The weather finally was decent enough today to get underneath my 93 Corolla wagon, so I decided to change the engine and transmission oil. I got a Motomaster oil filter, cheap Autolab 15w40 oil, 1 bottle of Motomaster engine flush, 3 quarts of 80W-90 gear oil and an air filter. I wanted to try the flush to see if it would help lessen the oil burning my wagon has. The 1.8's were known for sticking oil rings and I believe my 1.8 has that too. I ran the flush at idle for 10 minutes then I crawled underneath the car and removed the drain bolt. While I was letting the engine oil drain out, I removed the transmission drain bolt. I needed a 24mm impact socket and a breaker bar to get the transmission drain bolt loose, but once I broke it loose it came out easily. The old transmission oil looked cloudy and darker than normal as it was draining out. It looked almost black when it was all drained into the bucket I was using. Once the transmission oil was all drained out, I put the engine and transmission drain bolts back in then I removed the transmission fill bolt and put the 3 quarts of gear oil into the transmission. The fill hole is easy enough to get at once the plastic undercover is removed, but I think if I had a little tube to put onto the gear oil bottle and into the fill hole I could have put the gear oil in faster, not a whole lot of room to tip the bottle up and squeeze it. Once I was done this, I reattached the fill bolt then went to remove the oil filter. Thankfully the old filter wasn't on tight and I removed it with just my hands. I put the new filter on, topped up the engine then fired up the car and let it idle while I cleaned up and put away my tools. I took it out for a short drive after I cleaned up. I mainly wanted to see if the transmission would act any differently with the new oil in it. I do detect a little less noise and gear changes seem to be a bit smoother. I still have throwout bearing noise but that's something an oil change wouldn't fix. Overall the work went smoothly and I didn't spill much oil at all compared to my usual messy oil changes.
Did my oil changes today
- Thread starter 55Test
- Start date
- Status
Now you can enjoy your summer.
In the future, I would remove the transmission fill plug first, "just" in case. I would hate to drain that fluid and then not be able to fill it back up!
Kestas
Staff member
Originally Posted By: eljefino
I've put a foot of tubing on the tip of those gear oil bottles, the transmission fill ports are always in the worst spots.
Every time I tried that, the tubing slipped off and made a big mess. Any tips on doing it right?
I've put a foot of tubing on the tip of those gear oil bottles, the transmission fill ports are always in the worst spots.
Every time I tried that, the tubing slipped off and made a big mess. Any tips on doing it right?
What wantin150 said, ALWAYS remove (at least loosen) the fill plug first! No reason to gamble like that.
There is a $5 pump you can use to make filling up transmissions and differentials easier, most auto parts stores have them near the gear oil. It screws into windshield washer fluid bottles, but you can use anything big enough if you're willing to not screw it in. I used one recently to fill up my Jeep's Aisin AX-15 with Mobil 1 75w-90. I reused a Castrol GTX 5 quart jug. Worked like a charm! No mess (until I overfilled the transmission...)
I'm hoping to do the differentials this weekend...I wasn't feeling up to it since I didn't have access to the lift when I did the transmission. The diffs are such a mess to drain.
Hopefully I'll get my butt in gear and get the rear main seal replaced too...another huge mess.
There is a $5 pump you can use to make filling up transmissions and differentials easier, most auto parts stores have them near the gear oil. It screws into windshield washer fluid bottles, but you can use anything big enough if you're willing to not screw it in. I used one recently to fill up my Jeep's Aisin AX-15 with Mobil 1 75w-90. I reused a Castrol GTX 5 quart jug. Worked like a charm! No mess (until I overfilled the transmission...)
I'm hoping to do the differentials this weekend...I wasn't feeling up to it since I didn't have access to the lift when I did the transmission. The diffs are such a mess to drain.
Hopefully I'll get my butt in gear and get the rear main seal replaced too...another huge mess.
I changed gear oil on my car when it was -5 C out, by warming it up in a bucket of hot water, and using a tube. Three quarters of the way down the bottle, it had cooled down and stopped flowing at a decent pace, so I had to open up the other one. I smelled like Mobil 1 gear oil that day.
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2002
- Messages
- 39,793
Quote:
I used one recently to fill up my Jeep's Aisin AX-15 with Mobil 1 75w-90.
This is a no-no.
I did the exact same thing by reading the 99 owners manual. The FSM (factory service manual) correctly specifies GL-3 fluid. The MOPAR fluid is $14/quart and is a synthetic. It's cheaper, locally, than the GL-4 synthetics. It's the ONLY GL-3 fluid that I know of available over the counter ..and pretty much in all of North America. Most are GL-4 and will be of higher viscosity (that nasty 2nd gear shift in cold weather thing).
Use the M1 in the diffs. It's the only ride that I ever had that would slow going downhill. M1 improved it.
- Status
Similar threads
