pruney81

This may be a dumb question to some but i'll ask anyways. I have a 95 3.0Auto 4Runner and I want to just drain and fill the tranny. Now, the FSM says I need to drain the transmission and the transfer case and that is 4.5 qts. I was under the impression I could just drain the tranny and that would let out about 4.5 qts. So, my question is, can I just drain the tranny and get out 4.5 qts. or do I need to drain the transfer case while I'm at it? It's got 162k miles on it and it was flushed at 143k miles just before I got it but with getting up into the higher mileage and all I just don't want to take a chance at flushing and then having it die on me. The fluid is still red and as far as I can tell it does not smell burnt. I just want to put some fresh fluid in there cuz I think it would like it.

cadman

On V6 autos you need to drain the tranny AND the transfercase. The tranny and transfercase do not share the same ATF.

snap-on

That is 100% incorrect.

The A340H has an interigal cast Transfercase. There are NO seals between the auto trans and the xcase. As such they share the same fluid. BUT because of the drain points and "high" connecting point, there is fluid in the xcase that would never get changed if you just pull the tranny plug. As such the xcase has its own drain AND fill plug.

Both use the same Automatic transmission fluid.

NOTE the above info is for A340H trans equiped early 90's trucks.

4runnerx3

A340H Dry Fill 10.9 qts.
Drain and refill 4.8 qts.

Transfer dry fill 1.2 qts.
drain and refill 1.0

pruney81

So, if I drain both at the same time I can expect to put in about 5.8 quarts total. Does the transfer case fiil through the dipstick as well?

GSGALLANT

The A340H is a strange beast. The transfer chain case drains and fills separately from the tranny and the rest of the transfer case, with a fill and drain plug on the rear of the case.

There is a small pan on the bottom of the front end of the transfer case that shares fluid with the tranny. The small pan has a drain plug on the bottom. The transmission pan (the larger of the two) also has a drain plug on the bottom. If you drain the small pan and the large pan (by taking off the two small drain plugs), you will drain somewhere around 5-6 qts (I forget, but just get 6 to be sure), you can refill both of these through the dipstick tube. Opening those two drains will not drain the chain case. You have to drain that with the third drain plug on the rear end of the case. The chain case gets refilled separately with ATF to the top of the fill hole (also on the rear of the case).

pruney81

Gotcha, thanks GSGALLANT

pruney81

Should I just drain the tranny and t-case at the same time, or do the tranny first then put the plug back in. Then drain the t-case or does it really matter. Sorry for the noob- esque questions I just don't want to mess up my tranny. It's better to err on the side of caution a wise man once told me.

thook

Pardon, must interject with a question related to the topic here...

If the tranny and t-case fill at the dipstick, then what is the plug with the large allen head on the t-case for? (There is one on my '92)

GSGALLANT

thook, It's explained in my post #6 above.

pruney86, You can drain both at the same time. When re-filling mine, just to make sure that the small pan was going to get filled also, I put the drain plug back in for the large pan, but I left the plug out for the small pan. I was laying under the truck, and my friend started pouring the ATF into the dipstick tube. If I remember correctly, after just over a quart was poured in, fluid started coming out of the drain hole of the small pan, and I put the drain plug back in and finished toping it off.

thook

Oh yeah, right....pfft.

T4R 4ME

I'm trying to understand this and this is the best post I've seen about this yet (haven't read them all). I'm still a bit confused and there is a lot of conflicting information.

I've got a '95 4R 3VZ-E and A340H 4wd. I've just drained the atf from the tranny pan and replaced it through the dipstick tube. The next thing I am going to do is flush the remainder of the fluid from the cooling lines and replace it through the dipstick tube as well.

I had planned to drain the transfer case next, but, according to the post above, it sounds like the new fluid that I've added for the tranny through the dipstick tube may have already gotten mixed with the old fluid in the transfer case.

So, am I better off draining the transfer case next before I proceed any further and then just adding that same amount of fluid through the dipstick tube as well? And then flush the remainder of the fluid from the tranny through the cooling return line?

Once this is done, the chain case can be done separately as it does not share fluid with the rest of the system. Once all this has been done, all the tranny fluid anywhere in the vehicle (except for maybe a little that can not be removed by a home flush) will have been replaced. Am I understanding all this correctly or is there something I'm missing somewhere?

Thanks!!!