I have been reading about how much oil and tranny fluid to put in when you change them (drain and fill). I have an 02 3.4 Auto 4Runner and just bought it. Just a couple questions have arose:
1) I added the 5.2 qt required to fill oil but it was at "ADD" so I added 5.5 qt and ran it, shut it off, then checked it again. Still not full...middle between full and add. I added the rest of the half qt and it was right on the money at full. I drove it a few miles and still right on "FULL". WTF? Is the owners manual wrong? I don't want to add too much. I was reading that most people add 5.5 qt. Do I need to drain .5 qt? I used the stock Toyota filter (my Camry uses the same one).

2) I also did a drain and fill on the transmission 3.4 L Auto. I filled it with 3.5 qt, nope still low, filled it with 4, it was on "COLD ADD". I drove it about 10 miles and idled it about 15 min and it was at "COLD FULL". How could this be? So, I added another .5 qt and it was right between "COLD FULL" and "HOT ADD" while idling this whole time. So I left it and drove it a while. Couple days later, I checked it after driving about 20 miles idling and hot and after shifting through all the gears. Still half way between "COLD FULL" and "HOT ADD". So, I added about another .5 qt and it put it about "HOT ADD". So, I drove it a little to mix the fluid came back and still at the same spot. Then I added another .5 qt and it put it at "HOT FULL". I stopped right there. Total fluid added: 5.5 qt to tranny! To me, that is way too much, but the dipstick says it is ok. Did I add too much? I think that it was about 1 qt low to start with before the drain / fill.

Now, before posting your ideas consider the following:
Truck was level.
I pushed the dipstick in all the way.
Car was in park for checking tranny fluid

Suggestions?

 

Can't help you with the tranny question. You are probably OK, but overfilling can be a problem.

For the oil, I find that I need a full 6 quarts to get to the full mark on the dipstick, with a filter change. Technically anything between the low and full mark is OK. I'm thinking that the manual has the 5.5 quarts set to land about in the middle of the two. Either way, a little overfilling of the oil isn't a problem. If you added 7 quarts or something, that might cause some frothing. Don't worry about it and sleep well. Good to know I'm not the only OCD person when it comes to dipsticks.

MadCityRich

 

1. 5.5qts is what my manual calls for (5.2L). You will drop in level on the dipstick once you run it the first time to fill the filter. Thats why after you filled it to full it has not moved since. If you are on full, then I dont see what the problem is.
2. The cold fill is only a guide when filling. Once hot, did you cycle through the gears with the engine running..P-R-N-D-2-L and back to P and then check with the engine running?
You may want to hang out here: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f120/
How much did you drain out approximately and what was the level at prior to draining. Manual calls for approx. 2.1qts..5.5 seems high.
Did you just drain from the pan?

 

Thanks for the link. I have been reading there too.
I thought I read a lot about it but maybe I got impatient. But to answer your question, I did cycle through all the gears (even though I don't know if it does anything because it is still in 1st the whole time from D-->3-->2-->1 and back again). Yes, the engine was hot and running. I just followed the dipstick but was amazed at how much more fluid it took than the owner's manual said. I did the diffs and txfer case too and those were right on the money with what the manual says. The tranny sure shifts smooth though once I got it to "FULL HOT" on the dipstick with the engine running, warm and after shifting through all the gears and letting it sit in them for at least 5 sec each.
I did drain over 4 qt out with it being a little low on fluid (I funneled the old back into the bottle that the new fluid was in).

This might sound like a dumb question and I think I already know the answer to it:
Does it starting with a little low on fluid before the drain have anything to do with me adding more fluid than the owners manual says?

 

Seems odd. You must have been quite low on fluid. Just keep an eye on it, but as long as when you check it, you are at the proper range then all should be fine. But I do understand the concern on the tranny. It doesnt help that the dipstick is the biggest damn pain.

 

Thanks for the advice.
I couldn't see any leaks anywhere, even in the lines.
I did forget to mention one more thing: The truck was up on ramps in the front when I drained it, but not when I filled it. Could some of the fluid from the torque converter have drained into the tranny pan and gone out?
I did let it drain as long as I could (basically when there was one drop every 2 sec).

 

Can't remember how much tranny oil, but for the engine oil I have to put nearly 6 quarts in my 3.4 to get it to the proper level.

 

Just did a drain and fill on my tranny for the second time and it took 5.5 quarts. The FSM and All-data are wrong. I searched and found that many people have discovered this. The references call for 2.1 quarts, but my tranny has a deep pan as opposed to the shallow pans I've seen on most vehicles. The first time I did it I noticed the pan size. 5.5 quarts hit just right on the dipstick.

 

No point in checking the oil right after the truck has been running...

 

The Haynes manual recommends to check the tranny oil on level ground (duh) and after the tranny has warmed up a bit and shifting between all gears. I do remember that it took more than the manual and Haynes speced out for a drain and fill.

 

Thanks, sounds just about right then. I just didn't want to overfill it.

 

HUH???? I thought we were talking about the Tranny Fluid. The 5w30 oil level seemed to be less of a guess.

 

I use a 4.0L v6 filter on my 3.4 and it takes exactly 6 quarts to be full. I also just did a drain and refill on my tranny and 6 quarts came out and I put six back in. It's easy to measure how much comes out, just use two quart jars and count the number of times they fill up.

 

3.4L engine holds 5.7L of oil.

IIRC the trans holds around 4.5L as well. The trans fluid almost never gets 'hot' during normal driving, at least around here. You can check it yourself by touching the fluid. HOT = between 120-180F.