I recently purchased an 08 Toyota Tacoma PreRunner V6 with 102,000 miles. I am the third owner of the truck. The original owner's manual and service records were in the glovebox. The truck appears to have been taken care of by the previous owners (exterior, interior, frame, etc.) The oil has been changed every 3-5 thousand miles. However, there is no evidence that the transmission fluid has been changed. I checked with Toyota Service and there are no records of any fluids changed through a Toyota dealership. I would like to get as many years/miles as possible out of the truck.
What would be your recommendation for the transmission fluid change? Drain and fill or leave it alone? Also, do you recommend conventional or synthetic oil for the age, mileage vehicle?
does the owner's manual make a recommendation?
It actually doesn't. It does mention checking at 60K, 120K. It seems like everyone I talk to has differing opinions. Some say it's a sealed system and doesn't need to be replaced at all. Some say to change at 60K if used for towing or in dirty environment. With not having a dipstick it's not as easy to simply check.
I would do a drain & fill yeah. 100k seems like a good milestone
Full flush for me, extremely controversial subject matter.
I full flush every 50k.....
it only seems to be controversial to you, though. Everyone else here more or less agrees.
It is controversial, some say drain and fill, some say full flush, not here, but in general. I’m not saying whose right or wrong, he’s just asking for an opinion.
He can decide what is in his best interest.
In general , there's a lot of heresay and misinformation among armchair mechanics on the internet. I think if you asked professionals, there would not be very much controversy.
Sounds good, moving on.
As for the transmission fluid - which to use - check the owner’s manual.
