2008 Toyota Rav4 4cyl 4WD 100,000 Mile Maintenance

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My friend has a 2008 Toyota Rav4 4cyl 4WD. I've been taking care of the oil for her.
Using Valvoline Maxlife 5W-20 and Toyota oil filters now. She's almost at 100,000, and I just found out after I inquired that she hasn't had the ATF, transfer case, brakes or the rear diff ever changed.

I think the transmission uses the WS fluid, I have to check in her manual on Tuesday when I change the oil for her. But here was my plan:

Case of ATF-WS from Toyota and do 3 drain and fills
Amsoil 80W-90 (again have to check for the correct weight in the manual) for the transfer case and rear diff
Brake fluid: Does Toyota have their own fluid or will any DOT3 be good? Any suggestions?

Does that sound good? Any other maintenance that should be done at this time period? Not that familiar with Toyotas, have only had Hondas.
 
I personally use Amsoil Signature Trans Fluid and it is working great. I'm pretty sure 75w90 is what the driveline takes. I also use Amsoil in mine.....smooth shifting.

The brake fluid takes dot3.....I use dot4 in mine but any dot3 will work.

I also use amsoil trans fluid in my power steering. Use a turkey baster to take out old fluid and refill with trans fluid (dexron 3 specs). I drove about 100 miles and repeated again. 1 quart will do this.

The transmission is a harder process. There is a certain technique you have to do to make sure the trans temp is correct. I work at a shop so I was able to do mine with a machine to replace all the trans fluid. It took 12 quarts for the machine. If you have access to a shop that has transmission fluid machines I would recommend taking the fluid to them and pay them labor if the will.
 
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Might as well replace the plugs right away. Any decent fluid is fine for the brakes. If the WS is too pricey maxlife is approved and about the same viscosity as WS. IIRC my dealer wanted 12 bucks a quart for WS. Maybe PCV and coolant and button it up for another 100,000 miles.
 
Originally Posted By: radtech91
My friend has a 2008 Toyota Rav4 4cyl 4WD. .... I think the transmission uses the WS fluid, I have to check in her manual on Tuesday when I change the oil for her. But here was my plan:

Case of ATF-WS from Toyota and do 3 drain and fills

The vehicles uses the lower viscosity WS ATF in the Aisin "World Standard" transmission, which appears to be retailing at dealers for $9.99 to $12.99 a quart.

It is made by ExxonMobil for OEM and also sold under the Aisin brand.

An upgrade would be Red Line D6 ATF at around $12 a quart. Valvoline recommends their Maxlife ATF, although their spec sheet is footnoted "Viscosity requirement is not met" and Toyota warns about using ATFs with the viscosity of Dex/Merc ATFs. Dexron VI seems to match the WS viscosity requirements, but its friction characteristics are tailored to GM specs.

T-SB 0006-11, January 6, 2011 on overflow method of refilling
 
I use the lower viscosity Amsoil ATF in the tundra. it came to be with a normal viscocity BG synthetic, it drove fine but the shifts thumped harder on that fluid. they are quick and precise on amsoi with zero flare, thud, thunk, delay or drama.

Does this car use a t-belt? whats the interval on the water pump?
 
Originally Posted By: meep
I use the lower viscosity Amsoil ATF in the tundra. it came to be with a normal viscocity BG synthetic, it drove fine but the shifts thumped harder on that fluid. they are quick and precise on amsoi with zero flare, thud, thunk, delay or drama.

Does this car use a t-belt? whats the interval on the water pump?

In 2003 or around that time, Toyota switched to timing chains in the RAV4 and kept it what way. Replace your water pump only when it does fail.

You have to read your manual to know what goes in the transfer case and rear differential. Some transfer cases use ATF. Typically older Toyotas called for SAE90 GL-5 in hypoid gears. Amsoil 80w90 would be far superior to the stuff Toyota used.
 
Ok, so I just got to look in the manual and get a look under the car. Manual says 80W90 for the rear diff and transfer case. Toyota WS for the transmission.
The transfer case and transmission looks very easy to change. The rear diff drain bolt is easy to get to but the fill bolt looks like it is very difficult to get at. How do you guys do that?!?!?
Brakes look like I can have easy access to bleed them even with the wheels on. So that won't be hard either.

It has electric steering so no fluid to change there.

The ATF is black or at least a dark gray. Doesn't look too good at all. I can't smell so I couldn't tell if it was burnt or not.

