enigma94

iTrader: (1)

If you just drain and refill you will be leaving a substantial amount of old fluid in the tranny. I believe it's somewhere close to 3-4 quarts that drains out of the pan and around 6-7quarts that remain in the converter. There are several write ups on how to do a DIY flush on here just do a search. If you do go to a shop make sure you avoid a "power flush" as these trannies seem to run better/longer if you don't disturb the built up gunk lol.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Just a simple pan drain is about 2 quarts of fluid. If the fluid is ok looking, you can get by doing these incremental drains each oil change. That is what I do. If the fluid is nasty black, there are discussions on various methods to get it nice and red again. What does the tranny fluid look like?

In similar thought, how is the power steering fluid?

dtLS400

iTrader: (1)

The ps fluid is flawless, I had the ps pump, high pressure hose and rack and pinion replaced about 3k miles ago. The trans fluid is brownish.

dtLS400

iTrader: (1)

I also hear a small click when the trans is downshifting, is this due to old fluid?

johnnyg66

When i dropped my pan and changed the filter and did the lexls diy it really helped my transmission. Mine was very brown just go buy a case of toyota atf and get it done.

LJBSJB

I agree with not flushing. I don't want to move any small metal shavings away from where they are resting peacefully.

Is there a magnet cast into the housing like in some other cars?

deanshark

I'm pretty sure there's a magnet in the pan. I haven't had my pan off yet but I don't see why there wouldn't be one in there. It's not any metal shavings you need to worry about getting loosened in there, it's all that nasty gunk that has attached itself and almost hardened onto all the parts inside the tranny. That gunk can do some serious damage if it gets moving around in there.

LJBSJB

So you think a flush is okay? If they could clean off the magnet before flushing, to aleviate my fears of knocking off a shaving caught there, they could get rid of that evil chunk of gunk and have a win-win.

etex

Sounds like the general consensus is that a flush is NOT recommended in your year model.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

any powered flush=bad

fluid exchange=good

oldskewel

iTrader: (1)

I agree with this and most of the advice so far here. Some more info:
(all this is for my '91. I'm not sure how applicable it is to other years)
- There are 4 rectangular magnets that sit on the transmission pan. If you look at the pan from underneath (before removing it), you can see the indentations to roughly locate the magnets.
- The drain plug is not magnetic.
- It's not just the metal shavings on those magnets that you want to be concerned with if doing a POWER flush.
- Drain and fill gets out 2+ quarts.
- If you remove your pan, you can access and replace the "filter" which is actually more what I would call a "strainer." But I replaced it anyway on mine. The Toyota way to do it is to use their Form In Place Gasket (FIPG), which is a tube of red stuff (enough for 10 applications) to form a gasket, but others have reported success using rubber gaskets. I did it the Toyota way with a Lexus filter and FIPG. At my local parts store, they sold the filter with a rubber gasket.
- In between the "drain and fill" and "power flush" is something where you disconnect the return line from the ATF cooler on the radiator, and continue to refill with fluid while allowing the old stuff to get pumped out. Since the new fluid is not completely mixed with the old, you should be able to get more of the old stuff out this way than with repeated "drain + fills", and should not suffer the dangers of a Power Flush. Detailed instructions elsewhere on how to do this.
- Toyota Type T-4 is the factory recommended ATF. NOT DEXRON III (but that IS what is used in your Power Steering). Once your fluid is pretty clean, I just do drain + fills every 10-15k miles or so and it keeps things very clean.
- It seems to be a fairly common problem to have the drain plug threads messed up. (it was on my car). So be prepared to deal with that when you remove the drain plug. You may not be able to get it sealed up without extra efforts.

dtLS400

iTrader: (1)

Hello CL, I have a 92 ls400 with 236,xxx miles. My transmission is starting to jerk when downshifting into first I checked my fluid and it is brown. Has anyone done a drain and refill without removing the pan? I was going to drain the fluid and pour in what came out with t-iv but I was wondering if problems can come up without removing the pan when doing a drain/ refill. Most of the threads I read involved dropping out the pan, I have limited time, space, tools...
Thanks In Advance

Dtwillis5

The purpose of taking off pan is to clean the magnets. Sound like you don't know when was the last time it was change. I'll drop the pan!

johnnyg66

When i did mine i dropped the pan. It was brown magnets were clean no particles in pan either. Replaced filter and gasket. Ran new fluid till it came out red. Waited two months and drained 2qts out and replaced. Did all this in my garage on jack stands. You can do it.

You could do it without dropping pan but if you have no service history i would drop it.

chicov8

With that milage and brown fluid drop the pan and change or clean filter
with droped pan to fill trans you gona need 4qts of toyota t-Iv fluid