Interesting, I doubt they would change the tranny after 1 year. Maybe they just changed the dipstick location or made the tranny more of a "sealed" unit as they do not indicate any service for the tranny in the service booklet. Witch would be a very bad idea in my mind. See if you can get hold of a factory service manual.

 

It is the same transmission. Toyota made the '04 transmission without the dipstick and with fluid that lasts forever or something like that.

 

So, this brings us back to the original question. Since there is no dipstick tube for the transmission to breathe through does this mean that the transmission has a breather valve and if so then where is it located and should it possibly be extended?

 

I would bet that like in my FZJ80 all of the vent tubes are connected to the one in the engine bay. You know Yota did not forget to take care of this part.

 

OK guys, got my shop manuals ( ) and looked at it. The 2003 V8 has the front diff breather extended, pics above, the transfer case breather sits at the top of the transfer case, and there is no breather specifically marked for the tranny (so it must use dipstick). Not sure about the 2004 with no dipstick, but it is not in my manual so dont know.

 

b-y,

I just checked the shop manuals for the 2004, and for the A750E/A750F (from August 2003), there is no dipstick tube, only a refill plug in the side of the transmission.

 

Sure don't like the idea of no dipstick. How would you ever know if there was a problem with the fluid if you can't see/smell it and then how would you know the level if you did want to change it? My 03 V6 came with the lifetime fluid but still has the dipstick (it says on the dipstick that it never needs changing). Why would they eliminate the dipstick since it doesn't hurt to have it there and can hurt if it's not (well, probably saves them $5 a vehicle).

 

I suppose you should just look for leaks every once in awhile, since that's the only way the fluid level will go down. Doesn't solve the diagnostic issue though. Toyota must be quite confident in the new design, which actually makes me feel pretty good.

On a similar note, the new final drive (shaft) on the BMW R1200GS motorcycle is a lifetime deal too. Since 2004 is the first year for that mechanism, it will be some time before we see what the results will be. I can tell you that the previous generation, which has remained fairly constant for at least ten years, was the Achilles Heel of the legendary BMW reliability image. Nothing like seeing the guts of your final drive flowing over your back wheel 50 miles from the nearest town. Hasn't happened to me yet, but I know lots of people that did have the final drives fail.

I'm new to Toyota, so I'm not aware that transmissions were much of a concern.

Quite frankly, coming off of a number of Chrysler vehicles, I'm confident that this 4Runner will just keep running and running and running, as long as I don't screw it up.