Transsmission filter

[martynvella]

Ever since getting my 2012 SR5 I have been concerned about the lack of service recommended for the 4 speed transmission. At 100k I got in touch with penrite customer service and they told me that changing the fluid at any interval was better than never, they recommended their full synthetic atf which I used 12 litres of to drain out 4 litres at a time and replace with new 3 days in a row.

Penrite said two things lead to the breakdown of ATF, heat, and contaminants so before my recent trip towing a reasonably heavy trailer round the SA deserts I went to Toyota to buy a transmission service kit, to be told that they don't exist and if I really wanted to just wash out the screen, that's all they do but it is a waste of time.

So now having done 170k i decided to drop another 4 litres of fluid and replace it, which is about half the total fluid and fit an inline tranny fluid filter after the cooler i fitted soon after getting the ute seeing the transmission doesnt have a real filter and took a spare with me incase it blocked up and also a length of hose to so i could remove it if it caused too much restriction and caused over heating problems.

Didnt have any problems with it in the 9000 km travelled mostly in the dirt with reduced tyre pressures towing in third.

Did my 180k service today and replaced the tranny filter and out of curiosity backed flushed the old filter with brake cleaner to see what come out. Must admit i was suprised, not a lot at all, yes there were some metalic flecks but not as much as i was expecting, bugger all really but better off trapped in the filter than still circulating in the transmission.

If anyone is interested the filter i am using is a wesfilter WTF 1 tranmission filter.