My old gas ‘19 RAV4 was odd like that too. I think I was supposed to warm the fluid up and then check the level after turning the engine off. It didn’t have a dipstick though. It had this weird straw sticking up into the transmission as part of the drain plug. fluid above the straw was too high a level and pours out of the drain plug.
Oh you need to measure while its still on, not off. I kinda just moved my air box a different direction so it wasn't covering the area where the dipstick was, reattached it to the tube and turned the car back on. Alternatively, you can access the dipstick from underneath the car.
Well I did manage to free it after some more persuasive arguments with a piece of metal curved and sharpened and lightly tapping it in between the seal going half way around at all access points, eventually enough of the bond broke free I could get my fingers in there and pull down prying the rest away, what a messy frustrating job that was, but it’s done and turned out good! 4.75L came out replaced that and drove it a hundred KM today on my commute, shift is improved but seems to still want to hold on to second gear a second too long when downshifting to first in stop and go traffic, maybe it need to be reflashed?
I'm also curious to know if the PCM needs the be reprogrammed after such service
No, not at all. It's just a simple oil change.
During a cold start (10+ hours), there's always going to be a fairly large difference between engine coolant temp (ECT) and transmission fluid temp (TFT). My second gen CX-5 shuts the blue dash light off when the ECT value goes over 122ºF. However, the TFT value at that same time is typically only around 80ºF, with some variation depending on ambient temp and amount of down time. And it takes quite a bit of additional time (10 minutes or so), before TFT reaches the target ATF check temp of 122ºF.
In the absence of a scan tool I plan on using my IR thermometer. The pan is black which should provide a good reading with IR emissivity setting to the usual 0.95. Adding 10*F should give a close fluid temperature. I saw this method being used somewhere and think it has merit. I can't see a few degrees making much difference since there is a range on the dipstick and besides, this ain't the Space Shuttle and the fluid can't have a huge coefficient of thermal expansion. Also, look at the different quantities drained (factory fill) on members cars when they did the first service. Some had 3-1/2 qts or 3.75, I had 3-3/8, and none of the transmissions had failed after running thousands of miles on those initial fill quantities. Not trying to upset the apple cart but offering a different viewpoint.
Perhaps do both and see how much they differ? The ATF temp sensor is located inside of the transaxle valve body, so it's just a guess as to how close those three temps would be at the 122ºF target checking point.
Thanks for the info regarding an economical alternative using Forscan. All of the other info available besides TFT makes that a no -brainer purchase. My Foxwell NT301 OBD2 scanner is limited in what data it can access beyond the usual trouble codes and some live data.
I'm frankly amazed that they're giving away such advanced functionality, and suspect that will end someday soon. So IMO it would be a good idea to copy the downloaded installation file to whatever storage media you like to use. I have a couple of copies of that file squirrelled away, just in case.
Yes, my 1998 Honda CR-V and friend’s 2002 Honda Odyssey all just require the engine in “operating” temperature, and with engine stopped pull a dipstick checking the ATF level. So much easier and no OBDII reader for specific ATF temperature required.
I believe your old 2019 gas RAV4 has traditional 8-speed step transmission, but the 2021 hybrid RAV4 has a CVT, hence the difference. Either way, both are easier to do on ATF drain-and-fill than Mazda’s.
No, your ATF temperature was definitely higher than 122°F, and the ATF level will be much higher when the engine isn’t running.So as it is up at the F of 122F then it’s overfilled from factory for the last 100,000 miles huh.
