fireteacher

check it out, pulled the owners manual on my 99 runner 105k and it says 2.2 if i remeber correct quarts of tranny fluid will come out of the pan when i drain it, this is without dumping the pan (should I?). called the dealer here to verify and they also agreed. THEY told me that i didnt need to check the filter as its wire mesh. true or not?????

also what type of fluid to add?

i have heard that i should not have a flush due to the high miles (again dealer) due to the fact that the "dirty" fluid may be holding some seals together and to introduce 18 new quarts of oil might weaken these thus leading to a leak. I plan on changing the fluid every 500-1000 miles until i get all the old fluid out introducing the fluid slowly calms my nerves about leaky gaskets.

cancow

I am in the same boat. I just did my first pan drain and refill. I poured the contence of the ban into a 1 gallon jug, so just over quarts of fluid were in there. In 500 miles i will do another change and then maybe one more. You can take the filter screen assembly out but it probably wont matter, mine was pretty clean. No strange matter in the pan either, just a little materal on the magnets. IMO it is the "Flushing" that causes most problems not so much the new fluid. Good Luck

cancow

BTW I am adding Maxlife from valvoline for now. Later i plan I going with a sythetic if all is OK. In 30K miles or so...

fireteacher

how many mile are you at?

GSGALLANT

Not changing your ATF because you might get a leak is just shortening the life of your tranny. You wouldn't do that with your engine oil, would you?

A flush using the ATF's pump to pump out the fluid through the disconnected cooling lines going to the radiator is no different than the normal fluid flow path, so logically, one would not expect this to cause any damage to your transmission. With this method, you can achieve almost 100% fluid exchange.

I do agree that using a power flushing machine that has a separate higher flow/pressure pump may lead to dislodging crud from the transmission and plugging small passageways.

I'm a firm believer in having clean fluids in all components of your vehicle. It will pay off in the long run.

eric-the-red

FYI fireteacher my manual said 2.2 quarts as well for a drain and refill, but I ended up putting about 4 back in, so make sure you buy enough fluid.

ebelen1

MTL_4runner

I usually put 3.5-4 in with a pan drain and fill also.

The issue when doing a flush is with burnt fluid in there, not with high miles.
If your fluid is in good condition, you should have no issues flushing through the tranny cooling lines.
If it makes you feel better to change it slowly via the pan, that is fine too.

fireteacher

did you drop the pan also?

fireteacher

screwed that post up!....

eric-the-red: did you remove the pan or just drain from the plug?

gsgallant...never said i wasnt doing it there buddy. just askin people how and why partner!!!

eric-the-red

I just removed the plug and let the fluid drain out. When the weather gets better I'll probably drop the pan and have a look. I just bought this vehicle 6 months ago with 110,000 km on it so I don't know when and if the tranny fluid had been replaced.

GSGALLANT

That reply wasn't really directed against you. I just wanted to stress the fact again to anybody that reads this thread. There are many people here that would suggest that others don't change their ATF at all, if the transmission hasn't gotten regular preventative maintenance. There are ways to do it without causing damage is all I was getting at.