3rd & 4th Generation (1992–1996 & 1997–2001)Toyota Camry Discussion for years: 1992-1996 & 1997-2001
Topics of discussion range from fuel economy, safety, modifications, performance all involving America's favorite family car, the Toyota Camry.
I've got a 96 Toyota Camry with a little over 220,000 miles. I bought it with 150,000 and it had been poorly maintained. I'm considering a trans oil change and flush, but I've heard the horror stories about trans failure shortly after an oil change from dislodged dirt.
I'm just wanting to milk another 50,000 out of this car.. I've already changed the rear main seal, rack and pinion, p/s pump. Getting ready to do a timing belt, water pump and seal job.
What do you think? Thanks for your help in advance.
If this were my car: I would NOT flush the trans - !
Here is why: this site. I have been on this site for years and have read several posts from people (search) who flushed their high mileage transmissions (greater then 100,000 or so), which then failed shortly afterwards! The consensus seemed to be that the crud was holding it together, allowing the clutches in the auto trans to shift, and the flushing dislodged and that killed the trans. I know that sounds weird but i have to agree - at these miles, if the trans works, i'd leave it alone.
The transmissions to flush is the one you've kept up all along. If its had its fluid changed in the past, its worthwhile to change it again. No matter what Toyota says, the additives in the transmission fluid get used up due to heat, wear and dirt, and i change the ATf in all my cars, always have. (I've never needed a new or rebuilt trans nor have i ever had transmission problems, after 10 cars.)
A lot of people (me included) just change the fluid every 30,000 or so - its easier then changing the oil, all you need is a 10 mm male hex socket and 3 or 4 qts of fluid.
But i wouldn't do that on this car.
Last edited by AlmightyCamry777; 02-12-2010 at 11:32 AM.
Poorly maintained or not, you should refresh the additive package. Just take it slow -- drain the pan and replace what you drained. That's a lot less of a change than a complete fluid exchange (like, 1/4 to 1/3 of the total fluid).
Frankly, I've never heard of a tranny failure from just a fluid exchange -- it's those damn power-flushes, especially ones with special flushing chemicals, that break everything loose at once. You see the same thing with engines -- some well-meaning joker gets a badly sludged engine, and starts dumping all kinds of crap into the motor to clean up the sludge "fast". Usually results in the pump pickup screen getting clogged, and bye-bye engine...
+100 on above ^ advice from hill8750...If the OP meant transmission oil change (just like engine oil change) GO AHEAD and DO IT.... "Transmission Flush" is kind of a misnomer. If a machine is used to force pressure through your transmission that could be risky. Try a transmission oil change first.
I just changed my transmission oil and man ...the transmission SHIFTS HELL LOT SMOOTHER. Be sure to change the Differential Oil too. If you dont know what a differential is please do a search on TN. There are absolutely excellent DIY articles if you wanna take a stab at it.
Personally I think a transmission oil change every 15K (or 30K? experts chime in) miles is good for the tranny.
__________________ 1995 Camry DX L4 178,6XX miles and counting each mile.... acquired 05/25/2007 at 129K miles
2004 Mazda6 I4 5-Speed Manual 115,500 miles acquired 01/21/2011 at 109,XXX miles
A trans that has been overheated and not maintained will varnish the fluid. This fluid tends to hold on the surfaces like plak in your veins.
The new fluid is highly detergent and can clean away varnish in sealing lands where teflon seals and O'rings go. This few mil's of varnish can be what keeps the trans from having internal leaks in its moving parts like pistons and clutch drums. Like people, teflon and rubber age and get stiff. Once the varnish is cleaned by the fresh detergent, it can in cases with hard seals induce failure.
Modern science has better products than they did 30 years ago and I'd guess you're more likely to do help it rather than hurt it UNLESS IT WAS OVERHEATED! Overheating hardens those pliable materials and those represent the cases where changing it causes failure.
Mine has nearly 220,000 on a A541E V6 machine. Fluid is bright red/pink and smells like new. When the weather warms it will have the fluid changed.
