Re: Black Transmission Fluid - - Any Hope???

"decoyfred" <decoyfred.2plqbd (AT) no-mx (DOT) nodomain.com> wrote

Hey all,

My wife and I just got hitched and I've now inherited the
responsibility of maintaining her little 2002 Toyota Rav4... her
pride
and joy. I've been taking it in for its regular oil changes for a
while
now and decided to check on the transmission fluid the other day...
turns out it's never been changed. Ever.

The car now has over 120K miles and has no super-major transmission
concerns "yet," but the tranny fluid is, of course, about as black
as
it gets. I was about to have the fluid and filter changed out but
the
mechanic said that once it gets that dark it's better to leave it in
and start saving for a new tranny. He explained that the sediment in
the fluid, if drained, would settle into the transmission's inner
parts
and more than likely ruin it right away.

Does anyone have any experience with something like this? Is it
possible to save this tranny? Is this an exaggeration?

Thanks in advance for your help and shared knowledge! :smokin:


--
decoyfred

You'd probably get a better answer from the people in the Toyota
newsgroup.

Ed

"C. E. White" <cewhite3 (AT) removemindspring (DOT) com> wrote

"decoyfred" <decoyfred.2plqbd (AT) no-mx (DOT) nodomain.com> wrote in message
news:decoyfred.2plqbd (AT) no-mx (DOT) nodomain.com...

Hey all,

My wife and I just got hitched and I've now inherited the
responsibility of maintaining her little 2002 Toyota Rav4... her pride
and joy. I've been taking it in for its regular oil changes for a while
now and decided to check on the transmission fluid the other day...
turns out it's never been changed. Ever.

The car now has over 120K miles and has no super-major transmission
concerns "yet," but the tranny fluid is, of course, about as black as
it gets. I was about to have the fluid and filter changed out but the
mechanic said that once it gets that dark it's better to leave it in
and start saving for a new tranny. He explained that the sediment in
the fluid, if drained, would settle into the transmission's inner parts
and more than likely ruin it right away.

Does anyone have any experience with something like this? Is it
possible to save this tranny? Is this an exaggeration?

Thanks in advance for your help and shared knowledge! :smokin:


--
decoyfred

You'd probably get a better answer from the people in the Toyota
newsgroup.

Ed

Just have the automatic transmission fluid drained and re-filled by someone
other than the one who told you not to change the fluid. Do not get it
flushed, or you can run into problems from sediment getting lodged in small
passages.
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

I burned the transmission fluid in my 91 Camry very badly. Severl mechinics
told me the same story ... buy a new car ... the trainsmission is going to
fail soon ... waste of money ... etc.

I went to a transmisison shop and they dropped the pan on the transmission
(150K miles) and found no dirt, no metal particles, it was totally cleaned.
I flushed it 4 times to get it totally clean and now the car has 230K on it
with no problems. I never changed the oil before. The car runs perfectly.

I checked with several junk yards and they told me Toyota transmissions
never fail.

I hope this helps

Mel




"C. E. White" <cewhite3 (AT) removemindspring (DOT) com> wrote

"decoyfred" <decoyfred.2plqbd (AT) no-mx (DOT) nodomain.com> wrote in message
news:decoyfred.2plqbd (AT) no-mx (DOT) nodomain.com...

Hey all,

My wife and I just got hitched and I've now inherited the
responsibility of maintaining her little 2002 Toyota Rav4... her pride
and joy. I've been taking it in for its regular oil changes for a while
now and decided to check on the transmission fluid the other day...
turns out it's never been changed. Ever.

The car now has over 120K miles and has no super-major transmission
concerns "yet," but the tranny fluid is, of course, about as black as
it gets. I was about to have the fluid and filter changed out but the
mechanic said that once it gets that dark it's better to leave it in
and start saving for a new tranny. He explained that the sediment in
the fluid, if drained, would settle into the transmission's inner parts
and more than likely ruin it right away.

