Flushed 2013 camry atf

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Feb 6, 2021
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So today I flushed the camry's transmission fluid, the odometer was at 90,052.

At 90,052 and mostly being highway miles, the fluid did still have a redish tint to it, so it is possible to just flush it at 100,000 but I flushed early.

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Flushing this transmission was very easy to do, but it sucks that you must open a wheel to get to the fill port, if there is an adapter to pump fluid into the pan, get that instead of having to open the wheel as the adapter will make it much easier to do.

You will need 3 jugs of valvoline maxlife (what I used and is 17.99 on amazon per gallon) or whatever you prefer and also a transmission filter.

-IMPORTANT to make sure the car is leveled when you are doing this for accurate final fill of transmission fluid

You will need allen key set to loosen the pan drain plug and the straw that helps with the level, a ratcheting clamp remover (which made the job waaay easier, but optional) , a good big pan able to hold around 8 quarts, and some tubing that is 1/4, and a hand pump or whatever pump you have to pump the new fluid into the pan (if you have an adapter) or the side port.

Locate the transmission cooler
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Go underneath the car where the transmission pan is, remove the hex bolt, it should be on tight , so use some strength, and then some fluid might come out, if not, with the same allen key, remove the inner plastic straw, and then the old fluid should come out, with the straw out, if you have a transmission filter, remove the whole pan, remove and insert a new filter, screw in your fill adapter if you have it and then connect it to your pump and transmission fluid jug with new fluid in it, make sure you pump at least 4 quarts into the pan, no worries of overfilling as this is going to be used to flush everything out, after you have done that, start the car and make sure you turn it off if bubbles start coming out IMMEDIATLEY! , I stayed on the safe side and just let the car run for 3 seconds, pump new transmission fluid, and then repeat that until new fluid starts coming out.

Once new fluid comes out, make sure you put the return line back and put the clamp back on.
Underneath the pan, remove the adapter, put the straw back in first and then bolt.
Let the car get to operating temperature, and then open the drain bolt again to check if fluid is coming out , if alot of fluid is coming out, let it drain until it starts trickling, if no fluid comes out, you will need to fill the pan more. After you have gotten the final fill completed, put the drain plug back in. You should be done.

Don't do this in a transmission with like 400,000 miles and the fluid was never changed, at this point you might need another transmission or rebuild it.
 
I will be completely flushing the transmission on the 09G after I do some more hands on research of the cooler.
 
Good write up,I did a drain an fill on our 2017 Rav4 at 25,000 the WS fluid was dark . I am planning on doing a full flush like you at 50,000 miles from the transmission cooler like you did.
 
120* on our GS350. I just use a temp gun on the pan.
I personally wouldn’t trust that, but maybe it’s reliable. I just figure by the time the pan is 120, the fluid is warmer to have warmed the pan to that temp.

I just drained and filled what came out on a nice day so that fluid temps were relatively close to the new fluid temp stored in my garage.

One time when I wanted to be anal and get a valid fluid level check, I jumped the terminals on the obd2 port and went through a procedure to verify I was at the right temp to check. Over the course of multiple drain and fills, I had gotten the trans on our Sienna about a third of a quart over full.

Not to say I’ve compared the trans pan to the vehicle’s fluid temp sensor, but I’d trust fluid temp before pan temp. There’s got to be some loss there in the fluid temp to temp of a trans pan.
 
Good write up,I did a drain an fill on our 2017 Rav4 at 25,000 the WS fluid was dark . I am planning on doing a full flush like you at 50,000 miles from the transmission cooler like you did.
Yeah it's really easy, it took me 20 minutes to do, 4 hours to find the socket to the drain plug, should get a fill adapter that goes under the pan which is alot easier than taking the wheel off
 
I personally wouldn’t trust that, but maybe it’s reliable. I just figure by the time the pan is 120, the fluid is warmer to have warmed the pan to that temp.

I just drained and filled what came out on a nice day so that fluid temps were relatively close to the new fluid temp stored in my garage.

One time when I wanted to be anal and get a valid fluid level check, I jumped the terminals on the obd2 port and went through a procedure to verify I was at the right temp to check. Over the course of multiple drain and fills, I had gotten the trans on our Sienna about a third of a quart over full.

Not to say I’ve compared the trans pan to the vehicle’s fluid temp sensor, but I’d trust fluid temp before pan temp. There’s got to be some loss there in the fluid temp to temp of a trans pan.
You may be right. I have seen a few YT videos comparing the 3 methods: OBDII reader, temp gun and jump terminals. All very close. Plus, 120* is the low end ot the range. It should be good enough.
 
Never did a flush and never will. Spill and fill every 30 - 40k miles.
Thats what I would've done too, but my sister used the car since she started college, this isn't even the only thing I had to do with it, I replaced the front bumper too because she split it, and also the carpet inside of the camry, which had holes and stuff, and the dashboard.
 
You may be right. I have seen a few YT videos comparing the 3 methods: OBDII reader, temp gun and jump terminals. All very close. Plus, 120* is the low end ot the range. It should be good enough.
It just needs to be hot enough to expand enough, but yeah all three work well.
 
I bought an 09 Camry with 226k mikes that has no record of a transmission service on the Carfax, though it was serviced very well. I was thinking of doing a pan drop and refill, but decided to leave well enough alone. My luck, it would die right after the change.

The fluid color is still nice and red. At least I can feel warm and fuzzy over that.

Thanks for sharing this how to.
 
If you get it "too hot" and adjust the level, the fluid level will be too low once the unit is cold.
I dont remember how I did it, but after the engine reached operating temperature i think i left it on for 5 minutes thereafter and got a good level for my final fill and the transmission was normal.
 
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