I am looking to do a drain and fill and have a couple questions for those who have done it on a 2010 or newer.

1) Can you just remove the bottom plug to do the drain? I was reading on an earlier post that there is a tube in there too. Not sure the purpose of the tube though?

2) So you fill from the driver's side wheel well. Plug is behind the plastic cover. Do you need to remove the driver's side wheel to fill?

Thanks

 

I have done this a couple times on my RX and many more times on my old MINI Cooper S which had an Aisin 6 speed automatic and the exact same set up as Aisin is owned by Toyota. Many car companies buy Aisin transmissions.

1) You must remove the inner tube to fully drain the pan. The purpose of the inner tube is to adjust the fluid level of warm ATF fluid using the very complicated Toyota/Lexus procedure - which you do not have to do if just doing a cold drain and fill. It takes a 6MM allen wrench and is plastic so be very careful. When screwing it back in just barely tighten it because the drain plug covers it up and does all the sealing and you do not want to break it.

2) You can just turn the wheel to the left to get at it, but it is easier if the wheel is removed. You have to spend 10 minutes removing the trim pieces at the lower front corner of the felt fender liner to get at the bolt on the side of the transmission. Then it is easy to stick a long funnel in to fill it up.

Be sure to measure exactly how much fluid you drained and put that much back in with maybe a few ounces more. I like to do it cold because hot fluid expands. When both the vehicle and new fluid are the same temperature you can be sure the amounts drained and replaced are the same.
Also I used MAG 1 Low Viscosity multi vehicle synthetic ATF instead of Toyota WS ATF as it is full synthetic, has had great reviews at bobistheoilguy from others who have used it, and it is better than WS at half the price! Look on Amazon, you can get a 6 pack case for about $32 Good Luck!

 

I got the drain and fill done, it was pretty easy but something didn't seem right. Only 1.6 quarts drained out and I removed both the drain plug and the drain tube. I also lowered the jack to level the vehicle. I have done a drain and fill on other Toyotas Hondas and infinities and usually 3 or 4 quarts drains out. The drain plug I removed is the 6 mm hex shown in the photo. Then I looked in my Haynes manual and it showed a picture of that plug and referred to it as a overflow plug. It's the plug that you let the fluid drain out of to know you are at the right fluid level when you're doing the factory fill procedure at the specified temperature while the engine is running. I checked a post about a Highlander drain and fill on Toyotanation that said the same thing-it's an overflow plug. So now I'm wondering why even 1.6 quarts drained out?

I also looked in the owners manual and the transaxle fluid capacity is 6.8 quarts. At that rate it would take 6X drain and fills to replace 80% of the fluid. Does this sound right?



6mm hex drain plug

 

There are 2 plugs. The outer drain plug and the overflow one inside the hole that you access after you remove the outer plug. Once that outer plug is out, and the fluid has stopped draining, you stick the Allen wrench inside the hole and turn it to the left to unscrew the inner overflow plug that is for adjusting the fluid level. Even with that removed I was only able to drain about 2 to 2.3 quarts, even when tilting the car over with a floor jack. Look at pages 2 and 3 of the Mini Cooper ATF change document that I helped write a few years ago. It shows the overflow plug.

 

wow only 1.6 quarts huh? seems like the pan should hold at least 3-4 quarts just looking at the size of it?

 

I know you think it must hold more but that is all that drains. More must be held elsewhere such as the cooler or torque converter.

If you read about folks at the ToyotaNation forum doing it on their Highlanders or Camry's they only manage to usually drain that amount. You could remove one of the transmission cooler lines and drain more fluid. I was thinking of doing that next time.

 

this is interesting i might try it. you can still drain it warm, just put back in the same amount.

 

There's a crush washer for BOTH overflow/drain plug and the fill plug, correct? Just want to get everything needed in one visit. Thanks!

 

No - Only the outer drain plug has a gasket, the inner overflow tube does not have a gasket. Look at pages 2 and 3 of the PDF I attached in response #49. It has photos of both.
The fill plug also has a gasket. It is much bigger.

See page 6 of this attachment to see the drain plug and overflow plug in a cut a way drawing. The attachment itself explains how to do a fluid exchange yourself if you are so inclined. I take no responsibility for anyone attempting to do this themselves. This PDF is borrowed from another forum.

 

What I did was remove the outer drain plug, let it drain, then when it stopped draining I unscrewed the inner overflow plug as far as it would go but it tightened up after unscrewing it 3 or 4 turns (not sure on how many turns). I tried to keep turning it through the tightness but couldn't get it out with my hand so I decided that was far enough, didn't want to break the plastic tube then have to take the pan off. Only a small amount of fluid came out right when I started unscrewing the tube compared to when I removed the outer plug.

So a couple of questions for when I do this again:

1) Do you get a gush of fluid to drain out when the tube came out of the pan or just when you started to unscrew it? If the former then:

2) Did you experience this tightening of the tube when unscrewing it? I am thinking next time I will use my torque wrench and put up to 6 in-lbs on it since that is what my manual says is the tube tightening torque. What do you think?

 

1) I got a gush of fluid when I removed the overflow tube.
2) I do not recall ever encountering such tightness removing the overflow tube in either vehicle. Yours may be cross threaded from the factory or maybe they over-tightened it and damaged the threads. I just unscrewed it using a L shaped Allen wrench. I did not use an Allen head on a ratchet, so there was little force involved.

 

so basically what im understanding here is: simply measure what drains out. and refill with same amount or an ounce more? thats simple enough? whoe needs all the trans temp, overfill drain tube stuff? of course all of this could have been eliminated by simply PUTTING A FRIGGIN DIPSTICK ON THE DAMN THING!!

 

Since you can only replace about 2 quarts at a time. I like to do at least a couple drain and fills a week or so apart (so the fluid has time to mix) See attached for how much is replaced (more or less) each additional time you drain and fill.

 

Thanks so much for the attachments. Pics are invaluable to a simpleton like me. At the dealer, I got the drain plug gasket and the part number is same as the camry as noted in your attachment. The fill plug gasket though, dealer came up with part 9008030075 for the washer, and it was for "acess plug" or something like that...didn't call it a fill plug. There were 2 of these plugs on their diagram , one just above the pan and one on top of tranny. Do you know if that's the correct plug and washer?

 

They often have different terms for such stuff than what we may use on the forums.
It is not on top, it is on the side, so may be the one just above the pan.
Per the PDF I attached at post 54. It shows at page 8 the side fill plug and a gasket part number of 90430-18008. If still unsure I would just buy both as they cannot cost much and you will spend more on gas driving back for the another gasket. You can often find them on eBay for cheap and buy a bunch at one time.