Originally Posted By: lubedude13
.....The transmission is a harder process. There is a certain technique you have to do to make sure the trans temp is correct. I work at a shop so I was able to do mine with a machine to replace all the trans fluid. It took 12 quarts for the machine. If you have access to a shop that has transmission fluid machines I would recommend taking the fluid to them and pay them labor if the will.

Darn so I can't just do a drain and fill like on my Hondas?? Will it mess anything up if I just drain, measure the fluid, and then fill back up with that??

I'll probably stick with the WS fluid just to be safe. I'm thinking of just changing the rear diff and transfer case to Amsoil 75W-90 (Friend of mine is an Amsoil dealer, and they have it there so I'll probably just get that).

I was wondering about the coolant. Probably should use Toyotas fluid, right? And is there any certain process for changing it?
 
You can try a drain and fill. Assuming it was at the proper level to begin with. Although in a prior thread it was discussed how vehicles "often" come underfilled. Which makes me think being a bit low isn't going to be a bad thing. Or that you'll top it off properly before long.

On my Tundra there is some method where if I short two pins on the OBDII port the trans temp gauge can be used for this--that, or maybe it's the trans high temp light comes on and goes off when the trans is at the right temp? Dunno, forgot now. I bought a Scanguage years ago, and I simply programmed it to display ATF temp. Let it sit and idle to warm up, then did the procedure to get the level correct. It's annoying but it's not exactly hard either.

My truck came to me with a decent amount of miles. I dropped the pan and it seemed like the oil was much darker in the very bottom of it, so I was glad to drain it. Also, despite having a drain plug it definately did not drain the very dregs--pan removal was the only way to get the last bit.

WS IIRC has changed, and no longer has the purple tracer in it. I think WS tends to possibly look darker than it really is. I could be wrong. My Tundra had 78k or so on it when I changed, and IMO it looked kinda dark.

I did go Maxlife though, as it was cheaper, full synthetic and seems to get glowing reviews from most users here. If I have issues though I'll just do a fluid change.
 
I'm also thinking about going the Maxlife route as well. The price and also the reviews on a lot of the Toyota forums it seems to be a rather good fluid.
 
My sister has the same vehicle as the OP...you do not need to use any special procedure to change the ATF, it's a simple drain & fill. The complex temperature-sensitive process is for transmissions without a dipstick.
 
Originally Posted By: RF Overlord
My sister has the same vehicle as the OP...you do not need to use any special procedure to change the ATF, it's a simple drain & fill. The complex temperature-sensitive process is for transmissions without a dipstick.


Ok awesome! Here is my plan:

12 qts Toyota WS fluid = 3 drain and refills
3qts Amsoil 75W-90 = 2 drain and fills on the transfer case and rear diff
Amsoil Dot 3 brake fluid

I'll get this taken care of first and then I'll move on to something else on the car......
 
So this is what I got done this morning:

- 3 time drain and fill on the transmission with the Toyota WS fluid. Got exactly 4 qts each time. First time the fluid was black and nasty. I could see an improvement in shifting just after the first drain. By the third drain the fluid was finally a red color and shifting was so much smoother.

- 2 time drain in fill of transfer case with M1 75W-90 gear oil. Oil was very black. 2nd drain in fill was more of the color of the new fluid I put in just slightly dirty.

- Drain in fill of the rear differential with M1 75W-90 gear oil (only did one as I worked the night before and was getting tired, and also the bolts were a pain in the butt to get off, and I almost stripped the drain one as the bolt was so soft. I will replace both of the bolts next time since they were so rusted. And I burned my wrist on the exhaust doing the transfer case. Wasn't fun at all.) This fluid again was extremely black.

I got 2 gallons of the Zerex Asian Coolant to do a coolant drain and also Valvoline DOT3+4 Brake fluid. I will be doing both of those soon, maybe later this week or next week. The brake fluid is like a dark honey color, so I would like to do that soon.

Sorry no pics, was tired and a mess so I didn't want to get my camera dirty and was trying to get done fast.
 
Originally Posted By: RF Overlord
Good on ya, mate! Feels good, dunnit?

It most certainly does!
smile.gif


Did the coolant and brake fluid yesterday. Brakes are much firmer now.
Coolant was very easy. I found a guy on youtube that has an excellent how to for this car for changing out the coolant. Made it very simple.
 
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