handogg

A car typically has a lot of ATF fluid in the Automatic Transmission, a lot of ATF in the Torque converter, and then a few quarts or so in the pan. Some cars will have a drain plug on the Torque converter as well as the drain pan. The current fluid on my car is pitch dark black (at only 82k miles BTW) and to dilute it with only 2 quarts ATF almost seems like a waste of time.

I've been able to get more ATF out of the car via the cooler lines that go to the radiator... but this was on my old GS300.

Has anyone here done such a thing on these cars or is the answer going to be "take it to the dealer?"

Thx !!

JffGRY706

I believe you should get over 3 quarts out, you might be low . total is 11 and 1/2 quarts so changing out 3 is about 25 percent. sadly I let the dealer do this and get charged for 4 quarts each time. I believe 3 come out and the 4th is used to adjust for correct fill. others just put back what comes out and for them that is fine.

js058515

Mine drained just about 3 qts from the pan drain bolt so I put 3 back in. I will repeat that process a few more times since its a fairly easy to do. I have an 02 btw.

911LE

If your car is an 01-03 this process will work. 04-06 can only do a drain and fill.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-3rd-gen-2001-2006/856928-new-01-03-transmission-fluid-exchange-w-pics.html

handogg

That CAN work for the 04-06 models (mine) you just refill in a different place

Good link.. Thx

Johnhav430

My understanding is it's 2.5 qts per drain and fill. My indie and I had a conversation while under my car while it was on a lift, and he stated while you can DIY at home, it's not that easy. He gets $86 per drain/fill and so I just let him do it. He cut me a solid and actually did 2 and 3 on the same visit, which probably saved me $55 or so, because he did charge me for 2 extra quarts of WS. I think he's honest because I asked should I come back again for another? He said you mean right away? I said yes and he said no, I would wait at least a year, because you got 3 of them by now, you really don't need a 4th.

From memory, and I can't find that Toyota chart that was posted, when 3 drain/fills are completed, the old fluid goes from 100%, to 55%, to 30%, to 17% of the original leftover. When #2 was completed, my fluid was still black. That's 55% original, 45% new. Doing a drain/fill #4 and #5 would get original down to 9% and 5%, but the conventional wisdom says 3 is good enough....

This guy emphasizes the temp must be between 104F and 113F on Toyota products, and has a kit to compensate when it's higher. That's very specific. On this forum we've had people state their cars were not level and on ramps, others who simply replaced what came out (hot came out, cold went in, implying an overfill condition), basically saying it's not that important to follow the factory procedure. Now our cars from what I read want 115F to 130F, that would be better than 104F where the car needs to be left overnight.

I need to ask my indie that he emphasized how important the temp is, but how did he get my temp down from me driving there, to no more than 130F? It's so amazing how complicated the process got from the lack of a dipstick, unbelievable...my .02

edit when the tech adjusts his contraption to 71 mm at 23:30, it implies how critical the temp of the WS is, and how hot fluid expands....

handogg

I read that "master thread" on atf change and despite the warnings I'm planning to change out ALL 10+ quarts of ATF via the cooler lines to the radiator using a pump

Johnhav430

Actually to be honest, having had manuals all my life and being around the uncle's shop, I had thought using a machine to exchange the tranny fluid and using the cooling lines was the way. It's with this Lexus that I learned many of the Toyota official procedures are drain/fill, not flush. That's what I would stick with imho, and I believe the official number is 2.5 qts., and this must be with the assumption 115-130F. Higher temp will see a higher volume come out.

Ditto with the coolant, I have never heard of simply drain what comes out of the radiator and fill it back up (I guess one can undo the block but I don't think the dealer does it as it says drain/fill on the invoice), thought that one hooked up a machine to exchange--I have seen the muffler shops do this, as well as the BMW dealership. In other words if this were a hs physics class, drain and fill would not cut it from a lab perspective, being imprecise. I would say even the WS would be heated to 115F and installed, if a physics class...

toddmorr

Even better, get a helper and just have them pour new fluid into the tranny via funnel and hose while you run the engine, pumping the old out into a drain pan. I've done this on another Toyota product and it worked great, was pretty easy to do. After literally about 60 seconds, the fluid flows clean red suddenly...you can't miss it. The person pouring new fluid in has to be quick though because the pump is fairly aggressive in pumping out all the old fluid.

Am a bit surprised this hasn't been mentioned around here...maybe the connections to the radiator are problematic or something.

911LE

Good luck. You should try drinking a soda with the straw above the level of liquid for practice first.

911LE

I don't think this will work for our cars because the dipstick tube is too long and doesn't flow fast enough to keep up with the pump. New fluid must be added slowly or you will make a mess.

handogg

There are 2 lines that run from the transmission to the radiator. One line brings hot fluid in and the other returns this fluid back to the transmission. The plan is to unhook both lines. Start the car until 1-3 quarts of ATF drains out, stop the car, and then pump the same amount of fluid back in through the return line.

Just in case I need to add via the transmission in case of a problem. What is the best side of the car to access the fill hole ?

911LE

You should only need to remove the hose I showed in the how-to. It's the one on the drivers side. You can then try to pump the new fluid into the hard line back to the trans. Take some pics and let us know how it works. I'm hoping it does as I will eventually own an 04-06 and this looks like a better way.

toddmorr

there is no dipstick on the 04-06 cars.

You would just use a funnel attached to something like a 3/8 inch plastic tube feeding into the fill hole of the tranny. As long as the person dumping fluid into the funnel was steady and kept at it you'd be fine.

911LE

That concept seems sound but that's too many sources for leaks and component failure for me.

This is why it is recommended to do one quart at a time. We know there are 2.5 "extra" quarts in the pan as this is what you get when you drain it. Removing only one quart at a time with the engine running will ensure no air is ingested by the pump.