It looks like the opinions are divided among performing the flush to pan-remove-drain-re-fill to some home method of flushing. If the factory recommends only drain and fill at 100,000 miles, wouldn't the flush procedure appear a bit radical? I appreciate the link though the controversy remains.
The car has a paper trail of dealer service given to me from the original owner and had coolant and tranny fluid service. I assume that the tranny service may only be drain/fill, though I think I will ask service what they do in such a case. There are 74000 miles on it and did not appear to have what would be anything other than that typical tranny fluid smell. That is, it didn't look/smell burnt. The place where I had it inspected said that the fluid looked "a bit" dirty and recommended the flush.If your AT fluid looks and smells good, a drain and refill is probably sufficient. How many miles on your 2004? I tend to be very careful when it comes to this issue since tranny repairs can be so expensive. Since I bought my 2005 used and didn't know how it was cared for I was prepared to spend the $150 for a dealership flush. Remember a drain doesn't remove all the fluid.
How would that compare to having a flush done for 120 - 150 dollars versus the consecutive drain/fill cycles? I guess the Amsoil is cheaper than Toyota's ATF so it would then be cheaper.I did the drain and fill with the pan removed and cleaned. Used Amsoil ATF.
Since a drain and fill does not get all the old fluid out, I plan on doing another drain and fill (not removing the pan) early this spring. ATF drain and fill on these cars are real easy in my opinion, so thats why I opt for this method.
The Amsoil ATF is probably similar in price to the Toyota ATF, but I prefer using synthetic.How would that compare to having a flush done for 120 - 150 dollars versus the consecutive drain/fill cycles? I guess the Amsoil is cheaper than Toyota's ATF so it would then be cheaper.