Does anyone have any experience with something like this? Is it
possible to save this tranny? Is this an exaggeration?

Thanks in advance for your help and shared knowledge! :smokin:


--
decoyfred

You'd probably get a better answer from the people in the Toyota
newsgroup.

Ed

"Mel" <NS_mel (AT) texas (DOT) net> wrote

I checked with several junk yards and they told me Toyota
transmissions never fail.

Well, I have personal knowledge of two that failed - 84 Cressida and
89 Camry (kept working, but leaked so much oil you had to add it
before leaving the house).

Ed

"Hachiroku ????" <Trueno (AT) AE86 (DOT) gts> wrote

On Wed, 02 May 2007 08:46:02 -0400, C. E. White wrote:


"Mel" <NS_mel (AT) texas (DOT) net> wrote in message
news:f19vs1$t8q$2 (AT) aioe (DOT) org...

I checked with several junk yards and they told me Toyota
transmissions
never fail.

Well, I have personal knowledge of two that failed - 84 Cressida
and 89
Camry (kept working, but leaked so much oil you had to add it
before
leaving the house).

Ed


I'm surprised...that the Cressida wasn't the leaky one.
At least in '88 the Supra and the Cressida were about the same
mechanically, and my tranny leaks like a sieve!

Having a 19 year old transmission leak is no big surprise (especially
if it sits a lot). But the Camry was only about 8 years old, but it
was high mileage. The d$%& Cressida transmission didn't leak, it just
shifted weird and started slipping. It was neither old nor high
mileage when it went bad.

Ed

I can't find the other post with the similar situation, and somebody
suggested to drain and fill twice to instead of a flush. The first
drain is get out the fluid then refil and use the car and drain again
after a couple of days. Makes sense to me and that will save some
money, as Michael would say ATF is cheap and a new transmission is
not.

By the way which is better? a flush or a dropping the pan?

"EdV" <systmengr (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

I can't find the other post with the similar situation, and somebody
suggested to drain and fill twice to instead of a flush. The first
drain is get out the fluid then refil and use the car and drain again
after a couple of days. Makes sense to me and that will save some
money, as Michael would say ATF is cheap and a new transmission is
not.

By the way which is better? a flush or a dropping the pan?

Do not flush the transmission!!!

It is not necessary to drop the pan. Just drain and re-fill.
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

"EdV" <systmengr (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

By the way which is better? a flush or a dropping the pan?

I wouldnt flush. If the tranny has a filter, I would (and do)
drop the pan, clean out any 'dregs', change the filter, and
top up with new fluid.

Hachiroku ???? wrote:

I wouldn't flush it. For every success story, there's five horror
stories!

The only horror stories are here....deep inside "old wives tales"
country!

Ian

I have heard the candle suggestion before, including from the guys at the
transmission shop that dropped the pan. The mechanic and I checked things
out and it was perfectly clean. Even the screen was totally clean. Maybe
the three (exchange) flushes (oil was still black) I did earlier cleaned it
out. The transmission has never leaked.

The mechanics I know also told me about how new oil would clean the seals
and cause leaks, the transmission would start slipping, etc.

I was so concerned that the Toyota would die at any moment that I bought a
new car ... which we hardly use. I just ordred a tow hitch and
transmission cooler.

Maybe I have just been lucky? Or maybe driving it 80 mph (100 miles R/T) to
work every day helped? I bought this car new so I know its history.

The neat thing about newsgroups is you get input from a lot of people.

So far so good.

Mel






"C. E. White" <cewhite3 (AT) removemindspring (DOT) com> wrote

"Mel" <NS_mel (AT) texas (DOT) net> wrote


I checked with several junk yards and they told me Toyota transmissions
never fail.

Well, I have personal knowledge of two that failed - 84 Cressida and 89
Camry (kept working, but leaked so much oil you had to add it before
leaving the house).

Ed