03 tranny flush?

[01ves800]

Hi
My name is Travis I have Been reading and searching on this site since my dad bought the truck new in 03 and a couple of months ago decided to join.In feb of 07 he bought one of the first new tundras and i upgraded from my 87 to his old 03 trd tundra ac with the v8, 4wd and a340F transmission. This truck had a hard life towing our 8k pound tractor numerouse times , a 4 place live stock trailer and 5 round bales, 21ft boat all several times. I have been searching for 3 nights and read many many posts on this topic.My qeustion is , Right now i have 96,000 miles on the truck and the tranny fluid has never been changed, but the transmision slips from fist to second (elongated shift) under moderate and hard acceleration. Probably 95% of the time it slips and the other 5 is feel ok. I have also read that these trannys have very sloppy shifts especaily from first to second. Alot of poeple i have talked to said leave it be with over 90k and there are guys on here that changed it for the first time with 130k. I have already spoken with jon at itp about rebuilding the whole thing and am prepared to do so but he also said i could run it another 40k and be ok. Would a fluid change help or hinder the situation?Or should i just scrap the whole idea and go buy and 05 with the updated 5sp and 282hp, or a titan. Has any member had the full reabuild from him?Thanx alot guys By the way i just cant seem to get enough of this site i think i am a tundraholic.

[djosephm]

Sounds like you have a problem there. If it were my truck and had the probs you've been describing I would have a mechanic that specializes in transmissions look at your transmission. I think Tundras are nice and great quality, and if the problem is fixed you probably wont experience a different problem to fix right after the other is fixed as in other vehicles.

Now if going to a mechanic is too troublesome for you and you wanna try some troubleshooting, this might help from the little I know...

Take out your tranny dipstick and smell the fluid... does it smell burnt or is it normal smelling. What color is it? ATF IV is a ruby color new, and should be red if the fluid is good.

Now different mechanics have written opposing articles on the subject of changing the transmission fluid. Some write that if the fluid is indeed bad and the tranny is shot, it is on its last leg and just don't mess with it and save for a new transmission. Others would advise to completely flush the system... they would say you'd be foolish to run bad fluid.

Me though, I would simply drain the 5 quarts of ATF IV that's in your automatic transmission pan, take off the automatic transmission pan, clean out the pan and clean off the 3 magnets in the pan, replace the transmission filter with a new transmission filter available at your local autozone. Their rewards program there is awesome.

I believe their is a viable chance for this to fix the problem, and it might be worth the cost. 5 quarts of ATF IV will cost you about 25 bucks at your local Toyota dealer and if I remember right your transmission filter will be about 40 bucks.

My .02.

Dan

[2XOverhead]

I don't see how a simple drain and fill would hurt. Flushing is another story though. Many will tell you that flushing a likely worn tranny may be a bad idea.

If you want to flush most of the ATF out yourself, go here....DIY: ATF Flush, With Pics.. That said, just to be on the safe side, I'd wait and see what others might say about this.

[PapaPS]

Well I have over 100,000 on my 03, I have never had any issues at all with it, my nefew and a old school mate are both shop formen at different toyota dealers...........I was told my fluid was not bad yet, at 105,000........but I questioned if it would be a good idea to flush it or not, I was told if there were no issues present, a simple flush would be good, now there are different types of fluid/and transmissions in an 03.........I was lucky and mine was around either $79 or $129 , I cant remember..........But I had the cheaper type.........

[stevekx]

Flushing is ok, as long as the person doing it, sets the machine to low pressure. I have a 1995 Buick with 150K and the tranny started to slip. We had my guy do a flush at low pressure (it takes a little longer) and the tranny is fine now.

On the 2003 Tundra if you decide to do the flush make sure you get 12+ qts of Toyota tranny fluid.

[01ves800]

Originally Posted by stevekx

Flushing is ok, as long as the person doing it, sets the machine to low pressure. I have a 1995 Buick with 150K and the tranny started to slip. We had my guy do a flush at low pressure (it takes a little longer) and the tranny is fine now.

On the 2003 Tundra if you decide to do the flush make sure you get 12+ qts of Toyota tranny fluid.

Would it be ok if i did the method in the diy tranny fluid flush.The other thing i am worried about is my toyota dealership, i work right next door (actualy the hospital i work for is leasing the dealership the property) they are not what i would call a reputable mechanic. They have screwed me in the past and many others on work ,I called them for a flush and they told me it would be 100 even and who even knows if they would pull the tranny pan. I have talked to many people around my area that are known mechanics and I have gotten so many mixed opionons that I dont know what to go with which led me to my decision to make my first post.I have herd that a flush from a machine (like what my dealer has) loosens up all the burnt material on the walls of the lines and gets caught in your shift valves and tourqe converter.I have also herd of the product trans x or somthing like that, that you use right before a flush to get all that material off the line walls so when you do flush it you get it all out. I am also an atv mechanic and to me it seems to get new fluid in there would be the best start to a solution and like i mentioned i am prepared to send it to john at ipt for the full rebuild. Hopeing for more performance when he would be complete. But i figured if i could make it last longer would be a plus, so i can save that money for a supercharger now. I think i may just drop the pan this weekend and look at the mags and clean the filter (i think they are just cleanable) and add what ever is drained out.Thanx for making my first post informative to me. Anyone have any info on the full tranny rebuild from ipt (performance wise) and how they liked it i would be interested in what you ve all got to say.If i gota have it done it may as well be better than it was to start with. Thanx

[ejsharp]

Well my experience has been that a shift problem with an automatic is usually caused by a clogged filter. A flush would entail a new filter so I think the flush may have had no effect but the change of filter cured the problem. The shifting pumps in the trans cannot operate if they cannot get sufficient fluid through the filter.

