Check out these threads for discussions on that topic.
2010 Venza Transmission Fluid Change
What's the Venza Maintenance Schedule?
Venza Issues V6 AWD

 

Thanks, I had already read the first two. Seems like the consensus is "sorta kinda" to replace the AT fluid somewhere between 60K and 75K miles. So I will proceed to do so.

 

I'm at 50k now and plan on keeping my Venza for a long time, so I will probably get it done around 65-75k.

 

I guess that's how the dealer make money, We have to bring it to the dealer.

 

Bumping this in lieu of starting a new thread. I recently had the 60k mile service done on our 2011 LE. The service advisor told me the transmission fluid should be changed every 60k miles, but that it would be fine as long as it was done before I reached 90k miles. Since I have always been a DIY'er with my cars I asked him why I could not do the transmission fluid change myself, and he stated that it takes special tools. So out of curiosity I asked about what this entails, and on the 60k mile service document there were two options shown...1) Regular trans fluid change, which was $180 or so I think....and 2) World standard trans fluid change, which was $240 or so. I asked him what the difference in the fluid was, like viscosity or grade, etc and he couldn't tell me anything. So I decided to wait on doing it so I can read up on it and understand the details.


I'll take a photo of the 60k mile service document and post it here since I might not have stated things correctly. But does this sound familar, and can anyone explain the difference or why one is better than the other? I would also be interested to know why it takes special equipment or tools to change the trans fluid....new cars are nice but stuff like this really annoys me.

 

I don't know the answer to your question, but either way that is a good price compared to what I was quoted, around $400 for a full trans change for my Venza. And my dealer is pretty honest and does good work. Apparently it's a bit more complicated than just draining and filling the trans, due to the fact that there is no dipstick and some other factors. Someone else can chime in with more detail.
As for the interval, I've been given different answers, either based on mileage or age. But like you say, I think if you get it done by around 90K you should be ok. I get the feeling that Toyota has never provided clear guidance in writing on this matter, based on the varying answers I get from service folks.

 

is this a transmission fluid drain and refill or flush? $400 is steep if it is a drain and refill. I have mine done at downtown toyota in toronto, ON canada for i think it was $125.

even the service guy ask me why do you want to change it. I told him just change it. he keep insisting that I dont needed. I told him that i just towed a big uhual trailer half way across canada 2 days ago and he said OK.

to me personally is , is that if you keep your foot to about 2000 rpm when launching and cruising steady. i dont think you need a change but I drain and refill my matrix every 3 years.

 

It's a full flush, not sure of all the details, and I will ask when it's time to do it. Dealers are not cheap, but this one has treated me well. When I get it done I will report back on all the details, pricing, etc.

 

There is a difference between the WS fluid and "regular" (T-IV).
The fluids are compatible with different transmissions.... likely the difference between the 4cyl and 6cyl, which is the case on the Tacoma.

You don't have a choice... you made that choice when you selected your engine

 

I would change it and use OEM fluid . The 400$ sounds like quite a lot . There is a difference between a flush ( that usually uses a chemical run thru the trans ) and an Exchange ( that uses ATF is be run thru the trans until the fluid comes out clean and new looking) I don't recommend a flush as I don't like the use of chemicals to free up sludge.
Try another shop to get prices and have them save a sample of the old ATF , so you can see it .

 

The biggest thing is if you have one of these cheaper shops do it (they can, its not rocket science) you REALLY have to make sure they SHOW YOU what they are putting into your trannie, EXACTLY, like the bottle, and that it is the exact right stuff, because they don't actually really care, and if it saves them $5 that's how they get to be so cheap.

 

Toyota came out with a hot level check SST for dealerships and shops that don't want to wait around for 'cool' ATF. Service manager should know this already, along with all the dealer techs. You sure you talked to a dealer employee?

I still use the 105-113F 'cold level' check. On a 90F day, it only takes a few minutes to warm up to that level. If you take it for a ride, and you're waiting overnight for it to cool down again, exception is northern winters ;-)

The SST for warm transmissions/climates checks the level at 180F+. All dealers should have this SST if they plan on servicing transmissions within a reasonable time frame for the consumers.

