HELP! in the middle of this! I inadvertently drained the COLD fluid into the same container as my diffs and transfer case and didn't measure the amount. I am assuming that if I reinstall enough fluid into a level pan as above that this transmission is filled. Please Help soon!

You Tube

In this video above at 13:26 with hot fluid the fill tube is removed and fluid drained until it starts to bubble/stop draining as the pic above indicates and the nut is reinstalled. Is the torque converter or oil cooler drained after the plug is removed or just the pan?

 

Thing of it is that my car has 202,000 miles and it was first changed at 90,000. I do not know the quality of the change at 90 but when I removed the fill plug at least .5 - 1 qt came out cold. I am assuming that if I put back in 5 qts and ran it to temp and about the same amount came out then it was over filled to begin with. If I put another .5 qt back in it will be fine.

 

Vehicle needs to be ON and at OPERATING temperature to check for PROPER FLUID LEVEL

That's why the LEVEL is important because the jack points of the car along with jackstand and ground are can be off.

This is the reason why fluid came out. By turning the engine on and having the fluid at temperature you will make sure that if you were to look at your pan from a side view it would look like my picture. The fill tube is also the excess drain.

You cannot go by how many quarts you have put on, even if you replace the same amount you removed.

Vehicle on
Fluid up to temp
Transmission level
Remove fill bolt
Fill transmission until fluid comes out of fill hole
Replace fill bolt and tighten or torque

 

Bull,
Thanks for the reply. That is essentially what I did. The front of the car was 2-3 deg high from level, so that should be fine. I am hoping that the torque converter and the oil cooler are still full. I will take for a drive and see if it works.

 

Anyone do the hose in a bucket method yet and can report back? Better yet with pictures? I'd love to know the dimensions of the hoses so that I can do a fill at the trans cooler inlet and drain at the same point.
Do I also need to do the torque converter or does that get flushed with this method?

Going to use 3 gallons of the valvoline max ATF fluid this weekend. Don't want to drop the pan cause I don't have the wiggle time before the track weekend!
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If you dont have a proper way to check the level I would wait until you do. I recently installed "The dipstick" come to find out I was 1/4 off from full, this quarter was a full quart of fluid. And it made a difference.

 

I can check the level no problem, via fill-bolt/tube is easy.
Whole thing will be done on a friend's quick-jack in a climate controlled garage.
I've just never done an auto trans before, and this hose-in-hose-out fill method is enticing.
planning on:
Disconnect at the trans cooler inlet on the radiator (the hose is waste outlet)
Find hose to fit trans cooler inletNew hose is new fluid endTurn car on until all old fluid is outTurn off carButton upTurn on car, check fill level, top off if need be.
Cycle all gears while its on the lift.Check fill level againDegrease fill hole and bolt, torque to specTest driveBeverages

It is the ​​​​​snapping of trans pan bolts, ez-outing, breaking the ez-out, dropping the trans and taking it to a machine shop to drill and tap threads, that I am not equiped to do this weekend... Which is my assumption of what would happen given it's seen 80k miles in the New England winters.

 

I started to do the trans change that way but unhooked the wrong hose and made a mess in the garage so switched to the drain and fill method. Now that i know which hose to use I'll do it that way next oil change in 30k miles . Lots of youtube videos of toyota people doing it from the hoses.

 

What would be the part for oil transmission filter ? Thank you.

Because I don't know I feel that, one guy got discouraged to change the filter, and seems nobody is changing it ... but common every other car brand youtube video people change the filter when doing a transmission flush. And I can see some kit with pan gasket and filter. (not really easy accessible in europe that's why I'm asking for the exact part number). Thank you.

 

It's not as difficult as it sounds. The fill bolt can be vicegripped if you strip out the allen hole it uses. I suggest you put the car up in the quick jack first to see what you're looking at. Maybe spray some penetrant around until the day comes.
Anyone that's had one of these lines come loose or explode is that this fluid comes out pressurized and that same pressure is what helps drive it back as the return wont provide as much vacuum. So you might encounter the trans empty out faster than the feed line can vacuum in the new fluid.
Less of a chance by doing it the proper way, less messy if anything were to go wrong.

I was hesitant at first to do the "dipstick method" now that I have the dipstick it is not a worry anymore.

 

​​​​​​The pressurized system remark is very compelling reason not to do it the hose method then.
3x drain and fill it it is.

​​​​​Now the question to debate endlessly is: do you put back what you take out, like others have done? or do you pump it until it's level at the fill line each time
I'll measure regardless to see if there's a difference.

Thanks all!

 

 

Did this today. Only 1 gallon (4qts) on the first drain, put the same back in and it did drain a significant amount from the fill plug. Going to run it and see what the second drain brings.
3.5qt on the 2nd drain. Put back 3.5qt.
3.75qt on the 3rd drain. Put back 4 like what was taken out originally. 0.25 qt drained out of the fill plug on the final step before torquing.
Remember to put your foot on the brake between shifts!
A 1/4 in barbed nylon fitting from the hardware store fits the fill hole.

​​​​​​After 80000 miles its a Night and day difference in transmission behavior. Smoother shifts and faster response.

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What brand of fluid did you use?

 

I used the Valvoline maxlife atf stuff rated for Matic S.