Transmission fluid

[BadAngel]

What type of transmission fluid should I be putting in my 04 SLE V6 to replace the stock stuff. I know toyota sells their own brand, but i was wondering how different this is from some other brands. Is it a specific kind of transmission fluid?? thanks alot!

[Black Bob]

My opinion: blow the money on the Toyota OEM brand. Unlike engine oil, transmission fluids have finicky additive packages contained within and vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Although I haven't any evidence to back up my fear of "universal" transmission fluids, I just don't feel right putting it into my tranny for some reason. While OEM fluid is more money, so is the repair bill for an overheated tranny.

[Midias]

OEM fluid is the way to go for most manufactures. I know in my accord Honda MTF made a huge difference over conventional oil.

[youngblood]

My philosophy includes staying with OEM fluid.

I want to take off the pan and clean the magnet(s) and the strainer as I've read others have done. It doesn't look like you can reach all the pan bolts without lifting the engine or dropping part of the sub-frame. Is this true? What am I missing here?

[Chinky420]

i don't know about the gen 2, but when i dropped the tranny pan on the gen 1, it was very difficult to get to about 3 of the bolts, because there was a cross-section of the frame in the way.

my solution: use a socket wrench with the bendable attachment (the peice that goes between the wrench and the socket, which allows for an almost 90 degree bend).


then i forced the hell out of the socket until it popped between the pan and the crossmember. there was about a 1.25" - 1.5" gap between the pan and the frame, so it was definitely possible.

all in all, it was pretty hairy, but doable. the real tricky part comes when you have undone all the bolts, and then want to catch all the tranny fluid before it leaks all over the driveway.

that part is much harder (but less frustrating) than unbolting the pan itself.

GL

[youngblood]

Thanks for the info and sorry for the thread hi-jack!
That sounds similar to what I remember my gen 2 looking like (but it's been about a month since I looked at it).
Anyone have feedback about doing the job on a gen2?