Shops are liable for the transmission. I don't know of any that would not use an equivalent fluid. But, do have the common sense to show them the requirement for your transmission, ask what their equivalent is, and for the data sheet. Don't let them use ANY flush chemicals, fluid converters, or additives.

I've used Maxlife, Castrol, Pennzoil, Redline, Ravenol, and various others... in my Toyota transmissions. These are full synthetic lower viscosity ATFs. And, all worked fine. If anything, my transmission is quieter, shifts better, and fluid looks better longer with the non-OE fluid. And, you won't find me in the 100's of new threads here over the years complaining about the transmission, or having a transmission issue like so many negligent others.

Some shops are part of a distributor program, like Wynns/BG/ServicePro...and their ATFs work excellent.

I would not wait to service the factory fill. Do it now. WS, at best, is a 30k fluid. And, the factory fill has all the wear/break-in debris floating around. The trans filter is useless rock-catcher.

 

Shops are liable for the transmission. I don't know of any that would not use an equivalent fluid. But, do have the common sense to show them the requirement for your transmission, ask what their equivalent is, and for the data sheet. Don't let them use ANY flush chemicals, fluid converters, or additives.

Sure, but some of these 'Jiffy-Lube' type places are run by idiots and while they may technically be 'liable' good luck getting them to admit they messed up! A friend of mine had the trannie on this Accord completely wrecked by one of these idiots. He never really did get it made right. Some of them are very good, I really like the guy down the road from me, he's cheap and he never tries to upsell me. You just have to know who you're dealing with, and if its a new place I haven't used before then I'm VERY cautious.

 

If there's no dip stick then they will open the top drain hole, flush/refill until the fluid just drips out of the opened drain hole. Obviously the levels differ when its hot or cold.

$400 seems steep for a refill but if they replace the filter I can start to see where the prices come from. There's a bit more work to open her up, pull the old filter out, inspect, silicone or gasket and refill.

 

I got a quote from another dealer today for $275 P&L. He explained the process in full, and it sounded just like my dealer explained it. So I know my dealer is being straight with me. However, this other dealer said I don't need to change the trans fluid until 100K miles, even though Toyota considers the trans fluid to be "lifetime." My current dealer had recommended changing it between 65K and 75K.
Honestly I think it becomes a judgment call at some point, since Toyota is not giving clear guidance. So I can't really say one dealer is right or wrong, per se.
That being said, I am leaning to waiting until closer to 100K to do this. I am currently at 74K, and the car is running fine.
I'll still probably use my dealer, but will double-check that he quoted me a correct price.
I am all for PM, but I'm not for overdoing things.

 

There is a good You-tube video on what is involved in changing the transmission fluid - with a temperature compensation chart, vacuum tools etc. My dealer did the cheapy change at 100,000 miles - something like $160 for a few liters of oil.

According to the video and with Toyota tools, like imposing a vacuum on the tranny to hold the oil in so they could refill to a higher than fill port level, they go to great lengths to compensate for fluid level changed due to temperature and they say that even with the refill to the fill port level as Jippy Lube places will do, depending on the fluid temperature, that may not be enough and that the level will (or could) be higher than the fill port depending on the temperature.

But when watching that video, I ponder the idea of letting the vehicle sit in the garage overnight (to a cool temperature with the new oil getting to the same temperature) and open the fill port to see if any oil drains out. If is does, I'll measure how much comes out so then I'll know how much extra oil at ambient temperature I should refill with. That way I could just drain and fill to the level of what was there and know at room temperature how much if any to fill above the fill port level - or perhaps it is lower than the fill port, but I would measure what comes out anyway to get an accurate level at 'room' temperature.


The one thing that bothered my about the video was that they measure the hotish fluid and pump in new cool oil into the tranny and use the hot tranny temp to determine the new hot level. (I hope I'm clear). The point is that they are installing cool oil into a hotish tranny and using a hot temperature chart to get a recommended level. So to me a problem is that the cold oil will expand and result in a sort of overfilled level condition (although my experience is that a slight overfill is better than an underfilled condition. Maybe I'm splitting hairs.


Anyone else do their own drain and fill? I'd really like to do a D&F more often because I like to change oil more often than recommended but would like to do it myself rather than take it to a dealer. To me - cool the tranny over night, measure what comes out and refill with that amount. Anyone see any issues with doing that?

