2012 Toyota Highlander ATF change interval

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I just bought my wife a 2012 Highlander with 26K miles on it. We really like the car. I want to solicit opinions on how often to drain/fill the automatic transmission fluid. Currently, I have a 2002 Toyota Tacoma and a 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe and do a drain/fill every 30k miles. Both have performed perfectly and both have near 200K miles now. All I'm going to do is a drain/fill. I don't feel comfortable doing any other sort of flush/exchange at home.

The Highlander comes with Toyota ATF WS which is often referred to as a lifetime fluid. Obviously, I don't subscribe to that theory, but I'm not sure I want to change it every 30k miles either. I'm wondering if that is wasteful, especially considering some people never change it out and never have issues.

I guess I'm trying to decide between going with every 30k miles or going every 50k or even 60k miles. I want a nice round number so that it is easy to remember. :) I DO plan to use Toyota ATF WS. I like sticking with factory-fill for ATF. Thoughts on the interval? Opinions? Thanks in advance.
 
Do you know the car's previous maintenance history?

As long it wasn't a rental/fleet vehicle, I'd do a single D&F and call it a day.
 
If you're planning on keeping the Highlander for a long period of time, I'd start thinking about it now and yes, start changing aprox every 30K! Diligence is the key to longevity! But, you already know that!

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It was a one person lease and had all maintenance done at the dealership. I saw the carfax and it showed everything. Of course, no transmission maintenance is required during the first 26K miles (or EVER according to Toyota). Everything indicates that it was well taken care of. It looks immaculate. And like I said, it just has 26K miles on it. So if it were your car, you would do a drain/fill now and not touch the tranny again?
 
Originally Posted By: Char Baby
If you're planning on keeping the Highlander for a long period of time, I'd start thinking about it now and yes, start changing aprox every 30K! Diligence is the key to longevity! But, you already know that!

smile.gif



Yeah. I don't really *mind* doing it every 30K, but if it is ridiculous overkill I certainly don't mind *NOT* doing it that often. :)
 
Originally Posted By: mrdctaylor
It was a one person lease and had all maintenance done at the dealership. I saw the carfax and it showed everything. Of course, no transmission maintenance is required during the first 26K miles (or EVER according to Toyota). Everything indicates that it was well taken care of. It looks immaculate. And like I said, it just has 26K miles on it. So if it were your car, you would do a drain/fill now and not touch the tranny again?

I also am not a believer in the whole "lifetime" fluid thing. I'd stick to a D&F every 30K miles like you do on your other cars.
 
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I talk myself blue trying to get friends to do D+Fs at least 50K.

I'm thinking they think a transmission is still a $700 repair like 30 years ago.

$30/year to protect thousands of dollars is a no brainer.
 
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Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
I talk myself blue trying to get friends to do D+Fs at least 50K.

I'm thinking they think a transmission is still a $700 repair like 30 years ago.

$30/year to protect thousands of dollars is a no brainer.


Same here--and like I said, I've been doing 30K D+Fs on my current vehicles. I'm just trying to figure out if 30K is overkill and 50K a new decent standard. People will criticize you like crazy for changing your oil every 3000 miles, saying it is wasteful. I don't really hear that sort of talk regarding ATF D+Fs at intervals well below what a manufacturer recommends.

PS. No, I don't do 3000 mile OCIs. I do 7500 miles.
 
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Originally Posted By: mrdctaylor
Originally Posted By: Char Baby
If you're planning on keeping the Highlander for a long period of time, I'd start thinking about it now and yes, start changing aprox every 30K! Diligence is the key to longevity! But, you already know that!

smile.gif



Yeah. I don't really *mind* doing it every 30K, but if it is ridiculous overkill I certainly don't mind *NOT* doing it that often. :)


Well then, pick a comfortable mileage/timeframe to do the task! No one can answer that one except you.

Best of luck!

CB
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Can Valvoline Maxlife ATF be used in this transmission in place of Toyota ATF WS ? If it can be used, then doing 30k D&F should cost no more than $30.
 
With me and adding a used vehicle, I like to drain/change most fluids/filters- part as a condition inpection and also starting fresh with a new 'zero'-then moving forward using MY products and change intervals
 
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Can Valvoline Maxlife ATF be used in this transmission in place of Toyota ATF WS ? If it can be used, then doing 30k D&F should cost no more than $30.


