allow you to get it to the proper level. Overfilling the tranny is definately not a good thing much better to underfill.

ruizs

Ouch, that's bad news. Any recourse against the dealer?

I would at least drain/siphon out some of the fluid to get it to the right level, and then start saving for a new transmission... Instead of getting it rebuilt, I would look for a engine swap - seems like lots of people are swapping out their 3.0's I'm sure you could find something for less than a tranny job...