235K tranny fluid?

[chartrue2]

2006 Toyota Matrix 235K miles. I have owned this for the past five years, purchased with 220K miles on odo. Tranny fluid looks dirty, smells fine. Should I drain and refill or just leave it alone. Manual says changing fluid is “unnecessary” under normal driving conditions. Is it better to let well enough alone, or should I give the old girl a shot of new fluid?

 

[sunroof]

I'd change it for sure, drop the pan and see what it looks like, clean the magnet etc. Fill with fluid and drain/suck it out again after a hundred miles to get what was left in the TC.

 

[zzyzzx]

Change it.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Spill and fill for the win! Do a couple over then next 10K miles.

 

[joegreen]

Change it

 

[Urshurak776]

I would change it at next oil change, then the one after that. You don't drive it much if I'm reading your post right. 15K in 5 years?

 

[TheMAN]

Change it. It'll be fine. This generation of Matrix and Corolla has an updated variation of the auto trans from the mid 90s Corolla, which is renowned for be bulletproof (and a preferred vehicle of choice in a certain Central Asian nation that the Americans disastrously left from). Even changing trans fluid in a very well abused and neglected 220k+ mile one was fine after the fact, so there's no reason why it wouldn't be in that Matrix either.

Also funny thing: those auto trans outlast the manual trans of the same generation of Matrix/Corolla, contrary to common convention. Ironic

 

[chartrue2]

I would change it at next oil change, then the one after that. You don't drive it much if I'm reading your post right. 15K in 5 years?

Right! It has been a seasonal car, only being used for six months at a time. Now retired and using it as a daily driver—still not more than 5K a year.

 

[AdmiralYoda]

In no world will old transmission fluid be better than new transmission fluid.

 

[ClutchDisc]

Change it. I would do multiple drain and fills to get more old fluid out.

 

[martinq]

2006 Toyota Matrix 235K miles. I have owned this for the past five years, purchased with 220K miles on odo. Tranny fluid looks dirty, smells fine. Should I drain and refill or just leave it alone. Manual says changing fluid is “unnecessary” under normal driving conditions. Is it better to let well enough alone, or should I give the old girl a shot of new fluid?

Manual or automatic? I don't get to ask this question very often these days.

 

[TheMAN]

My assumption is it's an automatic since checking a manual trans fluid is quite difficult and they all smell bad because of the high sulfur content of trans fluid lol

 

[The Critic]

Drain the pan, refill, and flush with 12 quarts of T-IV. I have never had a problem with flushing fluid, even from questionable transmissions.

 

[CleanSump]

Ditto. DO DO DO it.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Drain and fill for sure.
There's a wive's tale about changing high mileage transmission fluid but it's not true at all

 

[melk]

In no world will old transmission fluid be better than new transmission fluid.

Exactly this. Buy a few jugs of MaxLife and do a few drain and fills.

 

[heavy260]

Advance Auto has the Idemitsu fluid for $1.95/quart. If it’s not in stock locally have them bring it in from a different store.

 

[Exhaustgases]

Advance Auto has the Idemitsu fluid for $1.95/quart. If it’s not in stock locally have them bring it in from a different store.

And is the main supplier to the factory's, for transmission fluid for Asian vehicles.

Max life is for GM and some ford transmissions, not for Honda's, Toyota's etc.