Changing Atf

[w77]

I have read here before that you can siphon or extract some fluid by inserting a small tube in the dipstick hole in case you overfill your transmission. It might be a stupid question but would it be possible to use an oil extractor (like the one they're selling on Ebay) to extract as much ATF then replacing it with the same amount of new ATF?

[w77]

Anyone?

[norlec]

Anyone?

Yes they are brilliant and cheap,I used one for filling my gearbox and of course as you say extraction as well they are really well made for the money.

Norman

[TigerFish]

If the IS box is anything like the GS one, even by removing the drain plug and draining the oil doesn't remove all of the oil. What I am saying is be aware that using the oil extractor will I'm guessing not remove all of the oil by quite a bit (assuming it is like a GS). Which isn't ideal really. You really need to do the drain properly from the drain plug and the oil cooler pipes.

[SINGH182]

u also need to open up the gearbox sump and change the oil filter. otherwise theres no point in changing the oil.

[w77]

I've just phoned 3 automatic gearbox specialists in my area and all of them do the ATF change by just draining the sump. None of them do a full flush as mentioned above (from the sump and the hose from the oil cooler) and all of them are charging over a 100 quids, just for the labour. One of them also mentioned that others drain their sump twice (the second time after running a few miles). So it's basically dilluting the old oil with the fresh one.

My car has done 118k miles and the ATF looks dark but not completely black. Checked my brothers car (not Lexus but also got six cylinders) which has only done 35k miles and driven sensibly without any abuse from new and found out that his ATF condition is not much different from mine, smells the same as well.

So decided to go ahead with my experiment, bought this extractor from eBay for £7 and down to Toyota dealer for the Toyota T IV fluid (£48 for 5 litres). Extracted the fluid from the dipstick hole and managed to get just over 1.5 litres. I will do these 3 times with few days interval on each change till I finish the 5 litres. By the third change the transmission should contain half of new and half of old oil. Might be a useless fluid change for some of you as the filter won't be changed but I think it's better than not changing the oil at all and for only £50.