Check Level/Refilling A750E transmission

I am new to this site so I suspect this question has been asked before. I just bought a 2006 Toyota Tacoma with A750E transmission. The truck has 169,000 with no apparent transmission issues except for a small leak around the output shaft. The leak is small but my concern is the ATF level may be low. Watching the videos on how to check and refill the transmission was unclear about two items:

1) The Scan Tool used in the "how to video" is kinda pricey! Is there a reasonably priced (less than $500) Scan Tool that will read the #1 and #2 A/T temperatures? My current scan tool only reads the engine sensors. Nothing on the transmission or other parts of the drive train.

2) Does the truck have to be running to check the overflow. I assume the answer is yes but i could not determine on the video.

Haven't owned a Toyota truck since I got rid of my 1984 SR5 4X4. Looking forward to at least a few years out of this one. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated

 

There are several DIY threads in this forum about flushing or replacing the trans fluid. In those threads they include the instructions in getting trans temps. There are also a couple of phone apps that will read trans temps with an OBD adaptor.

Sorry I don't have links but they should show up in a search.

Dash Commander is the app I use.

 

Im close to 180K and have done two ATF flushes using an IR temp reader. With engine running, remove drain plug when pan temp hits 122 +/- 7. If no fluid comes out, you are low and need to add ATF until it flows out. I’ve since installed an Ultragauge, which reads ATP temp from two internal sensors. My IR temp reading is no more than one degree off from the sensor reading.

 

Hope this helps:

1) I bought the “Veepeak OBDCheck BLE+ Bluetooth 4.0 OBD2 Scanner for iOS & Android” ($39.99) on Amazon and used the fusion app on my iPhone to monitor the transmission pan temp. I had to enter a custom PID in the app to be able to see the trans temp, follow the instructions in the following post:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-to-get-transmission-temps-on-fusion-app-for-ios.359279/#post-9728271

2) Yes the truck has to be running and before the fluid check procedure add a quart to the tranny fill plug before the fluid check, otherwise you may not get a proper fluid level check, don’t worry the excess fluid will trickle out.

You may want to consider a fluid change and check out the following thread for a DIY fluid change/flush procedure. I used Valvoline MaxLife fluid instead of using the WS fluid during the flush and I’m very happy with the results:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diy-full-flush-for-automatic-transmission.68462/

Goodluck