Transmission Bolt Question

[Micah.Berry]

I am trying to remove the transmission bolt, and it turns, but it doesn't come out. Ack! I'm stuck! So it's starting to weep around the bolt, but it won't unscrew... Just turns. It also won't tighten anymore. Help!

Micah

[billydpowell]

It has been overtightened and pulled the threads.

Pull the pan and locate the problem and repair it,

it should rethread.

You can buy oversized plugs.

transmission-case-oil-pan-atm-a340e-350732.bmp

[Micah.Berry]

Thanks Billy. I was in the process of pulling the pan. I couldn't break the seal. I tried lightly tapping the pan with a hammer and towel (to cushion the blow). I also tried using a series of flat head screwdrivers to pry it. I was unsuccessful. I did start to get weepage (if that's a word) at the seal, which was after much groaning. Not knowing what I was up against, I put the 19 pan bolts back in and then put a bit of silicone around the drain bolt. My hope is that I can limp to a repair shop where I can get it fixed / repaired. The bolt won't come out, so I'm not afraid of a "gusher" but I know I can't drive but a few miles. Interestingly, the while I checked the color of the fluid when I bought the car, I finally got around to checking the level. It is overfilled. And I'm not sure what fluid is in it, thus my desire to change the fluid to Toyota T-IV.

Is the seal supposed to be that difficult to break??? Now that I have gotten drips through the seal, I'm going to need a new one. I actually have a seal, so I'm a bit discouraged that I wasn't able to break it.

We're supposed to take a 200 mile trip in the car tomorrow. Hopefully, I can get it repaired by the time we need to leave tomorrow evening.

Micah

[Micah.Berry]

Another question, if the bolt is stripped and can be rethread, can I remove it by pulling on the bolt while twisting? Would the bolt "rethread" that way or do I risk damaging the threads on the pan?

Thanks,

Micah

[Micah.Berry]

By the way, the transmission mount went on without a hitch. Very simple. At least I had that going for me! :)

[billydpowell]

Another question, if the bolt is stripped and can be rethread, can I remove it by pulling on the bolt while twisting? Would the bolt "rethread" that way or do I risk damaging the threads on the pan?

Thanks,

Micah

pulling might work, the oversized plugs are designed to cut their own threads as you put them in, so dont worry about the original.

[landar]

Sorry to hear about the plug. You might use a large pair of vise grips and grab onto the bolt head. Pull downward while giving a CCW twist.

[Micah.Berry]

I "slept on it" and this morning, got the pan seal to give by using a screwdriver behind the transmission mount cross brace and tapping it into the seal. Now I need to wiggle the dipstick tube free, and then the pan will be free.

Billy, can I get an oversized plug from Autozone or O'Reilly's? They're very close. The Toyota dealer is a bit further away if I need to grab OEM.

Thanks,

Micah

[Micah.Berry]

Landar, what's a CCW twist?

Thanks (again),

Micah

[Micah.Berry]

Update: I've got the dipstick tube free (finally). Now I have got to figure out how to drop the pan down. I don't want to crunch something expensive in there! It doesn't seem to want to drop straight down because there is an exhaust bracket in th way. Do you guys remove the exhaust bracket? Mine seems to be stuck on there pretty good where it connects to the exhaust. Thus, moving the two bolts as shown in the picture won't do very much.

Thanks for all help.

Micah

[billydpowell]

Update: I've got the dipstick tube free (finally). Now I have got to figure out how to drop the pan down. I don't want to crunch something expensive in there! It doesn't seem to want to drop straight down because there is an exhaust bracket in th way. Do you guys remove the exhaust bracket? Mine seems to be stuck on there pretty good where it connects to the exhaust. Thus, moving the two bolts as shown in the picture won't do very much.

Thanks for all help.

Micah

CCW is counterclockwise.........

AND just remove whatever is in your way... with your motor mounts in and your tranny mount in, it wont fall on you.

ANY parts house should have the oversize self tapping bolt.