[Greenie]

The DIY transmission flush as outlined on this forum is easy to accomplish. Take your time and pay attention to details. Then you know it is done right.

I changed out the fluid on my 2001 at high mileage using the DIY found on this forum. I did the sixteen quart flush which got most of the old fluid out. I used synthetic (Mobil1) and installed a Magnefine in-line filter for added protection. Be careful not to overfill.

Experienced no problems. The transmission shifts noticeably smoother than before. This may sound like overkill but I change my transmission fluid once a year.

I did not drop the pan when I did my first fluid change since the dealer had already done this service earlier. It's my understanding that this transmission does not have a filter per se but a screen which can be cleaned and re-used.

Be sure to use Toyota's proprietary sealant when re-installing the pan.

[VIP-01]

If your tranny has over 100,000 miles on it with no fluid change I would say it is beyond a flush by now. The 5-speeds are pretty tough and can take alot, but an '03 model 4-speed might not be able to. Slipping in or out of gear is usually due to low fluid levels or old broke down fluid. I would suggest flushing the entire system in an attempt to remove all the junk fluid from the torque converter, valves and gears. And hope that you don't have a material break down problem with metalic particals stuck in your filter or gears. At this point I would say pull the tranny pan, replace the filter, flush the system, run a synthetic fluid and hope for the best. You said your truck has spent it's life towing heavy loads so far so I'm sure it is getting a bit tired. The 5-speed that was introduced in '05 is a very strong tranny with lower gearing in first and second without sacrificing highway cruising. You might be better off upgrading if your old tranny can't be salvaged

[BAD BONEZ BJ]

Looks like a low pressure tranny flush is in my near future too. My '03 just started to slip between 2nd and 3rd when I have my foot in it hard. Normal driving, I get good, firm shifts. I think at the highr RPM it might be starving for fluid. Won't hurt to flush it, drop pan, and change filter, and it's still low mileage at 52K.

[01ves800]

The other positive thing to look at for me is there is no burnt smell if i pull the dipstick out and smell the fuild and its not black its still a red color.The starangest thing is it only slips about 90% of the time the other 10% feels good.I guess i am just gana go ahead and give it a change,The other thing i noticed is toyota recomonds not useing dexron III in the 03-04 tundra trannys it recomends toyota grade TVI VI or somthing starnge like that.I read up on this forum about it and from what i can tell the only tranny fluid that meets this requirment beside toyta fluid is royal purple.The other thing i need to know is the stuff you run right before a flush called trans x or somthing, is that good to use before a flush or not.

[BAD BONEZ BJ]

Automatic transmission flush, I plan to use this stuff, in for only a short while before the fluid flush - Lubegard, Automatic transmission flush, Order Lubegard on line here

Here is some other reading for you if you plan on having a machine flush - Transmission Flushing and I like the second approach, but will have to shop around for a shop that can do that for me.

However, I do plan to use Royal Purple as they claim their ATF is now Toyota Type T-IV and in the '03 that is very important!

Good luck with your trannie and keeps us posted on how it goes....
BJ

[01ves800]

well hey thanx alot for that bit of info.In all my searchings and researching i havent read that.Well that answered one of my biggest ?s.My fluid is not burnt smelling or brown in color and there is no metal on the dipstick (there probly wouldnt be anyways due to the magnets in the pan) therefore i figure a fluid change with royal puprple fluid would probly be a good idea.Now i have 2 more qestions that didnt answer, Were is the trans filter located in the 03 tundra? and would the diy trans flush be a good idea or shuld i find one of these machines? I dont like relieing on others to do my work even though there are some tasks that must be outsourced. I would rather keep 1 to 2qts of old fluid in my trans and inspect the rest myself and fill the rest my self useing the method in the diy section. But if this will so more harm to the trans then i will try to locate one of those machines.Thanx for all the info and probly next weekend when my g/f starts driving her other car is when i will go for it, the if anything goes wrong or need parts i can take hers to work in the morn. Will be a good time to put the lift on that has been sitting in there. lol thanx again for the info from everyone


OOps looks like i answered my own qestion about the filter.

[BAD BONEZ BJ]

From what I read, that second type machine will require 20 qts of ATF and the DIY method is about 14 qts.

There is no mixing old with new fluids in the machine method, the DIY method mixes.

With your higher mileage, you might just want the DIY method. I've read that flushing a higher mileage trans that is having problems, usually helps toast them.

Good luck with it! I see a external/changable trans filter in the future for mine. I want it to last more than the 52K currently on it.

[01ves800]

I just got back from advanced and they tried giving me a line of crap that the filter has to be changed and i tried to tell them it was cleanable.Ahh But i got the lubegard down there 4 50 for the 10 oz bottle and they couldnt get me royal purple fluid.Since i work right next to the toyota dealership i will just zip over and grab some fluid, i will be over there to take my brother truck for the frame recall. Esepcailly since if i flush it and it does go bad then i wont waste the cash on royal p.I was just reading up on those in line filters and definetly sound like a good idea i just gata find a place to get one.Closer and closer every day i am also starting to feel more comfortable doing it since a ton of people on here are changing the fluid with well over 100k and everyone seems to be in agreement if it doesnt stink or look brown your ok.O well we will just hope for the best after everything is all said and done.If it goes well i will be doing the g/f accord seems to shift really hard through all the gears.