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Auto box fluid


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Tried to post in technical but it won't let me.

 

Basically I am on my way up to Newcastle from Bournemouth. I had a problem with too much auto-box fluid so before I set off I had a garage remove some for me. Now its way too low. The only fluid I have been able to get hold of is Dexron III.

 

Its castrol TQ Dexron III and I have put 500 ml of it in.

 

Is this going to cause me problems???

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Well I stopped about halfway from nottingham to newcastle pulled the dipstick and it seemed the oil was OK. I will get the oil swapped out as soon as i get home, but I can't do it up here as I don't have access to sort it out and i do have to get home 2moro. It doesn't seem to be horribly affecting it but I was most worried about oil seperation or co-agulation occuring which doesn't seem to have occured. In the more immediatte term i am a bit worried about seal degradation internally. On a plus note it does seem that the box being overfull was what caused the bad smoking problem as it hasn't done it since I had the oil level dropped down so many thanks go out to Chris Wilson who came up with that fix.

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So did any one spot DB on the way home, he was a little upset on New Years Eve that he wouldn't appear in the was it you section.

 

Also DB why on earth did you leave at 0530 to drive home after that party!!

 

All the best matey, what was her name then!! Did she put out ??

 

:flame Dev

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It sounds like the garage did not know how to check the fluid level correctly. When cold and with the engine off the box will always appear over filled. You must get is hot ( 20 miles) leave the engine running, push the selector through all gears and park, I go through neutral and do the whole sequence twice. Leave the engine running wait one minute and check the level with the engine running.

 

 

 

The only fluids to us in the auto box are TypeII, no longer made, and Type IV. As the UK model MKIV was only sold in Lexus outlets many Toyota dealerships never sold it and had little or no experience of service. When I was checking out my local dealership for knowledge of the MKIV before considering whether I would let them touch it. Which auto fluid to use, was one of my test questions. They wrongly advise and were prepared to sell me TypeIII for the MKIV auto box.

 

The auto box is a very complicated bit of kit it has many solenoids which control fluid flow. These solinoids have little (blue) sphere in oil ways that act as one way valves. Apparently these spheres react badly to TypeIII and can cause blockages and box failure.

 

I think the confusion about TypeIII is caused by the USA car auto box being manufactured just fro the US market and they use a different fluid which I believe is compatible with TypeIII

 

I think in this case you will be Ok if you get the box flushed out in the near future, I suspect the box failures are associated with a complete fluid change to TypeIII which would be pretty rare.

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Cheers Termmy dood. I will get the fluid swapped out at home next week when it goes in for its MOT retest. The garage that did the origional oil change in the box is an unkown one to me. When the guy dropped the excess out he wasn't overly impressed with the idea of driving the car for 20 minutes beforehand so given his dues did say that I would need to re-check the level after a sensible drive. It was quite low so I panicked a bit and put some more fluid in it. Type 3 was all I could get and it wasn't until afterwards that I thought it might be a problem. I kind of assumed originally that it would have little effect like putting dot4 brake fluid in with dot3.

 

As for the leaving early there was no lady (there was a small case of being chucked out of the party and left outside in what appeared to be an iffy part of town for 30 minutes, and I couldn't face a morning down the Toon lashing it up so I scarpered)

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No worries m8 - se you then - please text me thorough your number again

 

You certain you need a complete flush - it's mega expensive this stuff!

 

I thought Toyota T-IV fluid was only £30 for 4L's. That's not expensive compared to the manual oil!

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I've put the wrong oil in helicopter transmissions before and it causes a right sh*t storm so yeah I'm pretty confident that if the type 3 oil can f*ck up the seals or oilways etc then it has to be completely flushed out as I have now driven it the best part of 500 miles with the 500 ml which is about 1/4 capacity I think.

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That will do it then! :)

 

Not sure i have that much left - prob 2 litres

 

Give me a shout later m8 to confirm you timing :eyebrows:

 

 

Just another 12 odd litres needed then !!!! :baa: Go get it from a Lexus dealer it comes in 4 litre tins but be warned a full flush is an awkward job to do , you will need to use the running car to PUMP the fluid thru , make sure you have 2 big buckets and the right sized hose !!!

 

Dude :devil:

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the filter is a metal mesh type and can (and should) b cleaned. it says its non servicable in the manual but it is and it's quite expensive. there r also a few magnets in the bottom of the pan that will need cleaning.

 

yes the engine needs to b running to empty the torque converter. i posted a step by step approach of how to do this ages ago, but i cant search technical. have a look it should still b in there.

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when i blew my box up the front seal was leaking and i was in chester at the time. i thought do i phone a recovery truck at £200+ to get me home or do i take a chance driving it slowly to a garage. an auto gearbox is not too hard to get if you wanted one. so took a chance and drove up motorway to a shell garage. bought 6 1liter tubs of there dextron 3 transmission fluid to get me to manchester where i dropped car off at a garage i used before in oldham. turns out i fooked the front seal and gearbox pump was cracked. bought a uk gearbox for £300. had pump took off there and changed onto jap box with a new seal. later found out my tc had scored so it had to come out again. then decided to have a bigger stall fitted.

got there in the end. thats what you get for abuse on my part :rolleyes:

 

still got a new 5l tub of toyota auto oil in shed

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so the dextron 3 really mullered the box up then?
it was fooked before i put that in as it was leaking fluid. at one point i pulled into carpark and smoke was coming in cabin then i discoverd the fluid was leaking. cw swopped me the uk gearbox pump into jap gearbox and fitted me a new seal and gearbox oil filter. think the filter was something like £80

 

i have been told there is no serviceable parts in box.

i have a spare UK box but just needs a new gearbox pump for a working spare also got a spare 3800 tc that needs re flashing to 4000.

i will have to get a new pump from toyota.

 

i had no choice about putting it in box. thought dextron 3 would be better than no oil at all.

 

the gearbox is working great now 11.9 on that box too

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Do you think that 4% of dexron III will make THAT much difference?

 

 

If it was mine i drain the box and refill and take my chances !!!!!! I had to put Dexron 2 in when a hose came off the first time i used the car and it was fine .

 

Dude :blonde:

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John, don't the autoboxes have a filter in the bottom pan? - Isn't it worth changing the filter at the same time? - Also, would that make things any easier for full fluid removal?

I understand you need the engine running to empty the torque converter...

 

That filter is something like £60 , if the fluid that came out was clean id wash it out in petrol and re-use it , it is like a screen filter .

 

Dude :blonde:

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