2000 Toyota Corolla
I bought the car used and the previous owner said the fluid was changed. Idk when though. I’ve driven it about 15k miles since then. This is what it looks like now. I am going on a 600 mile road trip for a week on Wednesday and I might not have time to do it unless it’s really necessary. How bad is the condition and can it wait a couple more weeks? If not, I can make time for it. I really want this transmission to last another 200,000 miles at least
I would ;change it right away.
You can’t be serious ! An automatic transmission lasting for 200000 miles . Stop worrying , 600 miles is nothing . If you have time change it , if not do it when you return from the trip.
Thanks. It is looking like mine is in the middle of dark red and brown. Would I be okay with just doing a fluid change and not a flush?
Tester
23 yr old Corolla? How many miles? What part of country are you? 10 more years?
Yes. 170k miles. Connecticut. Yes at least 10 more years. I plan to keep the car for a very long time
I am serious. I’ll wait until after
I believe this is a big mistake. Your fluid is worn out. You could possibly have a transmission
failure on this trip.
I think that is is worn out but idk if a few hundred miles would be that bad for it. It’s not like the fluid is black.
33 years of Connecticut road salt? The power of positive thinking.
Some folks think changing fluid after 20 years will dislodge crud inside trans and lead to issues. You can change fluid now and it might fail. Or wait till after trip and do it and then it will fail. Or, the new fluid will not cause a failure.
I’ve seen worse from the Corolla transmissions and they still go strong. I would NOT flush, at least not the way most shops do a flush. It does not get all the bad out and Pat Goss is wrong about that.
If you want another 200k, drain and fill now, then do it again after the trip. Repeat drain and fill every 30k miles after that. BTW there is a drain plug for the transmission so pan removal is not necessary.
If the fluid was black, then find a shop with a fluid exchange (aka flush) machine and have them drain, drop the pan and clean the pan and screen, replace the pan using a new gasket and fill with fresh ATF type T-IV. Then hook up the flush machine and do a flush.
By itself, the flush machine just draws fluid from the valve body before it returns to the pan and adds fresh to the pan. The fluid for to valve body comes from the center of the pan and the added fluid is at the edge. You are not flushing the pan, just diluting the old fluid with fresh until it looks good.
By draining and cleaning the pan and filling it with fresh ATF, then hooking up the flush machine, the flush draws the dirty fluid from the valve body which is replaced by fresh ATF from the pan. This is a true flush. And only use Toyota T-IV ATF, not some generic with some additives from a separate bottle.
Don’t listen to this guy.
Just more misinformation.
Tester
If it were me I would change it but I change every 30,000. I can do 600 miles standing on my head so any damage is already done. My riviera had 350,000 miles on it and because I was driving all over the state, I had the trans overhauled as a pre-emptive repair. Not fun to have transmission problems at 20 below and 400 miles from home. At any rate the guys said it didn’t look all that bad when they tore it apart. Who knew how long it would have gone?
@Tester, put a pan, any pan will do, and fill it with some dirty water. The set up a syphon in the middle of the pan and replace the water being syphoned out with fresh clear water. Tell me you think you’ve “flushed” enough water out that you would drink it.
Your link claims that they use the machine to pump out all the fluid and then refill. You’re previous links claimed that they only used the transmissions pumps. If both are true, then why not just pull the plug and start the engine, put it in gear and let it dump all the ATF from the body, then shut down and refill.
Oh wait a minute, we had a poster here once that did just that and the results weren’t good.
I take it you didnt take everyones advice to change your transmission fluid when you repaired the cooler lines.