 

Honestly, what is the co-efficient of expansion for tranny fluid? It cannot be that high, in the very low single digits. In other words if you're putting 5 liters of fluid in there, you aren't going to be off by more than say 200ml, tops. If you split the difference and underfill with cold fluid by 100ml, that's a VERY small volume of fluid! Go ahead and do your experiment, what can it hurt? I wouldn't obsess about it though. I can see how the dealer wants to insure that the raging hot transmission doesn't get underfilled by 200ml. It probably won't HURT it, but then when its running cold its going to be ANOTHER 150ml down, which starts to be significant. For them its better safe than sorry and why not do the highest quality job? For you, follow the directions and you should be fine.

 

That is exactly the point of the original vs revised procedures.

The "straw" in the OEM pan is set for the proper fill level for the trans in the lower temperature range i.e. cold system, start and run to circulate fluid to allow proper level check.

From looking at the shape of the pan and the fitting around the OEM straw, I would believe that the entire pan does indeed need to be dropped for a complete "drain and refill"

 

Yeah, its almost always true that you have to drop the pan to completely get all the fluid out. This is why they normally 'flush' the transmission, removing the old fluid by displacing it with new fluid.

 

But even a proper flush begins with a pan drop.

The flush (really, just exchange) equipment goes in line with the cooler.
The cooler inlet comes from the trans, the outlet returns to the pan.

So the procedure starts by completely emptying and refilling the pan. Then the engine is started and run with the flush machine in the circuit.
As the old fluid is expelled into the cooler, the machine diverts it to a reservoir, and new fluid is pumped in to replace it through the cooler return.

That's the "pro" way to do it.

The DIY way is to allow the engine to pump 2 quarts into a bucket, then manually add 2 quarts. Repeat until satisfied that all fluid has been exchanged.
Much easier with a dipstick/filler tube, not so easy with the "sealed" WS units.

In reality, regular (50-60k) pan dump and refill are more than adequate. Toyota seems to feel that these units can go 120k without service... the vast majority of car owners never have the trans serviced, and it works just fine as long as they are not towing or racing.
Heat is the enemy and normal driving simply does not build a lot of heat.

 

In reality, regular (50-60k) pan dump and refill are more than adequate. Toyota seems to feel that these units can go 120k without service... the vast majority of car owners never have the trans serviced, and it works just fine as long as they are not towing or racing.
Heat is the enemy and normal driving simply does not build a lot of heat.

Does anyone know how much fluid is drained out when the pan is dropped? I prefer to do a drain and refill on some regular interval. I have a spreadsheet that calculates how often one needs to drain and refill in order to keep the fluid at some targeted "average age". In my subies I shoot for 30K miles. For the Venza, it sounds like 60K would be fine. I just need to know what percentage of the fluid is drained.


Also, does anyone know how frequently the differential fluids should be changed? On the subies I do them every 60K miles.


I don't drive in super harsh conditions nor do I tow anything.


And you are right. Time and heat are the enemies. I know Toyota would probably say that someone in my case could go 120K miles before swapping out the tranny fluid but I don't like to let that fluid become at all acidic. It will start depositing laquer on the valves and seals and that only leads to bad things down the road. A drain and refill on my subies is easy and requires no special tools. I do it every 12K miles and I get about 40% of the fluid out each time. I like that much better than a flush and I get to use really good fluids like Red Line since none of it is wasted in a flushing process. This is way more complex so I will probably go a little longer between drain and refill, assuming I can get a decent amount out.

 

Since covid-19 kept me home i figured just to check my Venza 2010 pop the hood up and started checking all fluid break fluid, coolant, windshield fluid and etc. Now, here the funny part, can't find the dipstick for tranny. Where is the dipstick? been working minor repair all different cars this is the first time incounter a car with no dipstick when i check to dealer they told me no dipstick you have to bring it to the dealer. I mean how you gonna know if your transmission oil is low or need to add some. I wonder how much they gonna cost me to do the Tranny oil change or there's other way around it?

 

There are videos posted on YouTube for a DIY procedure. Camry and Sienna from the same vintage as the Venza works if you can't find one specific to the Venza. Requires an IR thermometer to get the level right, but $35 for that and $20 for fluid is still way cheaper than the dealer or other shops.

