How to Check Transfer Case Fluid 2002-09 Toyota 4Runner

Hey friends, it's Len here from 1A Auto. Today we're going to be working on our 2006 Toyota 4Runner and I want to show you how to check your transfer case fluid. Your transfer case is located right in the middle of your vehicle and it should be very easy to check. As always, if you need any tools or parts, check us out, 1aauto.com. Let's get right into it.

We're going to make sure we're wearing some safety glasses. We're underneath the vehicle, so anytime you're underneath the vehicle there's a potential that something could fall down and get into your eyes. You need to be safe at all times. 1A Auto cares about your safety. Right up here is where your check plug is. This is also the fill plug for your transfer case. If for some reason you needed to drain your fluid, the lower plug would be where you drain the fluid. Before you pull this plug, you need to make sure that you pull this plug.

I'm going to use my 24 millimeter socket and a ratchet. Break that free. Get a rag ready. I also have a little catch for down here for in case any fluid comes out like it is. You'll notice the fluids coming right out so we know that that's full. If it comes gushing right out of there, it's definitely over full. We saw fluid come out, it didn't come gushing out, it just came out in a nice little trickle. So I would say that that fluid's good. All right?

If you wanted to, you can also check the gasket. When you pull out that plug all the way, you'll notice that there's going to be a little metal gasket on there. Just check that gasket and make sure that it's clean. If it looks good, you can reuse it. At this point right here the fluids coming out fairly good. So I don't want to pull the plug out all the way and just have it sitting out while I talk to you about it. But I'm just going to have you imaginarily picture that plug. Okay? And you'll see the little gasket on there. You're just going to check it, clean it, put it back in. All right?

So anytime you pull out a plug and you go to put it back in, you never want to walk away from it before fully tightening it. All right? So I'm not going to use the whole leverage of this bar cause it's a giant bar. I'm just going to come right up here. I've got it bottomed out. Just give it a teeny bit more with very minimal leverage. I'm not, like I said, way down here cause obviously I could probably crank this thing around three or four more times and potentially break something. We know that that's good. We'll just clean up our mess. Right?

Now assuming you wanted to serve as your transfer case, you would first pull out this plug like I just showed you with your 24 millimeter socket. Take it out, look at it, check your gasket, if it looks great, set it aside. Put a nice big catch bucket under here. Pull this right here. It's going to look the same as this plug up there except it's probably going to have a magnet on it. Okay? It's also going to have a gasket.

This plug is going to come right out. Fluid, of course, is going to come rushing out into your collection bucket. You never want to drain onto the ground or into the, you know, water or anything like that obviously. Pull that out, look at it. It looks great. Let it continue to drain out until it's all done draining. Maybe you have a small trickle or even just a drip left. Clean up the area.

Put this back in, bottom it out like I showed you, and then just give it a teeny bit more, and that's going to be it for that. At that point. This is still going to be out. Like I said before, you took it out first. Right? We're going to fill this up with the manufacturer recommended fluid. Once you know it's full and it starts just barely trickling out the top right there, take your nice clean plug, put it in there, snug it up, down the road you go. Easy peasy.

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