2013 Rav4 Full Transmission fluid flush at home.
This Rav4 is my wife's daily driver. She's a pretty conservative driver, won't go more then 5mph over the speed limit when on the highway. I hate driving with her, I'm a lead foot.
Having to use her car for several day's, I noticed when getting on the highway that there was a slight stumble when shifting between 4th and 5th gear. Other then that, everything seemed normal. The car now has a little over 66K miles. I bought it with 22K miles on it, was clean as a whistle and came with all the service records.
After not finding a tranny dip stick I realized that the Rav4 has a "Sealed" tranny just like my 17 Murano. I went online searching and came across a bunch of posts and the 38 minute video about checking/changing the "Sealed" tranny fluid. Pretty daunting, started to think that I wouldn't be able to do it, and I've rebuilt manual/auto trannies and engines. Not one to give up easily, and really hate having anyone else work on my vehicles, I went ahead and ordered a tranny filter kit and 8 qts of Toyota WS tranny fluid. This tranny holds 6.9 qts.
The car set in my garage for several days, at about 50 degrees F this time of year, until the filter and oil came in. Set the parking brake, turned the front wheels to the left, jacked up the car on the driver's side a little and set a jack stand. After removing the front wheel liner shield I removed the "WS" fill bolt. Removing the WS bolt confirmed my suspensions that the tranny fluid was having issues. Fluid that was on the inside of hollow WS fill bolt was brown and sticky, but didn't have a burnt smell.
I removed the underbody shield and placing a clean catch pan under the tranny, I removed the drain plug. I waited about 15 minutes figuring that the oil would be draining slowly due to the temp. Next the level straw inside the drain plug opening was removed, again waiting about 15 minutes. The tranny oil pan bolts came out pretty easily except for a few that needed a small shot of JB Blaster. The tranny oil pan still held about 3/4 qt of fluid even after there wasn't anything coming out of the drain hole. Removed the tranny filter and another 1/2 qt of fluid came out.
Examining the inside of the tranny oil pan, both magnets had a good coating of particles and the bottom of the pan had a thin layer of sludge. Pouring the tranny fluid into a clean old oil jug filled it to about the 3 7/8 qt mark. The oil was a dark heavy brown, nothing like tranny fluid, but no burnt smell.
After waiting a good hour for everything to stop dripping, excess fluid was mopped up, gasket area cleaned and new filter installed. Cleaned, installed level straw, drain plug and installed the pan with a new gasket, without any gasket sealer, and poured 4 qts of tranny fluid into the tranny thru the WS drain plug hole using a long flex necked funnel.
Wanting to fully flush out the old tranny fluid, I decided that I'd try using the engine to pump out the old tranny fluid. After removing the return (Upper line from the tranny to the cooler.) hose that goes to the 5" round tranny cooler located at the front of the engine from the metal return line, a 3/8" clear hose was inserted into the return tranny hose and the other end of the clear hose was stuck in to another clean old oil jug.
The low pressure flow rate out of the return hose while the car is running is about one qt per 5 - 6 seconds, so you don't have to worry about the pan getting sucked dry quickly. I had a helper adding tranny fluid while the old fluid was pumping out to maintain the fluid level in the tranny. Most tranny pans will hold 4 qts of tranny fluid when dry before getting close to the overflow tube, varying upon the manufacturer.
After opening 3 qts of tranny fluid the engine was started. As tranny fluid flowed out into the jug, new tranny fluid was poured into the funnel left in the WS fill hole. After about 2 1/2 qts flowed into the jug, it started to turn red. Let the engine run for about another 2 seconds and ended up with a fluid level in the jug just under 3 qts. Finished pouring in the third qt of fluid into the tranny.
Installed and tightened the WS fill bolt, removed the jack stand and let the car down off the jack. Started the car and waited for the engine temp gauge to go up. Got under the car and using a Temp gun aimed at the tranny oil pan, waited until the tranny oil pan was at about 109 degrees F. Removed the drain plug and about 1/4 cup of tranny fluid came out before going to a pencil lead thin stream that immediately slowed to a steady dribble. I then replaced the drain plug and tightened it up. Wiped everything down to remove all the tranny fluid and replaced the underbody shield and front wheel well shield.
Drove the car around town doing a few errands. Shifted smooth and seemed to be a little quieter then before. Went back home, let the car cool down some and got under it to check for any leaks. Everything looked good. No sign of red fluid anywhere.
So I drove the car to where my wife works, 7 miles up the highway. Shift stumble was gone and the acceleration was smoother along with the RPM being a little lower at speed. Swapped out cars and went to do my thing.
When I got home that evening, after hearing about how when she got out of work, she thought my car was stolen before she spotted her car fiasco, she surprised me by telling me that she noticed how her Rav4 was quieter and was shifting smoother, along with being a little peppier.
I hope that this helps out others who want to fully flush out their "Sealed" tranny at home. I figure that I replaced a good 98% of the tranny fluid. I'm glad that I didn't go to one of those shops that just uses a pump to replace the fluid. The gunk on the bottom of the pan would have ended up mixing with the new fluid and I'm sure that tranny would have craped out sooner then later. Next time I have to bring the Rav4 to the dealer I'll ask them to check the tranny fluid level. Except for a few vehicle specific issues, this guide can be used to change out the tranny fluid of any "Sealed" tranny.
Have a good day. :smile
PS Anyone who want's to rewrite this as a straight walkthrough can be my guest. Sorry I didn't take any photos.
