Yeah, I probably could've used a little less but I was crazy picky about how clean it was and actually made a total of 3 trips buying more ATF until I was happy. If I saw anything other that crystal clear red I kept pumping it through. Shifting through all gears several times helped squeeze out the pockets of shake that were hiding too.

 

Ya, forgot to mention the part about shifting thru the gears too....
The thing I was worried about was the dirt in the water.... not the actual water itself. I have swamped this auto tranny at least 3 times that I can remember, and a good flush did the trick. Now I have hoses on the breathers on the diffs and tranny running up to the engine bay....shoulda done that to b
egin with.

 

I'm trying to do a "prevent" on mine right now and using two tranny coolers from early '90 Ford Explorer's. Decided on using them vice aftermarket as they are alot more heavy duty and the construction is really solid.

couple of quesitons, you said you removed the hoses? So I am understanding correctly, you just put the output hose into a large bucket and the intake hose for the tranny into the container for the new fluid? I take it then the tranny will pull the new fluid in on its own? Never done a tranny flush, always had it done but mine needs a good flush and if I'm gonna add these coolers (which will need to be flushed too) I was thinking this may be the best way to do both instead of trying to get the new (old) coolers solvent flushed first then flush the tranny. Might save me some time and effort/expense?

I won't be recovering from the Strawberry Milkshake so how much tranny fluid should I look at using to flush the system and new coolers myself? I understand about shifting through the gears so I just want to be sure I get the coolers flushed really well too. Ford ATF doesn't play well with Toyota transmissions Any other suggestions?

 

I can't see there being enough suction to pull the new ATF in... maybe if you had the bucket up higher than the tranny and gravity was helping. Pretty sure you'll have to pour it in the dip stick tube.

 

absolutely right.... I would do about a quart or so at a time, then shut the truck off and fill...then repeat, over and over again...lol

 

man I am paranoid about mine lasting, but your results look ok. I guess it is a total crapshoot. I had mine flushed a metric boatload. works great now. hope it stays that way. i bet a lot depends on if you kept up with normal ATF service intervals prior to the milkshake

 

This is exactly the reason I come here to ask these kind of questions as the post before by Zeik made it sound like that was how you would do it.

So to do this correctly you don't do what he said? Just trying to figure out the best and quickest way to do this.

 

Ok, I need some help. I just bought a 97 4runner, with 137k miles.. 3.4, 4spd auto.. it runs great. I checked for a cooler, and it looks like the two lines just run from the Tranny to the Radiator.. not a separate auxiliary cooler. Is the Milky effect coming from this combo? I can take care of it if so, I was originally under the impression this was on the Tow Package models only.

oh, btw.. I don't have the Strawberry effect, just trying to prevent it. Thanks for the Post for us N00BS

 

Just follow this DIY write-up: http://home.centurytel.net/stevenjac...sh/tranny.html

 

Yes, that is exactly the setup that has the problem (like mine). The milkshake seems to be very common right around 140k miles, so you should probably get this fixed asap. The longer you wait, the more at risk you're going to be.

 

10-4 thanks. Will get it changed as soon as I can decide on the replacements. Probably next week sometime.

 

Ritzy, I'd follow the writeup that mt_goat posted since you haven't milkshaked yet. Mine shaked so I didn't want to hook up a new rad for the flush. It's been over two years since I did mine so it's a little fuzzy (drank and partied a lot since then) but I do recall having my input in a fresh jug but I think I did help it along by filling from the dipstick too.






BigBallsMcFalls, I think my luck had to do with it being so low in mileage and the prior owner being very good with maintenance. Especially when you consider the fact that I had to keep driving it shaked until the rad came and I had the weekend to work on it. I just kept jugs of ATF and would fill it before going to work and again to drive home (~20 miles each way for 3 days). Afterward I realized I should have done a bypass on the cooler but maybe filling it fresh 2x a day actually helped....