HELP! Need transmission fluid change procedure for 2008 Sienna!

[edozun]

I went to change the oil in my 2008 Sienna and managed to drain the tranny fluid instead.

< waits for laughter to calm >

It appears I've got one of those sealed transmissions, as there's no obvious dipstick. There's also no way to refill it, that I can locate.

Can anyone talk me through refilling it before I call the tow truck?

Thanks!

[edozun]

Well, it appears I woke up stupid today. I found the tranny fluid dipstick hiding in there. It's black and it was dark and I woke up stupid.

Oddly, I drained a ton of fluid before I realized my error yet the dipstick still shows that I have plenty in there...

[jburner]

So did you add back in what you took out? It may look like there is a ton in there because you didn't check it with the engine running? Make sure you put back in what you took out!

[jc]

What did the drain plug look like? Was it a 10mm hex bit that you removed? If so that's the tranny fluid. What colour was the fluid?

I think you need the WS fluid, and I'm not sure where you buy it. Hey I did the same thing on my 84 Tercel years ago. Drained the manual tranny fluid and doubled up on the oil! I actually drove the car and had HUGE clouds of smoke when I was on the highway.

Regards, JC.

[jburner]

JC - sorry, but I couldn't help but laugh at your "huge clouds of smoke comment" with an 84 tercel. Was it b/c there was too much oil, or no tranny fluid?

[jc]

JC - sorry, but I couldn't help but laugh at your "huge clouds of smoke comment" with an 84 tercel. Was it b/c there was too much oil, or no tranny fluid?

Too much oil (something like 8 litres). I was a young 20 year old trying to do my own maintenance with no idea! The manual 4 spd tranny had very little fluid left. I had driven the car for about 30 km. Took it to the dealership the next day and had swallowed my pride and got another oil change and tranny fluid topped up and bought a new air filter since it was covered in oil as well. No major issues with the car from that incident!

[jh818]

I bought my WS fluid from the Toyota dealer parts dept. Was maybe $9-$10 a qt. or something like that. Not cheap.

[kazcoro]

I went to change the oil in my 2008 Sienna and managed to drain the tranny fluid instead.

< waits for laughter to calm >

It appears I've got one of those sealed transmissions, as there's no obvious dipstick. There's also no way to refill it, that I can locate.

Can anyone talk me through refilling it before I call the tow truck?

Thanks!

I feel you. I did the same thing on my girl's Sienna today. I managed to put 5 EXTRA quarts of oil in. Then, she pulled it out of the drive, and said, "It won't go." My answer, SHUT IT OFF!. I immediately knew what I had done. So, emergency tranny fluid change. That's how I stumbled across this thread. So, you are not alone. I am not new to working on cars, I have a WS6 in the garage. I just saw the first drain plug, and thought, "Oh, I have the allen wrench for this." Instead of wondering WHY I needed an allen wrench to change the oil. Oh, well, I now have 30k before I have to change her tranny fluid again. It was pretty funny actually, cause after I had pushed her van back into the garage, I asked her want the good news, or the bad news. She kinda had it figured out, and I said, Good news, you are getting your tranny fluid changed today too. LMAO I was laughing pretty good. The $20 jug of oil hurts, but still way cheaper than having Jiffy Lube change the tran fluid.