How bad is it f my A/T temp light to come on?

So I just got myself pretty stuck in some deep snow. I unstuck myself, but making it back to the road I noticed the Trans temp light had come on. I shut it off immediately and waited a while. It isnt on anymore. I’m almost at 100,000 I’m wondering if I need to go get this flushed soon.

 

I can't remember how hot you have to get it to turn on. I think 280? The light is pretty useless.
But yeah, it would be smart to drain and fill the trans

 

Most people will recommend a drain and fill at that mileage. Instead of your traditional flushing service

 

Oil temp light comes on at 302 degrees. Get the fluid changed. Good luck.

 

Yes, drain and fill.

 

Oh my, even more useless than I thought. Pretty cooked.
You'll probably be fine, just drain and fill the fluid. It's due anyway, life happens.

 

A couple threads you may want to read
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...l-toyotas-write-up-with-many-pictures.526283/

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...th-pics-for-second-gen-4-liter-trucks.289913/

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-to-drain-refill-automatic-transmission.63851/

If you want to do it yourself.

 

Like everyone has already stated. Drain and Fill.

 

drain and fill if you’ve never flushed before?

 

Yes, generally with higher mileage transmissions that havent had regular fluid changes you will have clutch material in your fluid. The belief is that flushing the trans with a machine, usually backwards flushing, will cause that material to get stuck in various parts of the valvebody causing issues or that the fluid helps the friction surfaces and may cause your trans to slip after. YMMV

 

I would drain, replace ATF filter and clean the pan in order to get a good look at the crud build up.
Refill
Run for 30 seconds.
Drain and refill again.

i’m wondering if it would have been better not to turn off the engine. Keeping the engine running would push the ATF through the ATF lines, allowing for quicker cooling. If you didnt know the cause, I would have shut it down also. Here, you knew it was related to getting stuck. Or, maybe you hadn’t made the connection then? Just thinking outloud ...

 

I too was thinking the same thing,
your ATF goes to a cooler does it not? The answer to this question does nothing to help OP, but it might help another.

 

ATF light comes on when shit gets REAL hot.

Do a full proper drain n fill of 11ish quarts.

Also... next time, 4LO, keep her in lower gears and rpms up, this will put way less load on the trans and generate WAY less heat.

 

Had a 2006 Matrix that I bought new & did a drain & fill every 25k miles...Doing the same with my 2.7 Tacoma....Not sure how to do this with a 6 cyl...There's a lot to be said for old technology.....

 

OP you have 2 options, You can drain and fill it, or take my $500 bucks for it.