2001 Toyota Camry ATF

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V6 1MZ-FE 200k Miles

I want to do a drain and fill on the tranny.
I will also be replacing the strainer/filter.
Which ATF is a good choice for the transmission?
also how many quarts does it take?
 
Drain and refill of pan should take 4 to 5 quarts.
Might want to get 6 quarts if you drain the differential also....
The ATF type you need will be printed on the transmission dip stick.
My 2003 Sienna, with the 1MZFE motor calls for Dexron III rated fluid.
I just changed mine yesterday.......used Redline D4 ATF.

The drain plug on the transmission requires a 10mm hex....might require some convincing to move it.

You might also have a drain plug in the differential.....also takes a 10mm hex.
The differential on my sienna is filled when you fill the transmission through the dipstick tube.
I verified this by putting the pan back on......and filling......until I saw fresh fluid coming out the differential drain......then I stopped and put the differential drain plug back in.

Here is a picture that shows both the differential drain plug and the tranny drain plug......the differential drain plug faces the rear of the vehicle........arrows point to the 2 drain plugs.


I bought the Beck/Arnley transmission filter kit through Rockauto......the filter "media" is just a nylon screen.....the kit came with a rubber gasket....vs the OEM cork gasket.


The transmission pan is held on by 17 x 10mm bolts.
When you put the pan back on, the torque specification is 69 in-lb NOTE INCH pounds......not ft-pounds.

Drain plug torque specification is 36 ft-lb

There are 3 x 10mm bolts that hold the filter in place.
There was a wire that I had to slide out of a clip on the top of the OEM filter.....it will be obvious.
The replacement filter did not have a clip at that location.....not important.
The torque specification on the 3 bolts that hold the filter to the valve body is 8 ft-lb
This is the new filter installed with arrows that point to the 3 bolts that hold it in place.
You can see the nylon screen filter media through the window in the filter case......OEM filter was the same.
Bottom of picture is toward the front of car.


Inside of pan as it came off of vehicle.....note fuzzy magnets in pan.


Pan wiped down, new gasket laid on....ready to install


New Redline D4 fluid next to the old fluid (I think it was Valvoline)....which has just over 30K miles on it.......needed changed.


Some have used Amsoil ATF, others have used Mobil 1 ATF.
Double check what is called for in your vehicle.....it is mostl likely Dexron III specification....but they changed at some point over to Toyota T-IV.....not sure what year they made the change for the Camry.
Read the transmission fluid bottle and verify that it meets the specification that is called for in your owner's manual or on the dipstick, if you don't have the owner's manual available.
I went by feel for tightening all the bolts...but listed the torque specifications in case you want to use a torque wrench.

I also installed a auxillary transmission fluid cooler and a magnefine filter in the fluid cooler line.
The magnefine filter provides 30 micron filtration, has a bypass in case the filter media becomes clogged, and also has a magnet.
 
2001 3.0L Toyota Camry still uses the A541E transmission, which is what my 2003 Sienna has.
2002 3.0L Camry uses U140E
2003 & 2004 3.0L Camry uses U151E (5 speed)

That is from the lookup on the bulkpart website.
 
I just did a complete tranny flush on our 06 Corolla using the Amsoil ATF, very happy with it. I will do the same to my Tacoma this summer. Also flushed the PS system with Amsoil ATF.
 
I am partial to a full synthetic, but that is just my opinion.
Not sure if the Dexron VI is the correct viscosity for this Toyota application......one would need to research that.
I am certainly not qualified to say either way.
 
Thanks for all the nice pictures and directions. You're going to like that D4 fluid. I have it in both of my Honda Elements and it works great.
 
I have found the Castrol multi import vehicle fluid to work very nicely in the transmissions that require type-iv fluid.
 
Originally Posted By: dgee
V6 1MZ-FE 200k Miles

I want to do a drain and fill on the tranny.
I will also be replacing the strainer/filter.
Which ATF is a good choice for the transmission?
also how many quarts does it take?



