Hey Scotty, love your content. I've got a 2015 Tacoma Sr5 2.7 4cyl, automatic trans, great condition. Only 1 previous owner (my uncle). it's got mostly highway miles. I've seen several of your previous videos on why not to change auto trans fluid. however for my specific situation, would you say I should change mine? my uncle never did any hauling or towing as far as he told me... other than hauling a couple loads of bricks from Virginia to Pennsylvania.. with 150k on it, would you recommend changing the trans fluid at this point? or should I just leave it be?? Thanks in advance.
did your uncle ever change it?
@mountainmanjoe
As far as I know he did not. Now I know Toyota claims "ooohh it's a sealed unit, no maintenance required" which I know is just ridiculous. But at the same time I've heard every 60k should be the rule, and that sounds right to me. Idk, what would you say? it shifts smoothly, I don't notice anything strange, other than sometimes on the freeway, 3rd into 4th can seem somewhat hard though not very noticeable..I figure it's just the combination of the engine trans setup making it feel that way, as the 2.7 is a torque-ey little motor. it all runs and shifts just fine as far as i can tell.
It depends on a few things.
Like the condition of the truck. It's got quite a few miles and it's only a 4cyl. How rusty it is... how much a tranny rebuild costs and if it's worth it.
I might drop a long hose through the dipstick tube to pan, and us an oil transfer pump to suck some fluid out. Inspect it for clutch material and metal flake. I'm not too familiar with Toyotas so I might show it to a transmission shop and see what they say.
@mountainmanjoe
Well the truck spent its 5 year life in Virginia, so if youre referring to rust in general, there is none. I live in PA, where salty winter roads are an issue, but it hasn't seen such conditions yet. So the truck is incredibly clean underneath and hasn't experienced anything corrosion-wise. But yeah I don't have the resources/tools or even the time to do anything in depth as far as checking the transmission condition. I can only guess and hope that all is well unless I take it to someone who can. But again, all seems to be functioning as designed. I simply want everything to last as long as possible. I actually had an 07 Tacoma same model, with 260k on it before this one.. but that one had a 5 spd manual. Original clutch believe it or not. And as impressive as that was, I don't trust automatics of any kind. even if it is a Taco. So that's why I have a concern at all.
ok so it sounds like it might be worth keeping the truck for a while.
Find out how much a tranny rebuild costs, and then ask yourself if you would pay that to keep the truck. If the answer is yes, then yeah I would absolutely drop the pan. You said there have been no transmission issues so far, right, so it seems pretty unlikely that the transmission would suddenly develop a serious problem.
@mountainmanjoe
Hmmm ok thanks I will definitely ponder on this. I absolutely want this truck to last as long as possible. maybe even as long as the 'world famous tacoma' on youtube that has 1.2 MILLION miles on it (same angine/trans as mine)... haha well ok idk about that but if I get anywhere close to that I'd be happy. thanks a bunch for the input.
You're welcome. Let us know how it goes. That kind of feedback is invaluable.
Highway or city mileage does not matter when talking about transmissions because they go through the same amount of strain whether driving on the highway or in the city. Highway driving may involve less shifting, but this does not make a big difference in determining wear. I would change the fluid and filter if the transmission is running rough and not shifting smoothly. If it's shifting great, especially at this mileage, I wouldn't change it because new fluid may cause some slipping in the transmission. It's a bit more risky doing a fluid change at this mileage when it hasn't been changed before. Now if the fluid was changed once before, then definitely you can change the fluid again because that fluid is not as old and it shows the transmission can handle new, less frictional fluid to operate properly (meaning the clutch-packs are not worn out as much).
@razmigb
Alright so you suggest not changing it at this point as it will give me greater chance of it lasting much longer and getting the ultimate amount of long lasting life out of it then... I understand and that makes sense. I was thinking about taking it to my local dealer to have them do it but if what you say is the better option then so be it. I'll leave it alone. Thanks for the response. much appreciated.
No problem! And of course it's from my experience. I had an 08 Mazda3 and I decided to change the fluid at ~170,000 miles. At the beginning it was good, but I guess when the new fluid cycled through the transmission it started to shift rough (didn't take long maybe like a few hundred miles). Usually these newer "sealed" transmissions use a special longer life fluid. It still goes bad eventually but not as fast compared to older transmission fluids.