96 626 transmission fluid/filter change questions

Disregard my ignorance, but checking out the underbelly of my 96 626
automatic 4 cyl today, seeing how difficult it would be to change the
trans. fluid & filter. My Chiltons manual says my 96 should have a
drain plug on the transaxle. Where in the crap is it? Another thing -
I thought I would see something similar to my oil drain pan, where the
connections/bolts/gasket would be parallel to the ground, but the
transmission "pan"/gasket appears to mount vertically, perpindicular to
the ground - am I looking at the right thing? Lying under the car on
my back with my feet towards the rear, it was on the right side between
the radiator and axle.

Another thing - assuming I'm looking at the right thing, how in the
#$%^ am I supposed to get to all the mounting bolts to get the
pan/gasket back on, and then torque them correctly? Even with taking
the battery out, there seemed to be some pretty tight spots to fit a
ratchet in.

wrote:
> Disregard my ignorance, but checking out the underbelly of my 96 626
> automatic 4 cyl today, seeing how difficult it would be to change the
> trans. fluid & filter. My Chiltons manual says my 96 should have a
> drain plug on the transaxle. Where in the crap is it? Another thing
-
> I thought I would see something similar to my oil drain pan, where
the
> connections/bolts/gasket would be parallel to the ground, but the
> transmission "pan"/gasket appears to mount vertically, perpindicular
to
> the ground - am I looking at the right thing? Lying under the car on
> my back with my feet towards the rear, it was on the right side
between
> the radiator and axle.

You should have a drain plug on your '96. Look through the crossmember
holes at the transaxle case. Look for a plug with an internal hex
(allen) that screws into the bottom of the aluminum case. I think it's
an allen head drainplug, anyway.


> Another thing - assuming I'm looking at the right thing, how in the
> #$%^ am I supposed to get to all the mounting bolts to get the
> pan/gasket back on, and then torque them correctly? Even with taking
> the battery out, there seemed to be some pretty tight spots to fit a
> ratchet in.


If you want to replace the filter, you will need to take the pan off.
Do the work from under the car. Move the crossmember out of your way
to gain more access to the pan. Remove the left side plastic splash
shield also. There's enough room at this point to get a socket wrench
with extension on all of the bolts. If you drain the trans from the
plug first, you won't have a huge splash when the pan breaks free from
the trans.

Toyota MDT in MO

Has anyone tried flushing their tranny fluid using a procedure similar
to this.....????

-----------------------------

Actually that method is very effective in getting rid of the old
tranny fluid. Just make sure that your car is running so the tranny
pump will pump out the junk. And also you pour the new tranny fluid
using a funnel into the DIPSTICK TUBE, not in the other hose.

My suggestion though is to buy a 3/8" clear tubing about 5ft long and
connect it to your tranny hose so you can extend it far enough to drain
into a bucket and you can see the color change of the outflow from old
fluid to fresh red fluid.

Now the tranny will pump out the fluid with force like fireman's hose
so you might want to keep an eye on it so it doesn't go flailing around
and messing up your garage.

Also if you see bubbles in the clear tubing that means you are not
pouring in fluid as fast as it is flowing out so you turn off your
engine, pour fluid so you catch up with the flow. Then you turn engine
on again. Keep doing this until you see fresh red tranny flowing out.
Then top-off the fluid.

You'll need 10L of tranny fluid to do this procedure. Get the cheap
100% synthetic (Supertech from Walmart). Now you can do this every year
to keep flushing out the gunk that's inside your tranny. It's cheap,
safe, easy and no use of special machine. Dispose your old tranny fluid
properly.

----------------------

Also - if I need to replace the gasket on the transm. pan, do I need
any special sealant or anything? Or just apply the gasket to the pan
and reapply. If I use the above procedure to flush the fluid, in what
order do I do everything????



Comboverfish wrote:
> wrote:
> > Disregard my ignorance, but checking out the underbelly of my 96
626
> > automatic 4 cyl today, seeing how difficult it would be to change
the
> > trans. fluid & filter. My Chiltons manual says my 96 should have a
> > drain plug on the transaxle. Where in the crap is it? Another
thing
> -
> > I thought I would see something similar to my oil drain pan, where
> the
> > connections/bolts/gasket would be parallel to the ground, but the
> > transmission "pan"/gasket appears to mount vertically,
perpindicular
> to
> > the ground - am I looking at the right thing? Lying under the car
on
> > my back with my feet towards the rear, it was on the right side
> between
> > the radiator and axle.
>
> You should have a drain plug on your '96. Look through the
crossmember
> holes at the transaxle case. Look for a plug with an internal hex
> (allen) that screws into the bottom of the aluminum case. I think
it's
> an allen head drainplug, anyway.
>
>
> > Another thing - assuming I'm looking at the right thing, how in the
> > #$%^ am I supposed to get to all the mounting bolts to get the
> > pan/gasket back on, and then torque them correctly? Even with
taking
> > the battery out, there seemed to be some pretty tight spots to fit
a
> > ratchet in.
>
>
> If you want to replace the filter, you will need to take the pan off.
> Do the work from under the car. Move the crossmember out of your way
> to gain more access to the pan. Remove the left side plastic splash
> shield also. There's enough room at this point to get a socket
wrench
> with extension on all of the bolts. If you drain the trans from the
> plug first, you won't have a huge splash when the pan breaks free
from
> the trans.
>
> Toyota MDT in MO