How hard is it to change the tranny filter on the 2nd gen 4runner? My mechanic said it *might* take a couple hours and at $91/hour that could be a lot of money. I don't think he's done this on a 4runner so I think he's going by what the book says.

Is it really a 2-3 hour job?

Is it really necessary to change the filter? I don't know if it's ever been changed and it's got 160K miles

thanks,
Steve

 

Take your Runner to a transmission shop! They don't guess since all they do is trannys. Why not find a shop that does the total flush. My Runner has a screen that is supposed to be the filter (unsure of the 2nd gen) and cleaning the filter/screen is part of the service. Labor was $150.00...I supplied the 20 quarts of Amsoil ATF. Dropping the pan and changing the filter only get out a few quarts...just a waste of money. Good luck.

 

OMG it was incredibly hard to find a shop that has a tranny flushing machine. Out of the 15 or so shops I called the one that had a machine was a mom and pop general service shop. Ironically, none of the tranny shops around here had a machine. Now the dilema is that they won't install a tranny cooler, but my first shop will.

Oh well, I'll try to figure this one out.

thanks,
Steve

BTW, these guys quoted my $136 to flush and clean the screen if I supply my own fluid.

 

Yeah, a lot of 'quickie' oil change joints don't have the flush machine. Al (Hboss) did a write up here on the Tech section for tranny cooler install. Looks pretty simple and straight forward. Good luck.

butnut