What Color Is The Tranny Fluid For My 91?

[91ls400]

My trans is low on fluid, just had it checked out by the toyota dealer earlier this week (obviously they didnt check it like the invoice says) i went in and asked for them to fix the problem....they offered the fluid free of charge.. the parts guy gave me a red fluid. i said is that t2 fluid and the guy said weve only got t4 its the same but newer.....its red like dexron and they only had it in bulk(had to pump me out a gallon)...is this the right stuff or did they give me the wrong thing?

either way i walked out with a gallon of this stuff free of charge, even if its dexron its still good for the power steering sys!

[dcfish]

My trans is low on fluid, just had it checked out by the toyota dealer earlier this week (obviously they didnt check it like the invoice says) i went in and asked for them to fix the problem....they offered the fluid free of charge.. the parts guy gave me a red fluid.  i said is that t2 fluid and the guy said weve only got t4 its the same but newer.....its red like dexron and they only had it in bulk(had to pump me out a gallon)...is this the right stuff or did they give me the wrong thing?

either way i walked out with a gallon of this stuff free of charge, even if its dexron its still good for the power steering sys!

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RED

[91ls400]

idk what kind of fluid is in the system, i mean it could still be T-II does it matter if i put T-IV in with that?

[bicol-ini]

its the same T IV is the upgraded version of T II as long as it its toyota branded,

[91ls400]

So now my question is, how bad is it if the dipstick comes out orangish in color (the real reason i was apprehensive to put red fluid in!)? I mean I have rough shifts all the time but i just thought it was the 170k miles showing through. If i just drained the pan and then refilled it would that be enough?

[sha4000]

i think you should flush the whole system and fill it back up with t4

[bicol-ini]

the reason why its color red is to distinguish it as a transmission fluid, which is red, after you put it in it changes color due to heat absorption, as long as you are using compatible fluid as such required by the manufacturere youre ok, if in doubt have the system flushed out dealer gonna cost you around 100 bucks or so, if you do it costs you the fluids only plus satisfaction of doing it

[914lps]

at 170 miles find someone with one of those systems that will power flush the trany. The stuff the dealer gave you is fine. There is no more dexII. It has been replaced with the new stuff.

[ArmyofOne]

at 170 miles find someone with one of those systems that will power flush the trany.  The stuff the dealer gave you is fine.  There is no more dexII.  It has been replaced with the new stuff.

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NO NO NO!!! STOP NOW!!!

DO NOT powerflush this transmission. with that many miles, you will kill it. It will wear the bands prematurely. rough/hard shifts will be the least of your problems

heres what you do: buy yourself 2 or 3 cases of tranny fluid. put the car up on ramps or jqackstands, remove the drain plug. let the tranny fluid drian. then remove the pan. replace the filter/screen whichever this model uses, and put the pan back on with new gasket/sealer. then, with the plug still out, pour fluid into the ATF fill tube, until you see fluid coming out fo the bottom of the trans. i dont know how long/how many quarts this will take. after you see it come out, keep going through about 5 quarts or until the fluid is bright red again. then let it drain the rest fo the way, and put the plug back in and fill her up.

this is the ONLY safe way to flush a lexuys tranny. these transmissions arent d4esigned to be powerflushed. and anyone with a machine that does it will not do one with this many miles, if they are respecatble.

[ko90ls]

i agree with army. i tried to power flush my tranny with about 250k on it and immediatly the shifts were baby's bottom smooth but soon after the whole tranny died. :cries: after a few $2-3000 quotes found a tranny online and talked a indy shop into doing it for $1000!

good luck!

[914lps]

i agree with army. i tried to power flush my tranny with about 250k on it and immediatly the shifts were baby's bottom smooth but soon after the whole tranny died.:cries:  after a few $2-3000 quotes found a tranny online and talked a indy shop into doing it for $1000!

good luck!

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OK I stand corrected, but why is it bad to power flush the trany??? I would really like to know.

[wandawoods]

well, I did a complete 16qt+ tranny flush for my 96 SC400 w/170k about 6-month ago without ill effect. it was done at local dealer, costed me about $180 with fluid. I am not sure it was done by 'power flush' method or using the method Army described.

normal tranny pan drain replaces only 2.5qt out of total volume of 16qt. it means most of the "dirty" fluid is still trapped inside the tranny.

member 'lexls' has a tutorials of flushing tranny fluid beyond the normal pan drain:

http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/transmission/transflush.html

however, he referred the total volume was about 9qt. so, i'm bit confused whether it should be 16qt or 9qt. anyway, from dealer's invoice, I was charged with 16qt of tranny fuild @$7/qt (ouch!).

from what I heard, "power flush" tranny on high-mileage car may have a high risk of blown seal.

my 97 LS4 is approaching 120K, and due for the complete tranny flush. this time I will ask the dealer which method they use.

[914lps]

I have respect for Army and he has helped me before... But I really do want to know why not to do it. I did do mine about 3 months ago, the guy by me was running a speacil for only 60.00, and I have records on the car from day one and at 115,000 miles on my 91 ls the trany had never been serviced so I had it done. I'm now at 123,000 or so, and everything seems OK.

[nc211]

I know that if you do this outside of a toyota / lexus dealership...aka...jiffylube, they will not allow you to use any other fluid than thiers, and we've all covered this before. I agree with army too. With so much stress and age on that tranny, putting additional stress during the power flush can most likely damage a seal or band. It's like using a rented carpet cleaner on that 20 year old couch, it can do more damage than good. But I also understand the guys here who have done the powerflush and have not had problems. I think it's a crap shoot. But if you do it, don't go on the cheap, take it to the dealership so you know it's the right fluid being used to flush out the old. I think this is one of the main reasons why my old maxima's tranny started to slip at 40k miles...jiffy lube tranny flush. Probably the wrong kind of fluid, in conjunction with some sort of slick 50 tranny crap I put in it at 20k miles.

[wandawoods]

I would not have 'jiffy lube' nor any chain store to do the flush job!

I was about to have the tranny flushed for my SC400 at one local jiffy lube, but they wanted me sign some kind of legal waiver which held them no responsibility if seals were blown. apparently they've seen blown seal before caused by 'power flush'. needless to say, I skipped jiffy lube and had it done at dealer.

$60~$100 for the whole flush job with fluid? I really doubt that the chain store will use genuine Toyota T-4 fluid which is not cheap by all means. just 16qt of t4 fluid alone can cost $100.

[914lps]

I did some research and talked with some companies that make the flush machines. They stated that they have "heard" of some trouble with older cars after either engine or trany flush. But have no personal knowladge of it happening. They stated the machines still wok at a lower presure then the car works at when running. But they say that if a car is real dirty the dirt could have been sealing leaks, so it may be posible that after a flush, with the dirt removed, the car could have trouble.

You know this sound a lot like the thing about putting mobil one in an older car and then having trouble. I looked into that and fond out the same basic thing.... If it had dirt sealing a leak, then the Mobel One would clean the dirt, and the seal would/could leak.....

[sha4000]

. They stated the machines still wok at a lower presure then the car works at when running. But they say that if a car is real dirty the dirt could have been sealing leaks, so it may be posible that after a flush, with the dirt removed, the car could have trouble.

this is the true statement. i just flushed mine at 120k myself using the method of removing the hose from the cooler and adding fluid while the old fluid drained out, it took like 11qts. and i havent had any problems. this was like 3k miles ago. i periodically checked for leaks and have none