Gold standard for maintaining a transmission

[yummy88]

I have always topped it up with M1 ATF

 

[yummy88]

OK I WILL drop the pan. Was trying to avoid that. Thanks

 

[panthermike]

 Originally Posted By: yummy88

OK I WILL drop the pan. Was trying to avoid that. Thanks

It won't be too bad. If you do it now and replace the filter, you won't have to do it again for a long time.

 

[Donald]

 Originally Posted By: panthermike

 Originally Posted By: yummy88

OK I WILL drop the pan. Was trying to avoid that. Thanks

It won't be too bad. If you do it now and replace the filter, you won't have to do it again for a long time.

If you do the pan drop & clean and filter replace along with filling it with M1 or Amsoil, you can avoid dropping the pan for a long time. If you install a Magnefine you can avoid ever dropping the pan again, assuming you use synthetic ATF and good intervals.

 

[yummy88]

I just read about tightening the kick down cable that will help improve tranny life. By tightening the kick down cable one will get firmer shifts which means less clutch wear etc etc Kind of makes sense since the Avalon is probably tuned for smooth shifts. I do not mind somewhat firmer shifts in exchange for tranny life. Took a look at my kickdown cable and there appears to be some slack in it. Maybe the cable has stretched over the 150K miles. What do you guys think about it? Will it damage the tranny by tightening the kickdown cable? thanks

 

[joel95ex]

I dunno about toyota, but honda/acura does NOT recommend full exchanges or flushes.. the TSB actually recommends drain, refill with shifting and bringing rpm's high enough for 2nd gear, drain and refill again.... For a clean-up or refresh i would drain with the plug and refill a few times with lower mileage intervals... your drain plug might be magnetic and you can clean it....mine is and always has "powder"on it... i would also stick with the original fluid. I have followed this plan and have over 320K miles on the original automatic trans on my accord.

 

[Donald]

 Originally Posted By: joel95ex

I dunno about toyota, but honda/acura does NOT recommend full exchanges or flushes.. the TSB actually recommends drain, refill with shifting and bringing rpm's high enough for 2nd gear, drain and refill again.... For a clean-up or refresh i would drain with the plug and refill a few times with lower mileage intervals... your drain plug might be magnetic and you can clean it....mine is and always has "powder"on it... i would also stick with the original fluid. I have followed this plan and have over 320K miles on the original automatic trans on my accord.

It would be nice for someone to get to the bottom of why Honda does not recommend a flush when Ford does. Multiple drain and refills of the pan use a LOT more ATF to get to 95% new ATF than a flush. Thats not cost effective and not green. Now if the objective was to just refresh the ATF in the pan, then a single drain and refill would be reasonable. Honda also recommends their Z1 ATF, which by all accounts is not all that good an ATF.

 

[PT1]

FWIW, I have done drain fills on transmissions with a fluid extractor and it works fine. The one thing to consider is if there is a serviceable filter. If not, why bother dropping the pan? As for Honda, the Hondas I have all has said 3 drain fills. The dealers specifically say no to flushing for some reason.

 

[joel95ex]

i have no idea WHY they recommend this over exchanges...i have heard numerous people mention the sudden failure after an exchange------why they mention this i dunno. some guy at an oil change shop told me he did an exhange and then his trans failed... he failed to note the condition before the exchange or why he was suddenly doing the exchange. I really think the key, as with oil, is keeping it clean and maintaining the additives by refreshing

 

[Donald]

The fear of flushes is unfounded. A flush merely keeps the pan filled with fresh fluid in a basic manner. Good flush machines only push into the pan what has been pushed out the cooler line. Some cheap flush machines (pressure) can push in whatever the operator desires and do not measure. The better machines weigh (or use other methods) to determine how much fluid has left via the cooler line. The basic point of a flush machine is to free up the mechanic to do something else for 20-30 min while doing the flush. And to get your $$. In most cases people forget about their transmission until it starts to fail then they get a flush and then it fails. Also keep in mind the BEST flush is a pan drain and refill then a flush. You do not want mixing in the pan with old and new ATF.

 

[bmwtechguy]

Adjusting the TV cable for the trans should not be necessary, unless it has been adjusted wrongly before or is shifting too soon or too late/firm, etc. If shifts feel about right as you accelerate normally, and kick down feels ok as well, I would not mess with it. You could make things worse than better if you are not experienced at adjusting these.

 

[paulo57509]

FWIW, when I asked for a trans filter for my '98 LS400 at the Lexus dealership parts counter, the parts guy told me that they don't stock the filter because they don't change them. He then told me that the service department transmission service consists of hooking it up to the <b>flushing</b> machine.

 

[mva]

Crack open your Toyota's manual and follow what it recommends at a minimum. A little more frequent changes shouldn't hurt but 5000k is excessive. FWIF tranny drain and refill is recommended every 48,000 km for my 2000 Toyota Sienna and it takes a maximum of 3.1 liters. Dextron II or III are both recommended. I have been doing it about once a year or every 24,000 km since it is so easy to pop out the drain plug and it only takes 1/2 a jug of Dextron III to refill. As others have pointed out it is only a partial change of the fluid.