Photos of Manual trans fill/drain for Corolla

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Bill in Utah

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I'm helping out a fellow BITOGer in a PM and thought that others would get something out of these photos.

Car is a 05 Toyota Corolla with a 5 speed manual transmission.

2 quarts of your favorite Manual transmission oil (I've used Mobil 1 gear oil and now Amsoil manual transmission oil and there is NO question what to use between those 2. Its night and day.
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)

Here is a top view of the engine/transaxle.



Close up of Fill plug;



And where the drain plug is;



Make sure you take the fill plug out first BEFORE you drain fluid. (you'd hate to drain the fluid and find out you can not get the fill plug off... (it happens quite a bit))
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Take a long hose and place it in the transmission fill and pour the new fluid into the transmission. (after putting back in the drainplug). I use a small funnel and just pour out of the bottle the oil and watch it go in. Works perfectly and very clean.. (even though as you can see in my photos, my engine comparment is not too clean)

Very easy job to do and makes a difference in life and operation of your car. I could tell the difference between oils I've used.

Hopefully this will help someone. The car is one of the easiest I've had as far as getting to any fluid or parts that the owner would fix. (PCV, spark Plugs, jacking points and things like that)

Take care, bill
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And beware, those forged plugs are garbage, and easy to round off.

Make sure that you use a socket, and that it's a tight fit.
 
If it's been there awhile, it might not hurt to hit it with some PB Blaster before trying to remove it. Overnight is best but PB works pretty quickly sometimes.
 
Looks pretty much like my '94 Geo Prizm (Corolla with the GM badge) so anyone with an older Corolla or Prizm can probably use the very same pix, FWIW.
 
nice lil write up Bill.. luckily the auto corollas are easier to do. unscrew drain plug, drain for a few hours, fill through the dipstick and measure accurately and thats it..
 
Quote:

Looks pretty much like my '94 Geo Prizm (Corolla with the GM badge) so anyone with an older Corolla or Prizm can probably use the very same pix, FWIW.

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Indeed, looks like my 94 Corolla.

One item of note with this setup: I recommend removing the drain plug first. If you have the fill plug off and then remove the drain plug, you better have a HUGE drain pan, or a couple brewskies on hand, because the fluid will come out like a fire hydrant and make the drain pan useless.
and major cleanup will be in order. I don't jack the car up anymore to change my trans fluid though as it's so easy with a small slim drain pan. If a plug is stuck, lightly smack the end of your rachet with adecent sized rubber mallet, ie the BFH (big f-in hammer). No more stuck plug.

Another item of note: look at the washers on the drain plugs and orient them correctly when you install them. The outside of the washer will kind of crush and from against the drain plug. If you install it backwards, you may end up with a leak.

Corolla's are the easiest cars in the world to work on!
 
Drew,

Your last sentance is one of the reasons I bought the Prizm I have.

I looked under the car and it looked well built. I liked the idea that ball joints were bolt on, and not pressed or riveted in place. (Not that I've had to replace one, I haven't.)

They are easy to work on, but I've had to do so little work on it that it's even better.

I may have an actual repair coming up. It looks like one of my power steering hoses is leaking. So after 214K miles and 13+ years since it rolled off the assembly line in Freemont, CA, it will need a new hose soon.
 
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Bill in UT using synthetic fluids... Bookmarking this

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Yep, 2 quarts every 2-3 years. I do feel that Syn does work well in transmissions and diffs.

It also works well in engines but more get rid of it too quick. Then we add in the cost and thats the major reason why I do not use or recommend syns in most peoples engines. In a 5k oci, no advantage unless you got it cheap.

Most here want the "best" for their engine. So do I. My UOAs and HISTORY of taking many engines well past 200k over the years proves to me I'm doing the best..
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Take care, bill
patriot.gif
 
My O2 Prizm has a three-speed automatic. I have read that this auto has a differential seperate from the tranny. I believe it is an A131L. I am almost positive that the differential fluid has never been changed. The car has 80000 miles on it now. Should I change the fluid or leave it alone? Also if I do change it should I use regular ol' ATF or some type of differential oil? I can order Amsoil ATF if that is a better choice. I haven't yet seen the drain plug and fill plug yet, when wifey gets home I will go out and look. I hope it is in the same place as the pics posted by Bill.
 
I am the one Bill was helping me out through pm's. he definitly knows what he is talking about and his information and advice is priceless. I believe he said the drain/fill plugs are 24mm, biggest I have is 19mm but sae 15/16 will fit on it. I did not get around to draining/refilling today because my funnel is too big for the hose, will get a smaller funnel and attempt it this week. I am half tempted to get a 24mm socket just so I wont potentially have problems with stripping the bolts.
-Good advice from Drew99GT, think I will break the fill bolt then put back hand tight so I know I can get it off later and then do the drain plug so it wont go shooting across the driveway.
 
word of advice: Always crack the fill plug to assure you can fill the tranny. I've head people having issues taking the drain plug easily but to find they CANT take the fill plug.
 
Quote:

word of advice: Always crack the fill plug to assure you can fill the tranny. I've head people having issues taking the drain plug easily but to find they CANT take the fill plug.

Click to expand...


Thats why I stated the following;


Make sure you take the fill plug out first BEFORE you drain fluid. (you'd hate to drain the fluid and find out you can not get the fill plug off... (it happens quite a bit))
 
If you ever had a stuck fastener, especially a drain plug, here's what you do. Go get you a big rubber mallet, hold the ratchet up in place with the socket over the plug - hold it firmly in position so all the force of the mallet goes through the handle of the ratchet and doesn't swing the ratchet all over the place and possibly mess up the plug - and give er a nice solid smack. DONE. Heck, I just use my hand now to smack it if it's tight.
 
Hey Bill.

I'm thinking of changing the manual trans fluid in my saturn for a good synthetic fluid.

The car has about 38k miles on it, and the OEM fluid.

It is a bit notchy in the morning. It definitely needs some different fluid to make it operate a bit smoother.

My saturn uses ATF in the gearbox. Would you still go with the Amsoil?

Would the redline, royal purple, etc be any better than the amsoil? Mobil1 atf?
 
based on his post about mobil 1 gear oil (75W-90) i am going to say he will advise you to pass on the mobil 1. However their gear oil may be different from the atf!
 
Amsoil makes "Synchromesh 5w30" which is often used to replace ATF in certain manual transmissions.

However, given that many modern manual transmissions use ATF because their synchronizers are built similar to AT clutches, I'm going to suggest fully synthetic ATF.

Try going to Saturnspot.com because there are many people with cars like yours that experimented with different types of oil in their manual transmission.
 
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