asthorman

I decided to drain and refill the fluid on my wife's new to her 2017 es350. We just got it with 36k and on the very first night, I noticed the whine.
I drive a 2012 Highlander with the 3.5/5spd and before that I had a 2007 4Runner, so I've used the WS quite a bit.
I'm happy to report that the whine is gone after the drain/fill. I hope it stays away but to be safe I will do the drain/fill on a regular cadence.
I know that Amsoil is great stuff and I'm not knocking anyone for using it but in my case setting the level correctly seemed to be more important than the fluid itself.
thx!

Lexmart

What steps did you take to ensure the right level after the drain? I've heard these transmissions (U660E) can be sensitive to underfill, and overfill can cause foaming leading to shifting issues. I went ahead an subscribed to alldata online and they have a procedure for putting the car into a temperature detection mode where the D light for the transmission flashes until the temperature is in the right range to check the level. Curious how you did it and got such good results. I just don't want to screw it up and ruin the transmission. Thanks.

Tootsall

I sometimes wonder if a dealership actually has a “factory recommended” procedure even though they say “lifetime” (please don’t get yet another “debate” going on that!) Here is one from youtube:

asthorman

I used the method in this video:

Drain the fluid including removal of the plastic straw
Measure fluid volume, in my case it was very close to 2 qt
Fill with 2.5 qt via the fill plug behind drivers tire
Bring trans up to temp and drain off the excess fluid via the drain plug

I bought the scanguage from Amazon, and I did also use a thermal temp sensor to satisfy my curiosity. The thermal temp sensor reading was very close the the scanguage readout, within a few degrees.
The hardest part was reaching the drain plug on the tyranny since the car had to be level. I left the car on the floor jack and used some small jack stands for safety.
I used a carpenter's level to be sure the car was level side to side, I could just reach under to access the drain pan...

I feel pretty good that the level is correct, I just hope the whine doesn't come right back.

Good luck!

Lexmart

What fluid did you use? AMSOIL, Toyota WS, or Valvoline synthetic? I was thinking AMSOIL, like in the video, but I'm wondering about mixing the WS that is in my transmission with AMSOIL and what negative effect it might have. I know it's impossible to get all the 6.9 quarts of ATF out, unless you do something like a "flush" by removing the return line from the transmission oil cooler and cycling all the old fluid out while feeding in new fluid. That might be too risky for me to worry about screwing up.

autotech13

Lexmart, you will not harm the tranny by using Amsoil and having the old fluid in. Amsoil is compatible with all fluids.

asthorman

I used WS but from what I understand, Amsoil is ok to mix with the oem fluid. Thx!!

Lexmart

So I bit the bullet this weekend and finally got the courage to take off the transmission pan and replaced the filter on my 6th gen ES350. I've been wanting to do that just to see inside the state of it all and the fluid, and set a new baseline for myself as the second owner. I was really nervous, especially dealing with the nasty fastener that won't allow a regular straight shot because it is tucked up so close to the side subframe member. But, with much much patience I ended up using a 12 point offset 10mm wrench to SLOWLY back it out of the hole and a regular 10mm with 1/4 inch ratchet and extension. I figure worst case I would learn about engine mounts and jack up the engine to gain clearance. When I finally got all the fasteners out, I got the feeling that the dealership didn't nicely replace that obscured one when they did the work to replace the temp sensor for the original owner at 120,000 miles. The threads looked a little rough inside the transmission case. And it wasn't super easy to bolt it back up. I had to make sure that did my best to get the fastener to go in straight, and not cross thread it when applying the ratchet at a slight angle because of the clearance issue. I just did it VERY SLOWLY and CAREFULLY and it worked. No leaks so far. And even got it torqued. Bought me a new $20 harbor freight 1/4 torque wrench just for the occasion to get that 62 inch pounds. The wrench seems OK but definitely not as good as my 1/2 inch craftsman. Butt then again, that one doesn't go down below 20 foot pounds.

Originally about 2.5 quarts came out from the drain, and dropping the pan and emptying the filter. I replaced the filter and pan gasket, then filled it with about 2.5 quarts of new WS. Started it up, ran through the gears. Noticed reverse was a bit noisier than before the operation, which made my heart sink a bit and super nervous. Proceeded to drain and refilled two more times with the shifting and it got better. I left the last 2.5 quarts of the 7 quarts in to let it mix more with the old fluid. I left out the red level tube since I wasn't ready to go through the whole procedure of making sure I put it in the level check mode and didn't see the need to keep taking it out each drain when I wasn't ready to check the level. I'll do that after 2 more drains to try to get the most bad fluid out. It was black. And the magnets were more fuzzy than I imagined. But, I can report now that I've taken out for a spin, and it does seem much quieter, smoother shifting, etc. Can't wait to get all the fluid through it and set that level to see how good it is. Overall, much happier and glad to know at least I have better fluid and clean magnets (for now, they probably have collected some more from that residual black fluid) and a new filter. I don't think I'll ever attempt that again because of that obscured PIA bolt, but rather just do drain and fills more often which should be plenty good enough. Fluid is cheap compared to more invasive methods I figure. Hopefully I didn't do something to cause more premature wear. Fingers crossed. It's a learning experience.

Here's some pictures of what I found. Vehicle currently has 168,500 miles. Bought it a little over a year ago late October 2019 with 161,000 (as I recall, somewhere around there).


Pan with fuzzy magnets (too fuzzy? yikes!).

Magnets up close.

Filter didn't seem too dirty.