Howdy folks, new member here
My wife and I have a 2014 Honda Accord 6spd and 2016 Highlander Limited AWD, both of which we have liked a lot. At some point last year I realized that although we can afford newer vehicles, it just makes sense to take really good care of these and maybe even make them first cars for my kids who are in 5th and 6th grade!
I've got the Honda (216k miles) totally up to snuff with new tires, coolant, manual trans fluid, plugs, new valve cover gasket and valve adjustment. The thing has never run better and driven as smooth, Michelin Pilot Sports from Costco are fantastic.
The Highlander has never really had any problems since we purchased it in 2018 with 30k miles from Carmax. It currently has 140k. We changed oil and filters but not much else until recently. I just did spark plugs (the original Densos looked totally fine!) with new associated gaskets, and did a drain and fill of OEM coolant. Unfortunately I was lulled into not maintaining the transmission because, well, no dipstick sounded like it would be a pain in the a** to deal with, and all you hear about is how Toyotas just go forever with "regular" maintenance.
There is a lot of good information online on how to execute a proper drain and fill (no flush) of the ATF fluid on the Highlander. However, in this high mileage situation, there is tremendous variation of opinions on whether or not I should actually do it at 140k. It seems very mystical- some very credible (to me) you tubers have said don't do it. A chain transmission shop in town said not at this point, but that they don't see many Toyotas coming in for problems. Others say they did it at even higher miles than mine and "it's shifting much smoother!".
I have an idea on how to take out some of the mysticism. Drain some fluid from the trans and evaluate it at Blackstone labs. I would put the old fluid back and just enough new fluid to replace the sample volume. I'm sure some of you have used Blackstone before, it is pretty impressive how much information they can give. I think if the fluid sample tests old but functional, I think it would be unlikely to create a problem to proceed with a drain and fill (I estimate it would be around 3ish quarts) to rejuvenate the fluid. I would then pick back up and do it regularly after that. If it's totally "smoked" and terrible I would probably just let it go without any further intervention.
My wife and I have a 2014 Honda Accord 6spd and 2016 Highlander Limited AWD, both of which we have liked a lot. At some point last year I realized that although we can afford newer vehicles, it just makes sense to take really good care of these and maybe even make them first cars for my kids who are in 5th and 6th grade!
I've got the Honda (216k miles) totally up to snuff with new tires, coolant, manual trans fluid, plugs, new valve cover gasket and valve adjustment. The thing has never run better and driven as smooth, Michelin Pilot Sports from Costco are fantastic.
The Highlander has never really had any problems since we purchased it in 2018 with 30k miles from Carmax. It currently has 140k. We changed oil and filters but not much else until recently. I just did spark plugs (the original Densos looked totally fine!) with new associated gaskets, and did a drain and fill of OEM coolant. Unfortunately I was lulled into not maintaining the transmission because, well, no dipstick sounded like it would be a pain in the a** to deal with, and all you hear about is how Toyotas just go forever with "regular" maintenance.
There is a lot of good information online on how to execute a proper drain and fill (no flush) of the ATF fluid on the Highlander. However, in this high mileage situation, there is tremendous variation of opinions on whether or not I should actually do it at 140k. It seems very mystical- some very credible (to me) you tubers have said don't do it. A chain transmission shop in town said not at this point, but that they don't see many Toyotas coming in for problems. Others say they did it at even higher miles than mine and "it's shifting much smoother!".
I have an idea on how to take out some of the mysticism. Drain some fluid from the trans and evaluate it at Blackstone labs. I would put the old fluid back and just enough new fluid to replace the sample volume. I'm sure some of you have used Blackstone before, it is pretty impressive how much information they can give. I think if the fluid sample tests old but functional, I think it would be unlikely to create a problem to proceed with a drain and fill (I estimate it would be around 3ish quarts) to rejuvenate the fluid. I would then pick back up and do it regularly after that. If it's totally "smoked" and terrible I would probably just let it go without any further intervention.
