Photo by saebaryo I’m pretty sure those of you who own a Camry must have been quite satisfied with lots of benefits and durability that this car gives.
But in order to keep enjoying those advantages, you must perform a regular maintenance on your ride.
Without a regular maintenance it’s more likely that you’ll spend more money in the future to repair and fix the damages.
One of the regular maintenance procedures is changing the automatic transmission fluid (ATF).
The shortcut to do this is of course by relying on a professional mechanic to handle the job.
But if you decide to extend your knowledge, save money, and gain the satisfaction of doing the replacement by yourself, then let’s get your hand dirty.
You’ll be needing proper tools and the courage to do this, so get ready.
Below are the steps that show you how to change automatic transmission fluid in your Camry:
First you need to drain the old fluid out from the fluid pan. To do this you should first clean the outward of the pan and its surrounding areas. By doing this you’ll prevent the pan from dirt contamination.
Now, remove the dipstick that’s located in the filler tube and replace it with a funnel. Place a drain pan under the fluid pan. This pan is used for catching the draining fluid that will flow out.
Once everything is set into place, you may use a socket wrench to remove the drain plug of the fluid pan. Put the plug on a safe and clean and take time to let the old fluid drain.
Remove the fluid pan from your Camry. In order to do this, the two bolts need to be loosen in a diagonal fashion.
Because there are bolts with different sizes, so you should pay attention the places which every bolt should go.
You should prepare to catch the pan before you completely remove the two remaining bolts. You may catch the pan by holding it.
The pan often still contains some fluid in it, so you should be very careful when detach it from your car to avoid any fluid from spilling.
Put the pan aside on a clean place.
Now it’s time to disassemble other transmission parts. You need to disconnect the wires of the valve body in order to detach it.
You should also take off the retaining bolts of the strainer. Once again you need to pay attention on which each bolt should go.
Now, you need to remove any debris that still remain on the valve body and throw away the gasket.
You should take an extra caution when doing this step because the valve body usually still contains some amounts of fluid that may drain out.
There’s a magnet that’s located at the bottom of the fluid pan, you may want to clean it.
You should remove all the magnets. There are metal shavings that are attached to the magnets, you need to clean them.
If the fluid pan still contains fluid then it needs to be drained. Wipe off any excess fluid by using a clean rug.
If the gasket is already too old, consider to replace it. In order to clean the transmission better, you need to scrape off more material from it.
Air dry the fluid pan, once the remaining fluid is completely drained out and cleaned.
Now it’s time to reassemble every components that are previously detached.
Photo by rastrus Attach the parts back into its original assembly and replace any parts that need to be replaced like the gasket’s magnets.
When all the assembly is completed, the transmission is now ready to be filled with a new supply of automatic transmission fluid (ATF).
Add the new supply of automatic transmission fluid using the dipstick tube. Observe your Camry’s manual to find out the proper amount and the recommended fluid.
The dipstick usually has a mark that tells the optimum level which the fluid should be filled up to.
Alright, now you have successfully changed the automatic transmission fluid of your beloved Camry. Try to start the engine and let it remains idle for several minutes.
Check your dipstick and make sure the fluid is still within the recommended level. If it’s not, add more fluid.
