Dear Scotty I enjoy watching your Channel and a question has arose that someone had said that I should leave the transmission fluid alone and not change it after it has passed a certain amount of miles. The question is I'm about to a 2010 Toyota Camry LE with 148,000 Mi on it and there are some people that say to change the transmission fluid and others say to leave it alone what do you suggest I do please let me know as soon as possible I appreciate your wisdom and knowledge thank you hope to hear from you soon
We have been asked this kind of question here approximately a quadrillion times. For this reason, details about changing transmission fluid have been collected in the site FAQ.
Aside from that be sure to have a good mechanic check the car out before you buy it. (Having it looked at afterwards is too late!) In particular, the 2AZ-FE 4-cylinder engine of that time period is well known to be an oil burner. (Six cylinder models are not affected.)
https://www.carcomplaints.com/Toyota/Camry/2010/
https://www.carcomplaints.com/Toyota/Camry/2010/engine/
Stick to the basics.
1. Prepurchase inspection by a proper mechanic is always recommended
2. If the ATF was not changed within the first 50,000 miles, it's not advised due to shed material contributing to viscosity of fluid as it works its way through the engine. Once changed, even partially, it will have greater flow and less viscosity, resulting in loss of pressure resulting in slippage.
nonsense. you can definitely still change it at 60k, and I've done it successfully several times at over 100k. My 2nd generation transmission mechanic also says it's rare. If it starts slipping, then the transmission is already finished anyway.
Clutch material would change the friction properties of the fluid, not viscosity. The only way to get loss of pressure is low fluid, blocked filter, or failed pump.
Toyota changed at 100k started slipping
Subaru at 160k started slipping, as you said, maybe on it's way out
I guess GM makes better transmissions than Toyota & Subaru
I'd say go ahead and do a drain and fill at least, but probably best to drop the pan and replace filter.
