pruney81

I have a 95 3.0 4 wheel drive auto 4Runner. How often should I drain and refill the transmission, i.e. mileage, also how much fluid ahould I refill it with? I know it's around 4 quarts but I'm not sure and I don't want to overfill it. Thanks in advance. Paul Also, will the dexron III mix with dexron II?

bob200587

If you haven't done it in the life of the 4runner. You should go to a shop and have it professionally flushed. Drain and refill just won't do it every time.

I also had good results with Sea Foam Trans Tune. Just pour it in and drive a good bit. Then flush the tranny.

chadbobb

Also i don't think 4 quarts is even close to the amount in there. That is just the amount that you are going to get out.

read this for more info.

For some reason the number 16 quarts of fluid sticks out in my head.... Although that sounds like its too high.

edit
this says 15 quarts. I installed a tranny cooler so i use more than that. That guy could be wrong, but that is actually close to the number i thought i had heared on here before. So that could be right, about 15-16 quarts

pruney81

I know it takes like 15 quarts, but when I drain and refill it it should only be about 4.5 quarts or so right? It's my understanding you can't drain all the fluid...

mt_goat

Yeah that's about right for just draining the main pan, there is also a small transfer case pan too. That method of changing the ATF only works if you do it often though. You could always do about 4 or 5 drain/refill cycles with a few days driving in between each one and get a good percentage of the old changed out.

chadbobb

Take it somewhere and have that done right. It will cost a little more but changing the fluid all at once instead of continuing to delude it with clean fluid is going to save you time and it it is probably a lot better for the tranny....

Targetnut

and DexronIII really does not replace DexronII.

Most people will tell you it does,.......
but if you look closely at the fluid recommendation charts from oil companies you see a little note that says not to interchange these fluids when the vehicle is still under warranty.

What does that tell you?

Also when I worked at the Toyota dealer we would get customers telling us that their Transmission temperature warning light would come on under certain conditions. This would only happen to trucks that had DexronIII in them and would go away when we switched them back to DexronII

pruney81

Well it was flushed completely 13,000 miles ago, which was a few months before I got it so should I just go ahead and get it flushed again in 2,000 miles? The oil looks good and smells fine right now though.

mt_goat

You should be able to go 30,000 miles between flushings unless you overheat it and cook the ATF. If the ATF overtemp light ever comes on flush it right away.

pruney81

Wow, 30,000 between flushings, thanks that's good to know. I drove it from Texas to Massachusetts last summer and it ran fine, no overheating. I have receipts for the trans being rebuilt a couple of years ago anyways.

thook

There's no mention of synth tranny fluid here. That would make a difference, would it not? That is, considering drain intervals.

CJM

Generally 30k is the interval period to do it, if you drive under severe conditions like towing or alot of offroad use, or something that puts alot of strain like plowing I would do 15k.

Not for nothing, but I have 188k on the original trans on my t100 (sorry, but the t100 area is dead and I have some good advice gang ) and its running strong. Previous owner did a full flush every 15, no matter what. It still smells and looks fine after 15k now, I plan on doing it @ 200k.

thook

So, the full flush...it's something that can only be done at a shop professionally?

BTW, on my '92 I run full synth Amsoil with a cooler and Frantz remote filter. About half the time I haul weight in the back and/or a trailer. Do you think the interval suggested here still applies? The only conclusive way I can think of to know for sure the little test they do at BITOG site. I just hate to spend the money for it if I had a good general idea from someone who's in the know.

CJM

Syn fluids should last longer than usual, it depends on the stuff you haul but if its enough to make the engine/trans work hard I would flush. You can do a full flush yourself, but it isnt exactly the easiest thing-not so much the labor-the time spent.

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

I honestly prefer preventitive maintinence, but if your fluid is clean and doesnt smell burnt I would let it go.

If you dont already have one, a trans cooler is one of the reasons my truck still has the original trans-it keeps it much cooler than a stock trans does and is a very good thing to have b/c when you haul/tow stuff that trans will heat up good and plenty.

For the record, a simple drain and remvoal of the pan will not remove enough old fluids to help out. If you have 15qts you only get out about 1/4 of that. A flush with a machine or the link I describe fully flushes as much as possible. I have personally used what they refer to as a "trans tech" machine, basically a flusher, what you do with it is the same as the operation described inthe link.

gohawks

Can you even get Dexron II????

AH64ID

Have it flushed with AmsOil ATF. Its good for 50K to 100K, depending on driving. If you do any towing or slow wheeling put a trans temp gauge in, it could save your tranny.....

mt_goat

Yeah, I've been using Mobil 1 ATF in every auto tranny I own. The syn ATF should be good for longer, especially with an extra tranny cooler.

My BMW "claims" to have lifetime ATF that never needs changing, and BMW does have a better than average stock ATF cooler. Of course BMW's idea of a lifetime may only be 100,000 miles too. I pulled the pan on it at about 80,000 miles and cleaned the magnets and changed the filter and to my suprize the ATF that drained out was crystal clear and like new. (BMW has no dip stick to check the ATF).

A flush with syn ATF will cost about $80-$100 just for the fluid.

I have done a home flush with my Taurus auto tranny. I made a 5 gal pressure bucket out of a 5 gal bucket with a screw on lid. Drilled a hole it the top for a air valve and drilled a hole in the bottom for a hose barb. The bucket was good for about 15 psi (without getting a scary bulge in it) and with a MV-50 I could keep the air pressure up enough to push the ATF into the tranny through the return line (it helps if the bucket is higher than the tranny too). Another bucket was used to catch the old ATF. I had my wife start the Taurus up every now and then while I watched the level of the catch bucket. When the catch bucket got a quart or 2 ahead of my fill bucket, I'd tell her to shut off the engine. It would take my fill system longer to push in the new ATF than the vehicle could pump out the old so it took a while (she was bitching:cry

pruney81

I went to Wal mart the other day and all they had was Dexron III

CJM

An auto parts store like napa or pepboys will have it.

gohawks

Will have Dexron II??? I have yet to see any Dexron II still being sold. I do have an old can of it in my basement. I mean the OLD can, cardboard.