Registered: 11/03/04
Posts: 587
Loc: Wisconsin Drain and refill of pan should take 4 to 5 quarts.
Might want to get 6 quarts if you drain the differential also....
The ATF type you need will be printed on the transmission dip stick.
My 2003 Sienna, with the 1MZFE motor calls for Dexron III rated fluid.
I just changed mine yesterday.......used Redline D4 ATF.

Our friends have a first generation Sienna(98-03) and theirs does take 4qts on a drain/refill of ATF but, my sister has a 98 Camry V6 in which my nephew now drives. I've been taking care of this car since they have owned it in 01. I have never been able to drain out more than 2.5 qts of ATF and we install anything Dexron in it. But, my point here is that the 97-01 Camry are the same I beleive and 2.5 qts is about all your going to put back into the tranny, maybe 3qts since a pan drop along with a screen change is being done.
 
When I looked the Camry up on the transmission lookup on the bulkpart website, they listed different transmissions for different years and for different engines of the same year.
For 2001, with the 3L motor (1MZFE) they listed the A541E transmission.....which is the same as is on the 98-2003 sienna.
So....that might be why we are seeing different volume on different camry around the same year?
I would prefer a extra quart or so.....as compared to being short a quart or so......depending upon how convenient an extra trip to the store is to buy more fluid.
 
Wis,

your tranny fluid got that dark in just 30k miles?? thats insane. are those siennas noted for harsh tranny issues?

my taco is dex3 and i use amsoil atf. love it. do a drain and fill every 20-30k miles.. 150k miles on her and shifts really well. i still pull a 21ft bass boat from time to time.

as for the dex6 better shifting comment in an older dex3 toyota, i could almost agree. i was using the amsoil dex6 rated atf until they split to the two back to dex3 and dex6 and noticed a differnce when i put the dex3 amsoil (amsoil atf) back in. still no real complaints, amsoil is well worth the money
 
I don't know the reputation, just what I saw in my own.
The fluid was exchanged about 30K miles before I changed it......former owner said that the shop disconnected a hose and did a full exchange.
I expect that the Redline D4 will hold up better, but I STILL plan to change it yearly.
Unit was shifting just fine before.....seems to be slightly better with the new fluid in there, plus I added the auxillary cooler and magnefine filter.
I have NOT seen any information that the 1st Gen (1998-2003) Siennas with the A541E tranny were noted as having problems.....from what I have read, they hold up very well.

The fluid valving that is in modern transmissions will greatly benefit from the 30 micron nominal filtering of the Magnefine.
There was a post (cannot find it now) on THIS site that linked information from a study that indicated that transmission life can be greatly inproved with the additional filtration......30 micron of the Magnefine over the 80-100 micron of the OEM in-transmission filter.
Add to that.......the Sienna has a nylon screen, NOT a felt filter......so I would, in my layman's opinion, put my dark fluid down to the filtration of the in-pan filter more than anything else.

If the person who linked that transmission filteration study reads this, can you repost the link?
It was a very informative article.
 
wiswind and others:

I think your new Synthetic Fluid is going to do some "house cleaning" and hopefully the Magnefine catches most of it. I have taken a few of the filters apart and poured clean fluid through the filter backwards and when disassembled I sprayed brake cleaner on it. There was a lot of particles on the first filter and less on second. I have owned my 2005 RAV4 since new and that was installed within 6,000 miles. Then I started to change over to Amalie Universal Synthetic with a low mix of Toyota T-IV. I think the ratio is 95% Syn/5% T-IV. Give or take. All I know is it shifts well, I tow a small trailer sometimes and the fluid is a bright cherry red. I am on my 5th Manefine with 38,000 miles on the RAV.

If anyone is interested, I have changed the differential and transfer case (because it is 4 wheel drive). I plan on doing it again but this time with Mobil1. I used regular 80w90 before. I am going to try and make this vehicle run for a long, long time. Any advice would be appreciated.

One more thing. If you go to the 3M web site, they sell some good "do it your self" Fuel Injection Kits.

Kaz
 
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