Should I change TRANNY FLUID?
 

OK had my rig in the shop for an oil change and asked the shop to check my trans Fluid as well. They told me that at my next oil change that I might want to change the trans fluid. I don't no if it has ever been done before as I bought the rig used. It seems to be shifting well and no problems. O and it is an AUTO 3.0 95 4runner 4x4.

The shop told me that it looks a little burnt. What do you all think. I'm asking because I have read that if you change the fluids in the tranny, you might be looking for a problem. If I do do this, is there anything else I dhould do while this is being done. Thanks for the help...........

when in doubt, change. whoever said that you might be looking for a problem by changing tranny fluids was misinformed. its like this... you have a 95 4 runner right? if it has never been changed, that fluid is 11-12 years old. thats like taking a bath using the same bath water for like 12 years. is the bath water going to work? no. the older fluids get, the less reliable they get. i change my tranny fluid after every 3 oil changes. m not sure if thats the way to do it, but im being safe anyway, plus my mechanic does it for 10 bucks, so yeah i guess its all good.

How many miles on your truck?

You'll get as many answers to this question as there are members (well, almost). My $0.02 worth: if you don't think it looks burnt, and if it doesn't have that burnt smell, don't do it. I never had ANY transmission problems until they did a "flush" on it. The next trip I took the Trans Temp light came on, and some of the fluid blew out (this was on I-95) and coated the back of the Runner. Thus began a trend -- the Trans Temp light would come on at least once on every highway trip I took with it. Since then I've been told that different shops use different flush methods, so maybe the shop I was using didn't do it right. For me, it was just one in a series of things not done correctly by shops not familiar enough with the vehicle.

From what I have learned on this board is that a simple drain and fill should be fine. If you do a complete system flush, you *might* be asking for trouble. It all depends on the condition of your tranny because if it is already bad, then doing a flush will hasten its demise.

EDIT: And like 4Mydogs says, there is always a chance that the shop may not do the flush correctly and that always == bad.

really? ouch. yeah the key is finding a reputable shop. when i finally started changing mine, it was at 215,000 miles. it had never been changed before then. was i wrong in having the fluid flushed and changed?

Depends on your shop, and your luck. ;)

I have 145K on my rig. As I said, I do not no if it has ever been changed. My shop tell me that it has a drain plug so I guess it is an easy change right. Im not looking to flush and all that other stuff, Just new Fluid.

O, one mor ?. What type of Fluid do you all use, as I supply the shop with the goods as I pay very little for it.

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

i dunno my mechanic has the stuff.... 80-90 i believe. i havent gotten my tranny properly flushed.. meaning my mechanic just does a simple drain and fill.. should i flush it? if so what is the proper way?

He has an auto tranny, they take ATF not gear oil lol. :hillbill:

too bad, put some gear oil in.. toughen it up. lol. (please dont actually)

so in the case of manual trannys, do you have to bother with flushes, or is just drain and fill fine? and mine is noisy in 5th gear could that be a sign it needs to be flushed?

Good post.

I never heard of anyone flushing a manual tranny... unless maybe it gets flooded with muddy water or something.

on manual's and even on auto's if they are near 100K I would just ain and fill. Not a flush. I mean it might go great, it might send you into a spiral toward the pooper, a simple drain and fill gets you new fluid mostly, and doesnt have the associated problems as a flush.

Actually, if you don't change the fluids you're asking for trouble. People don't change it enough, nor have the system "properly flushed" enough. (Edit: the average person....like soccer moms). If the ATF is darker, thinner, and smells burnt in the least bit, then it's definitely time to change it...drain and refill, if you're concerned about what's mentioned above. So you know for yourself, take a new bottle of ATF and compare the color and odor to your old fluid. If it needs new, use synthetic ATF. It holds up to heat and pressure much better. Installing an inexpensive A/T cooler is a very good thing.

There's no need for a flush in the manual, typically. The auto's retain old fluid in the torque converter which doesn't all come out in a simple drain. So, you don't have that problem in the manuals. Just drain it nice and hot so you get as much of the old gear oil out as possible. However, if you have larger than normal particles in the first bit of drain, then you might require more than a flush if you're thinking of actually doing one. What's collected on the magnetic drain plug is a good indication. One noisy gear may be sign and it may not. Usually, if you actually have a problem, shifting/syncro difficulty are the first signs. Then again, the gear oil you are using could be a factor.

As stated above, if I have it just drained and new put in, it seems that I will be only putting in about 4-5 qts, is this correct. and is this going to do for just a change. Seems to me that I will still have about 10 old qts in the tranny. How and will 5 qts work?

4-5qts because of the torque converter retaining the other portion of the total capacity. You see the dilemma?

If you are inclined to flush, read what gadget said in the link above (and he is an advocate for flushing):

When not to flush:

Before draining or flushing you should pull the dip stick and look at the fluid. If it is dark, burnt smelling, and you see little flakes or speck in it, DO NOT FLUSH IT. The fluid and transmission is TOAST, but the transmission just has not figured out it should die yet. In these cases for reasons no one has figured out yet, if you flush a transmission in this condition it will fail right away. Real strange, but that is what seems to happen. If your trans is in this condition just drive it while you save for a replacement transmission. There is no way of telling when it will fail. It might be today, next week, or next year, but it is doomed.

The goal here is to flush the trans BEFORE the fluid gets rancid.