 

I just changed the fluid in our 2013 V6 XLE last weekend. Put the car on jack stands in the garage. Removed the transmission drain plug and straw with 6mm hex to drain (measured 3.5 quarts), removed the pan to clean out and replace filter, put the pan back with new gasket, filled with 3.5 quarts new synthetic Valvoline.

Then ran the engine for a minute while slowing going down then up through the gears. Turned the engine off, then drained the transmission fluid. Refilled with 3.5 quarts of fluid.

Drain, refill, drain again, put the straw in, put the plug in, and refill again. By this time, the drained fluid is red and clean looking. Hooked up the ScanGauge II device I bought off eBay (and will be sold) that tells me the transmission fluid temperature, started the engine, ran the transmission fluid temp up to 110° and turned off the engine. Removed the drain plug and waited a minute for the draining fluid to slow down to a strong dribble and put the drain plug back in with a new washer.

Took about four hours with a large part of it getting the car up and down from the jacks and removing the pan bolts and putting them back in.

So, after I sell the ScanGauge II, the cost is personal time and the cost of 12 quarts of fluid from Walmart.

 

...ran the transmission fluid temp up to 110° and turned off the engine. Removed the drain plug and waited a minute for the draining fluid to slow down to a strong dribble and put the drain plug back in with a new washer....

ATF level is checked with RUNNING engine

 

Hello. I looked around this site, but couldn't find a post to answer my question:
I have my 2010 Venza 4-cyl automatic with 65K miles serviced at my dealer. (Mainly oil and filter, and also had a brake job awhile back.)
They've treated me well, and have a good reputation, so I trust them. But I also know that dealers make their money on service, not sales.
The service manager I usually deal with recommended that I change my trans fluid at somewhere between 60K and 70K miles. He quoted me around $450 for the whole job. Apparently you have to leave the car the night before, and they check the fluid from cold, etc. It's apparently a bit more complicated than just "remove and replace," because of the lack of a dipstick. (Thanks Toyota.)
The manual doesn't call for any transmission fluid change. Still, I can see where trans fluid can break down and get dirty over time. And I plan to keep this car for quite awhile (200K miles if possible.)
My question is: Is there a "conventional wisdom" as to whether the trans fluid should be changed on a Venza, and if so, at what general interval?
Thanks

According to this buletin and I know Toyota has the same info about ATF, fluid does not ever needs to be changed:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2014/MC-10109437-9999.pdf

A Toyota technician said it is better to change it (if you plan to keep the car a long time) but not a must. In 460k km I did it once at 230k km (ATM flush) and researching now if I still need a flush or not.

 

Hello. I looked around this site, but couldn't find a post to answer my question:
I have my 2010 Venza 4-cyl automatic with 65K miles serviced at my dealer. (Mainly oil and filter, and also had a brake job awhile back.)
They've treated me well, and have a good reputation, so I trust them. But I also know that dealers make their money on service, not sales.
The service manager I usually deal with recommended that I change my trans fluid at somewhere between 60K and 70K miles. He quoted me around $450 for the whole job. Apparently you have to leave the car the night before, and they check the fluid from cold, etc. It's apparently a bit more complicated than just "remove and replace," because of the lack of a dipstick. (Thanks Toyota.)
The manual doesn't call for any transmission fluid change. Still, I can see where trans fluid can break down and get dirty over time. And I plan to keep this car for quite awhile (200K miles if possible.)
My question is: Is there a "conventional wisdom" as to whether the trans fluid should be changed on a Venza, and if so, at what general interval?
Thanks

Changed mine at 230k km and fluid was still OK to use but a little bit dirty. Toyota dealer I am shocked did not even sugest to change ATF filter. I changed ATF oil again after extra 230k km and same thing, fluid was somehow dirty but still acceptable. FLuid was OEM. The ATF filter started to be noisy recently so at 460k km I was able to change it and all the noise disappeared...so the filter lasted 15 years and 460k km...amazing.

 

Shocking I did not know the filter is paper based and that have to be changed and not even my mechanic thinking it was metal screen.

 

Pan dump, new gasket, new trans filter every 50k on all my Toyota’s and I only use OEM recommended fluid. Easily a DIY project. Follow the steps in the shop/service manual.