harrisbaig

we have put 70K miles on my 99 es during the 6 years we have had it. it now has 198000. our mechanic has so far not recommended changing transmission oil. how often do you guys recommend changing it.
also we have always used 87 octane. would it be better to use 89?

ArmyofOne

The owners manual reccomends premium fuel. It probably isn't necessary, but thats what I run.

The transmission oil should be changed every 60-90k, depending on use. If you bought it and it had 120k or so, you should have changed it then. Now, if the fluid smells burnt or looks black instead of cherry red, it may be too late. If you change burnt fluid in a transmission you can actually cause more harm than good. So, next step is to pull the dipstick, wipe it on a white paper towel and see what color the fluid is. It should show up pink/red on the towel.

Oro

The transmission should definitely have been serviced a few times since new, and since you've owned it. Transmissions are terribly neglected when it comes to maintenance, and poorly understood by most.

Here is a simple way to do a full fluid swap on your car:

https://www.toyotanation.com/forum/1...lush-pics.html

Another way is just to drain/fill the unit a few times - three times will get you up to about 80% new fluid IIRC. It's a bit wasteful, and overall takes more time. My maintenance regime, and what a lot of people choose, is to do a partial drain/fill every 30k instead of waiting 60 or 90k and doing a full swap. Regardless of what your transmission fluid looks like, clean new fluid is going to be better. The fluid does a lot of jobs - acting as hydraulic fluid in the valves, as part of the friction control in the discs, and as both cooling and lubricant everywhere. Old worn fluid does none well, "burnt" or not. No transmission was ever damaged by putting clean fluid in it, internet myths aside (this is a persistent one). The 99 to 01 es transmissions have a known flaw in that some planetary gear thrust washers were defective. I would want to really baby one of these with regular maintenance. Note up front that you check the fluid level with the car warm (not hot) and engine running, after shifting through all gears.

Toyota TIV is really the best fluid to use in these in my experience and that of others. jet.com has the Aisin brand on a good sale right now. Mobil 3309 is the same stuff. Castrol HM (green bottle) would be my next choice (it is not straight TIV but a multi-purpose fluid).

Another good maintenance rule is to service your PS system at the same time as your AT. same fluid, so why not? Here's how to do that:

https://www.toyotanation.com/forum/1...ce-needed.html

After doing a fluid swap once and getting all clean fluid in, you can just drain/fill the reservoir every 30k along with the transmission pan. Lastly, Lubegard Red is an additive that works, and is well worth having in your AT and PS system.

harrisbaig

this is the image of the transmission oil on paper towel. I apologize it is pasted on a word document. I have to learn to paste images directly.
I looked orange to me. kind of rust color. thinking a drain/fill is in order. like replace 30%. any suggestions. any decent mechanic should be able to do that, right? approximate cost?

Oro

It would be my instinct that oil is not original (which is a good thing). I can't tell whether it's lighting or it's a bit dirty, but it's not awful at all.

I don't know the current cost to do a simple drain/fill. I do these things myself. It is not hard to do - in fact you can buy a cheap hand pump at harbor Freight or online for $10 or less and pump 3 to 4 quarts out the dip stick tube and then refill. I do that every 30k. It is a lot less messy than crawling under and draining, and atf is generally messier and more unpleasant to deal with than motor oil, for example. It's very useful stuff - it can be used as a light oil for many uses (drilling steel, shock absorber oil) and as a cleaner (mixed with acetone it is a great penetrating oil). You can also run 1/2 quart in your crankcase 100 miles before an oil change as a cleaner/flush agent. Anyway, this pump is what I mean:

https://www.harborfreight.com/multi-...ump-63144.html

I don't know about on the U140E transmission in the 99, but on the U150E in the 2002 and up, it is pretty hard to get the fill checked as splash from the pan goes up the tube and drips and makes it look more full than it is. The only way I can get accurate readings is to start with a cold car, let it idle forseveral minutes to warm up, then read the dipstick. If I drive it to warm it up, the readings are all skewed and too high (so you are actually underfilled). It's not just my car - other people have this problem. I would suspect the U140E is the same since they are the same basic design. The A series transmission in prior years don't have this problem.

harrisbaig

so had it drained and refilled with 4.1 quart at Valvoline quick change. for $59.
seems be running even better now!