Absolutely. I use MaxLife in lieu of both T-IV and WS in several toyota/Lexus vehicles. Valvoline recommends it for both in the pds on their web site.

Draining/filling the pan with Maxlife on a Toyota is totally fine and MaxLife and other full synthetics are much better fluids than WS in my experience. One (not my only) data point was my neighbor's late model 4Runner; slipping after 58k with WS.
 
Do every 25-30k. It would be good to do a flush but i would have somebody do it. It gets rid of all old fluid and puts all new fluid in. With that low miles i wouldn't worry about the trans right now until like 50k. Go for the factory fill oil unless you want synthetic. Doesn't hurt to stay with factory.
 
Oh, to get to the OPs question of interval, I'd consider two options whether you want to drain/fill or flush/fill. Doing a home 100% exchange is really pretty easy on most all Toyotas, I'll put a link below. You are not using power to flush anything out or special equipment, just the AT pump to exchange the fluid completely vs. a fractional replacement via just dropping the pan and refilling it. Considering it is a recent model with only 26k on it:

Option I, drain/fill:

a) At 30k, drain/fill w/MaxLife, Mag1, or similar full synthetic ATF that the manufacturer recommends as a WS substitute.
b) at 60k, repeat this.
c) next at 100K,
d) then every 50k.

The first two are at 30 intervals so as to more rapidly dilute the semi-synthetic and more shear-prone WS with a full synthetic. 30k intervals work great with dino and semi-synthetic ATFs; I'm comfortable going 50k with a full synthetic ATF if the tranny isn't being used really hard.

The 40k interval between 60k and 100k is just to get on an even-multiple interval at 100k. You've now done 3 drain/fills with synthetic and it is mostly full synthetic now, do the drain fills at 50k intervals.

Option II, flush/fill

I am guessing the highlander has an ATf cooler in the radiator like most Toyotas. If so, with a little bit more work, you can do a complete flush/fill.

a) do a drain/fill now to change out 40% of the fluid to the synthetic of your choice (average of what a drain fill replaces).
b) at 50k, do the flush/fill via the radiator ATF lines and introduce 100% synthetic.
c) do drain/fills at 50k intervals.

Either option is going to give you great protection. If you choose flush(exchange)/fill, there are good DIYs around on this. It only takes 15 minutes or less more to do a complete exchange vs just drain/fill if your highlander has the atf cooler. It should be pretty equivalent to the proceedure for this Camry, for example:

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/104-5t...flush-pics.html
 
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So do most people hate the Toyota ATF WS? I've always tended to use factory fill ATF. I use Hyundai SPIII on my Santa Fe and have had good luck so far. I had planned to stick with ATF WS.
 
Originally Posted By: mrdctaylor
So do most people hate the Toyota ATF WS? I've always tended to use factory fill ATF. I use Hyundai SPIII on my Santa Fe and have had good luck so far. I had planned to stick with ATF WS.


I think there are quite a lot of people who are very disappointed that Toyota has made promises about WS that it can't deliver. As a semi-synthetic fluid, it works and is on par with the general field. It's not a "lifetime" fill and high mileage owners, 2nd owners, are inheriting problems from the "just get it out of the warranty period" and "lower the TCO for accounting purposes" approach.

It's not per se a horrible fluid. But it's in the middle of a serious slide in engineering quality standards and product quality on behalf of Toyota. The part of the introduction of it that was coupled to goosing the CAFE numbers are unclear, also. Toyota engineers have mentioned in published engineering papers the purpose was to increase mileage - a lower viscosity fluid that could goose mpg a teeny % - at the expense of the buyer's hardware but to the benefit of Toyota's penalties under CAFE standards.
 
Not that the WS is a bad fluid but, I also think that people want a choice for example: I like buying fluids at my favorite local parts store and not have the inconvenience of having to travel to the local dealership which, could be further away for many folks!
 
Here's a link to my partial drain and fill calculator.
LINK TO PARTIAL DRAIN AND FILL CALCULATOR


Just enter the total fluid which in your case is:
2WD
9.3 qt. (8.8 L)
4WD
9.5 qt. (9.0 L)

....and then enter the partial drain amount and it will show you your effectiveness, your amount needed to do the job, and the amount of "new" you take out with each progressive drain and fill so that you can find your own "sweet spot".


And make a video for web sharing to enrich the "community"
smile.gif
 
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