OMG look at the state of this transmission oil

[Markspark]

Hi all following on from my post a couple of days ago i have now dropped the autobox oil and there is no sign of water in there but the condition of the oil is very bad. Now i have just been informed that as the fluid is so bad there is a high chance that the gearbox will slip or fail with new oil in (NOT GOOD) is this a common problem or is the info just incorrect

 

[StarCruiser]

I’ve heard this info generally before. The idea being that damage may have already been done to the auto box and the now thickened oil is gloopy enough to keep it going by filling gaps presumably.

You’ve got two choices, put the fluid back and carry on driving it until it fails or put New in and hope you’re in luck. Only you can decide this one. If you’ve got time you could be a bit scientific about it and check for particles in the oil etc, even send it for analysis but thus may confuse the decision making process even more. Me, I might wrap a strong magnet in a plastic bag and trawl it round in the used ATF after it has settled for a while and see what sticks to it. If not much I’d put New ATF in it and don’t look back. As a word of caution, the advice on this I’ve seen says that changing the ATF could cause the box to fail so monitor it for any signs of it being less than perfect and stop using it if you experience any slippage or other problems and retain your old oil to reuse. There may be products that help out there.

Your call I’m afraid.

 

[Markspark]

I have kept the oil from the sump which is around 4ltr but im also planning on removing the front pipes and flushing the system. i have cleaned the strainer and that is now clean and drying on a heater. The box has not been worked to hard as its only had a towbar fitted since i bought it 2.5 years ago which i use to tow our caravan but i dont drive it hard with or without the caravan on the back. im a little pigged off now at the thought of the box failing due to me dong a service on it

 

[Shayne]

Not a recommendation because i have no idea if its any good , but faced with the same worry i might stick some of this stuff in with the new oil just to add hope https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/Lucas-Oil-Transmission-Fix-Stop-Slip-710ml/1425220297

 

[Markspark]

Cheers for that as tbh i will carry on and do the flush and if it does slip i have hope using the anti slip oil in the link as if it does slip i have nothing to lose giving it a try

 

[StarCruiser]

There is a good chance you will have problems priming the system if you flush it. Don’t flush it dry would be my recommendation. The Toyota service is to remove the drain plug and allow what drains to drain. Measure the amount and put back the same amount. The process is then repeated until the ATF runs clear red after driving for a bit. There’s posts on here about flushing that’s ended in difficulty getting the box to function correctly afterwards. Toyota don’t even recommend changing the strainer as the act of letting the ATF out back flushes it to a satisfactory degree. There shouldn’t be anything in there to get in the strainer anyway.

Does the oil smell burned?

 

[leeloo]

new oil will not brake the gearbox. It will not fix it either. You change the oil to prevent damage.
Many people change it after the gearbox is already damaged than blame the oil change.

 

[Markspark]

I have had no problems at all with the gearbox the car is losing a bit of water on a run so as a precaution i have bought a new rad and atf oil just in case it was going into the gearbox but lucky for me its not

 

[Dave_S]

Mark - as described above, I would just change the oil as normal (no flush). Crappy oil vs new oil shouldn't make a toss of difference to your gearbox function, and certainly won't "break" it.

 

[StarCruiser]

Crappy oil vs new oil shouldn't make a toss of difference to your gearbox function, and certainly won't "break" it.

This could be the case depending on what’s happened inside the auto box. Hopefully it is. My caution came from this video

 

[Dave_S]

Hi SC - I can kind of see his point... though as he says, if its that crappy you're probably running on borrowed time anyway, so unless you plan on flipping the car quickly, I would suggest its still worth changing it out on the basis if the transmission isn't knackered, then it soon will be if you continue running crapped up fluid. Does that make sense? If the OP is planning on keeping the truck, personally I would change the oil.

 

[StarCruiser]

Hi SC - I can kind of see his point... though as he says, if its that crappy you're probably running on borrowed time anyway, so unless you plan on flipping the car quickly, I would suggest its still worth changing it out on the basis if the transmission isn't knackered, then it soon will be if you continue running crapped up fluid. Does that make sense? If the OP is planning on keeping the truck, personally I would change the oil.

Exactly. The question is at what point is it better to not change than to change. You can go to the Nth degree with analysis but you’ve still got to make the decision. I’m with you, I’d rather change the oil and risk it possibly developing a problem than leave it and have it definatelybdevelop a problem further down the road. If you’re attached to the car and intend keeping it then changing it has to be the best option. Of course, Scotty’s Advice is generic and given to cover all manner of US transmissions, many of which he’s not a fan of.
Incidentally, he’s a big fan of Toyota and pretty much all they make including their auto boxes.

 

[Deleted member 13129]

Hi all following on from my post a couple of days ago i have now dropped the autobox oil and there is no sign of water in there but the condition of the oil is very bad. Now i have just been informed that as the fluid is so bad there is a high chance that the gearbox will slip or fail with new oil in (NOT GOOD) is this a common problem or is the info just incorrect

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Mine was just as black as that when I drained the pan on my 120 5 speed at 80k miles and was changing gears smoothly , I drained 3.75 lt by jacking the front end up instead of removing the pan , I bought 10 lt of Manol toyota WS synthetic atf , With the help of my wife switching the engine off after 1.5 lt cumming out of radiator pipe next to the coolant overflow res by removing the pipe and connecting one to drain in a jug , I pumped back 1.5 lt back with a pump every time I took 1.5lt out , I also added 600 mills of Lube Gard Platinum high performance ATF protectant , so I replaced 10.6 lt all together I did it with the Trans cold so that the exact amount of fluid went back in as came out , the last lot came out like nearly new fluid ,unless its my imagination the trans is even smoother than before , I plan on draining the pan every 30k miles in future as I dont believe the fluid lasts the lifetime of the truck .

 

[Markspark]

Im in no way doubting anyones knowledge its a case of i had already got so far in before i gathered all the the info im now not going to flush the box im just going to replace the 5ltr that has come out when i have removed the sump. I have checked and cleaned the 4 magnets in sump they was very black/grey slimy gung there was a couple of tiny metail fragments on a couple of them but in line of thinking the car has done 194k i would of expected quite a lot more tbh
I do thank you guys for your help and advice im about to refit the sump shortly and then leave it over night to go off then refill tomorrow. But i will be unable to test as i have noticed the rear heater pipes are very corroded but still very dry, so as a precaution and not wanting to waste the new toyota antifreeze im going to fix them before i re fill the coolant

 

[Markspark]

i have now put the new atf in the box 5ltr and been out and drove about 2 mile and all seems well upto now it did go into limp mode but i dont think that has anything to do with the gearbox 78(7) fuel line malfunction is the coed stored for that one