Originally Posted By: JustinH
Toyota says not to change the fluid in my 2010 Rav 4.
Not necessary.
I dumped the fluid at 80k and it was black, and there was sludge in the bottom of the pan.
Takes 4 quarts of fluid, I will be doing it once every couple years.
will be doing this myself soon -- I bought the car with 85k on it, doubt it's ever been done
Originally Posted By: MolaKule
Originally Posted By: meborder
When you say drain and fill, are you just referring to the pan?
There are two schools of thought.
One is to drop the pan, clean it, replace the filter if it has one, and add enough replacement fluid to place the fluid between the hash marks when hot.
Advantage: This allows a slow cleaning process to occur. Disadvantge: You have to do this three or more times to get a majority of new fluid introduced. Good for the do-it-yourselfer.
The other is a complete drain and refill via a machine that uses the AT pump (while engine is running) to suck in new fluid while "purging" the old fluid. Advantage: This process allows the torque converter fluid to be purged as well, in real time. Disadvantage: One time cost is higher since you pay for the labor, machine pay-off, and fluid. Generally not for the do-it-yourselfer.
Now some do-it-yourselfer's will identify the low pressure (intake) hose and the high pressure (output hose) at the radiator, disconnect it, and do their own complete drain and refill using the AT's own pump.
this is what I will be doing - I don't have a pump, when I did this on the corolla I turned the car on and off. I think that's what the bottom part of your quote is saying. drained like a quart at a time, would refill, repeat.
Originally Posted By: akela
The dramatic change is what poses a risk, I guess.
The transmission likes when the fluid properties are stable. And doesn't like when they suddenly change - the mechanism needs to re-adjust, at a cost.
is this true?