All Entries Tagged With: "service"

How To Make Your Tundra’s Automatic Transmission Last

Automatic transmissions are generally quite reliable, but when they break, it’s not cheap. While noted transmission expert John Lombardo has said that Toyota transmissions are top-notch, nothing lasts forever.

Therefore, if there’s anything you can do to prolong the life of your transmission, you should do it. Right?

Here’s what you can do to make your Tundra transmission last as long as possible.

The Manual Transmission Is Dead

If you’re like me, you love yourself a good old fashioned stick shift. There’s something about banging from one gear to the next that makes driving just a little more enjoyable.

However, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve noticed that manuals are getting harder and harder to find on new car lots. There are three key reasons for this:

1. Emissions and fuel economy regulations have forced automakers to implement complicated electronic controls that are incompatible with manual transmissions.
2. Automatic transmission efficiency has dramatically improved in the last decade or so.
3. The operating costs of a modern automatic are lower than ever.

Am I glad to pronounce the death of the manual transmission? Not at all. Yet the fact is, the manual transmission is dead.

Here’s how it happened.

2500 Mile Oil Changes Because You’re Running E-85? P-shaw

Last week a Toyota dealership dropped a link on Twitter with the warning “Did you know you have to change your oil twice as often if you’re running E85?” (or something like that ).

The link went to a page that advocated a 2,500 mile oil change frequency for truck owners using E85. Of course, there was no explanation as to why E85 users needed to change their oil twice as often, just that they should. THAT, ladies and gentleman, is why dealership service departments get a bad wrap. Instead of explaining why 2,500 might be a prudent choice (and it might), they make a blanket statement. I say p-shaw. This recommendation is, at best, paranoid.

First, here’s why this recommendation was made.