Oh - a great way to KILL a trans is by adding Stop Leak agents. They swell the seals with their either concentrate, which swells the seals and wears the varnish away. Then when the expansion product evaporates, the seals retract and the internal leaks take over! Wham - a tranny that slips and slides between gears and it burns up!
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95 Cam, V6 1MZ, Auto A541E, LE >245,000 miles!
I've got a 96 Toyota Camry with a little over 220,000 miles. I bought it with 150,000 and it had been poorly maintained. I'm considering a trans oil change and flush, but I've heard the horror stories about trans failure shortly after an oil change from dislodged dirt.
I'm just wanting to milk another 50,000 out of this car.. I've already changed the rear main seal, rack and pinion, p/s pump. Getting ready to do a timing belt, water pump and seal job.
What do you think? Thanks for your help in advance.
Don't flush it...bad idea, keep it safe,drain and refill 3 times in the row and your done.
Look at the dipstick first of all. Wipe the fluid on a clean white paper towel and see what color the fluid is. If its any sahde of reddish your good. If its realllly dark or even black dont do anything.
If it looks reddish/a little brown, drop the transmission pan and clean it out. Make sure theres no gunk or any other crap in there. Get a new gasket and refill it with with high mileage dexron 3.
Drive around for 5k miles and then just drain it and refill. Dropping the pan is only nessecary the first time to make sure theres not to much gunk and metal shavings on the magnets.
A flush will kill it. Flushes are really only beneficial every 60k miles or so if its maintained properly. On these cars however since they have a drain plug on the transmission a drain and refill every other oil change is alot cheaper and to some degree better.
There is a thread in the DIY section that shows how to change the fluid by pumping it out from the cooler line. My plan of attack in your situation would be to drop the pan and change the filter and refil with clean fluid. Drive it several hundred miles and then do the procedure in the DIY. Plan "B" would be to do several drain and refills after the initial change at 1000 mile intervals.
I agree on the drain/refill comments. Not changing it at all is like saying "my car hasn't had an oil change in 20K miles, I think it's better if I just leave it" - doesn't make much sense.
I do a drain/refill annually on both my gen 5.5 and my mom's gen 3.5. Her Camry shifts just as smooth as mine, if not smoother! Just remember to grab a $1 crush gasket from the dealer. Someone told me I could just reuse it, so I did, and it created a small leak so I drove around for a while then did another drain/refill with a new crush gasket. Now I just spend the $1 at each oil/trans fluid change for the crush gasket..much easier.
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'05 2AZ-FE @ 47K miles | '95 1MZ-FE @ 92K miles moving forward
I personally believe the "don't flush" theory is bunk and comes from the guys who start having tranmission problems and decide then to "flush the fluid" in an attempt to correct a mechanical problem which fails anyway, but for which the flush is then blamed. I've always flushed my high mileage just purchased used cars and never had a problem. I prefer the DIY method. A pan drop and screen cleaning (it's not really a filter) is recommended if you've never changed the fluid before, it also doen't hurt to see what's in there.
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1995 Camry Wagon LE. 2.2 4cyl, 5S-FE, Auto, 187K
Last edited by Stillrunning; 02-13-2010 at 03:26 AM.
Don't wipe your a$$ while you're at it because the toilet paper will wear down your skin and a hemorrhoid will develop.
I agree with "Stillrunning" why most people say not to flush the tranny. My 96' 4-Runner was poorly maintained before I bought it. Had to drop the oil pan and scrap out all the sludge and build up. Long story short I end up replacing the motor. I picked up my 96' Camry about 8 months ago and it was poorly maintained too. I used the how to flush guide posted here and now the car shifts like it was new. Car currently has about 240k miles on it and still running good. Take everything you read on the net with a grain of salt...
I've heard the reasons of why not to change out the ATF (detergent and less friction in a new fluid). Sounds reasonable.
However, if you want to drop the pan, wipe clean the wear particles at the bottom, replace the strainer (so you don't have an old seal causing suction side leaks), then refill with Valvoline MaxLife ATF. It's a High Mileage ATF. Do the differential as well.
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