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With about 51k miles on the clock, I decided to do a tranny fluid replacement. Like others on this board I did not trust the so called “lifetime fluid” oem fluid. I thought I better replace it, well, at least for now the four quarts in the pan. I also replaced the oem filter while I had the pan off. The worst two parts of the job was 1) the removal and reinstallation of the massive plastic shroud with accompanying multiple bolts and those stubborn plastic fasteners, and 2) accessing three of the pan bolts neatly hidden above a body bracket. Copious amounts of foul language helped me through the aggravation of removing and reinstalling these three bolts. The other bolts were easy. I did notice that ‘blue’ thread locker was used. So I used some on the reinstall of the pan bolts. One needs a 10mm offset boxed end wrench and a lot of patience to remove and reinstall the bolts. I also used an air wrench and a combination Gearwrench. The nearest Toyota dealership is 45 miles away. So I chose a Duralast (Autozone brand #TF174) that looked amazing similar, but not identical, to the OEM one. After some research I chose to use Valvoline Dextron VI full synth fluid and not the Toyota stuff. I am sure to get some tomatoes thrown my way for that decision. Note the pics that show how dirty the used fluid is as compared to fresh fluid. Eep! The used fluid smelled normal, so no problem. Please don’t tell wifey I used her precious crystal clear glasses to get a good comparo pic. As others have reported here, there was a large amount of mega fine metallic debris collected by the two magnets in the pan. From my experience I would consider it an acceptable amount given the mileage. I cleaned the pan and magnets with brake fluid cleaner and rags. Everything buttoned up just fine and the tranny has performed well since the work.
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I’d like to hear comments from others who have performed this service as well as questions from those contemplating this work.
I’d like to hear comments from others who have performed this service as well as questions from those contemplating this work.





