New to me 95 Yota T100 with nasty ATF fluid....?

[gomes512]

Slow and seady worked for a neglected Corolla I bought once. The fluid looked pretty much like you described, I just kept at it every few hundred miles until it looked similar to the new fluid. Never gave ,e any problems.

I'm always weary of using cleaners in a trans, I'm worried about them dislodging a large chunk of crud and clogging the valve body.

I was always under the impression that modern ATF's were not a good cleaner, even though I always hear the old timers talking about the 1qt of atf in the crankcase trick (the old school sperm whale oil atf's I can see). It's a fluid designed for a system without combustion byproduct contamination. I'd expect that the fluid would be designed not to suspend and carry contaminants like a motor oil.

 

[Crusader]

Yes I agree slow and steady wins the race. I will not consider using the Auto-rx product until I drop the pan and check the screen. Even though that.product will loosen junk slowly.


Seafoam trans tune that was mentioned eariler has a large portion of isopropyl alcohol in it. IPA on the MSDS. Might be okay to use under.normal conditions but this rig would cause me to.loose sleep.

Former owner no longer is returning my text messages on any of my inquiries.

 

[juanw]

I have owned a T100 and two 4runners with the same tranny. I found that the Castrol Import Multi Vehicle fluid worked best; the A340s really like a thicker ATF. Just keep draining it and refilling it until the fluid is red.

If the dummy ATF light does come on, it means the tranny fluid has reached 300f. Not good. To prevent such from happening, I would run an external tranny cooler, such as the B&M 70264, right up against the condenser in front of the fan, in-line with the ATF cooler in the radiator.

Also check the fan clutch's operation. Use only Aisin replacements if it goes south on you.

 

[RiceCake]

...Why not just drop and fill it a few times over with a cheap, decent ATF and be happy?

Chances are all the effort you're wasting "cleaning" this transmission won't replace the bits of clutch and metal that have long since worn off.

The thing is old. Maintain it now, but no level of voodoo additives you pour into the thing will somehow make it new again.

 

[Crusader]

Thanks for all the input on this thus far.

Any recommendations on a transmission temp gauge unit?

Been having an issue with the transmission not going into park and actually locking in park. Last week it rolled back on me in a parking lot. Not to position of the shifter but the actual clunk and feel and the green indicator light coming on. When it doesn’t lock I typically have to go back to “D” then back into Park...for it indicate green and actually Lock in “P”. This occurs roughly 10%-20% of the time.

 

[meep]

Originally Posted By: Crusader
Thanks for all the input on this thus far.

Any recommendations on a transmission temp gauge unit?



I have done this twice with good results. Usually thread a sender into the middle of a larger brass "T". may need an adapter to make it all fit. solder a ground lead to the "T" (need a torch for the heat). Plumb the T into the cooler feed line. In one vehicle I used barbed fittings and went into the rubber line. In another I was able to thread it into the trans body (didn't need the ground line on that one). just used a standard temp gauge.

I used electric Sun gauges both times. While I've had two Sun pressure senders fail (they are mechanical inside), I haven't had an problems with their temp setups.

M