Used TOYOTA WS Automatic Tranny Fluid analysis :

[41magmag41]

Again, I fail to understand all this hoopla over changing fluids in a yaris before the factory recommended service intervals. This car is suppose to be an economy car in order to reduce costs and provide reliable transportation. The factory manuel says to change the transmission fluid at I believe 100 or 120 thousand miles, why incurr the expense of changing it early. Being in my mid 50's I've run cars well over 100000 plus from new and have had no problems following the factory recommentations. I've done this with my 2007 yaris, 80000 miles on her and going strong. All I've done is change the oil and filter every 5000 miles, the air and cabin filters as necessary, and rotate the tires. All other items are checked at the factory recommened service intervals. I still have 2/3rds of my front and rear brakes left and have put one set of tires on her.

Again I say why incurr expense when you don't have to?? Seems like a waste of money and bad for the enviroment. It seems most posters are living in the past where cars needed this type of maintance to last, todays new oils and all don't need to be changed as much. I don't think Toyota would recommend leaving the tranny fluid alone for such a long time if they didn't have confidence it would last, if it didn't last they would have warranty claims up the whazoo.

Just an old timers two cents worth.

[sbergman27]

Originally Posted by 41magmag41

The factory manuel says to change the transmission fluid at I believe 100 or 120 thousand miles

I just checked the maintenance schedule for my 2008 Yaris Sedan on the Toyota.com site. It specifies checking the transmission fluid level at 30,000 mile intervals. It details scheduled maintenance out to 120,000 miles. But *never* mentions changing the transmission fluid or filter.

This transmission is intended to be essentially maintenance free.

-Steve

[Yaris Hilton]

Yep. There is no recommended change interval.

[41magmag41]

Originally Posted by Yaris Hilton

Yep. There is no recommended change interval.

OK got spanked on that one, read the maintenance schedule a little more carefully, but the maintenance schedule does say to replace the transmission oil at 60 and 120 thousand if used for towing, and with the threads about towing with the yaris maybe they should change it. Thanks for keeping on my toes.

Again my point was missed that this car has a long life transmission fluid in it and why go through the expense of changing it just to have something to do. Goes along with my comment of spending thousands of dollars on the car to make it go better when you could put the thousands of bucks with the cost of the car and buy a car that comes from the factory like you want.

[sbergman27]

Originally Posted by 41magmag41

OK got spanked on that one,

Wasn't my intention at all.

Again my point was missed that this car has a long life transmission fluid in it and why go through the expense of changing it just to have something to do.

In fact, I was adding evidence to strengthen your point. And I more or less agree with it.

However... I will defend the idea of changing the fluid at finite intervals... say... 60,000 miles, as a reasonable practice. A rebuild on a relatively simple, American, transmission like the THD-400 in my 68 Cadillacs is expensive enough. I can only imagine how expensive the Yaris' transmission would be. And a fluid change, even using the somewhat pricey WS fluid, is a relatively cheap once every 5 year prophylactic measure.

The standard power train warranty is only 60,000 miles. (100,000 miles for Certified used.) There is no particular reason for a manufacturer to care overly about the transmission making it past 100,000 miles. Making the car last forever is a recipe for losing future business. And the fluid could well be compromised long before any transmission trouble developed.

I'm not saying that it is. I'm just saying that it could be, and that the manufacturer surely doesn't care much about anything past the 120,000 miles that the maintenance schedule covers.

My cars, other than the Yaris, all have 250k+ miles on them, so I tend to think in the long term, regarding these things.

-Steve