[landar]

micah, I removed the pan on my 98 and I did remove the exhaust vibration "snubbers" (or whatever they are called).

When putting the pan back on, I used a gasket rather than RTV (got the gasket at auto store). The worst part of putting the pan back on was getting the fill tube, which is actually two sections, mated back together. Due to the angles involved, I found it impossible to snap them back together with the upper tube still in the car. I had to unbolt the upper tube from the block, put the pieces together outside the car, then manipulate the entire tube and pan back into place. The bolt holding the upper tube is in a very awkward spot and not really visible. I had to go mostly by feel and use a swivel socket. Royal pain. In retrospect, I never would have removed the pan to begin with.

You may have an easier time with it. Best wishes.

[Micah.Berry]

Hot Dog! It's out!! Now, I'll scrap off what Lexus' seal. There is a little metal on the magnets, but not much, thankfully! Tranny oil is dirtier than I expected...

[Micah.Berry]

I've taken the pan to a machine shop to have the bolt removed. Advance and O'Reilly's were both unhelpful. Pan will be ready at 2:30. Then I'll continue scraping the old seal off before reattaching the pan with the new gasket.

In the interim, here are a few pictures:

The stuff that drained out of the pan. This looks FAR dirtier than when I pulled the dipstick out to check the color.

The pan is out!!! Hallelujah!

Just for fun. Here is a comparison picture of the old transmission mount and the new transmission mount. 123k miles.

[Micah.Berry]

Holy cow! I hope never to do that again... What an absolute nightmare. It's back together, but I'm going to watch the seal for the next few days just to make sure that it stays leak proof. I just about threw in the proverbial towel on this one... With exaust bolts frozen tight with rust, there wasn't much to remove. Getting it off and back on took so much manipulation-literally all day.

I will simply take it to a mechanic...

Nightmare...

[billydpowell]

Holy cow! I hope never to do that again... What an absolute nightmare. It's back together, but I'm going to watch the seal for the next few days just to make sure that it stays leak proof. I just about threw in the proverbial towel on this one... With exaust bolts frozen tight with rust, there wasn't much to remove. Getting it off and back on took so much manipulation-literally all day.

I will simply take it to a mechanic...

Nightmare...

your experience makes me glad I have never tried to flush/change any of my Lexus AT's. and I have never had a problem... if it works, dont fix it (just for me).

it looks like your tranny mount came out in one piece, mine was in 2 pieces.

[Micah.Berry]

Well, !Removed!. Underneath the car stayed dry when I went to bed, but when I got up this morning, there was a small puddle at the front of the pan's location. Rats. That's the portion of the pan that I had the hardest time with. I guess I didn't seal it properly. I think this time, I'm going to take it somewhere.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Micah

(I'm thankful that I have another car to drive right now! LOL!)

[landar]

Well, !Removed!. Underneath the car stayed dry when I went to bed, but when I got up this morning, there was a small puddle at the front of the pan's location. Rats. That's the portion of the pan that I had the hardest time with. I guess I didn't seal it properly. I think this time, I'm going to take it somewhere.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Micah

(I'm thankful that I have another car to drive right now! LOL!)

My tranny pan had a leak too from where I had pried when taking it off. Bent the sheet metal ever so slightly on that corner. Not bad but unacceptable. What I did to fix it was take a rather large coal chisel that I have and tap around the pan where it was leaking. That got the sheet metal bent back into place and with a little more tightening of the bolts around that area, the leak stopped. If that had not worked, my next step would have been to drop that side of the pan slightly and work some RTV into the leaking area and retighten.

Happy Thanksgiving to all...we have been blessed (despite the leaky tranny pans) :P

[Micah.Berry]

Well, Because the shops were closed on Friday, I took some time to lift the car up and see if the pan bolts were snug. Lo and behold, a couple of them were not! I don't have a torque wrench that measures inch pounds, so I just guessed by tightening them up as much as I dared. I KNOW that I can twist most of them a 1/4 turn more, but I don't want to strip the bolts. I also took the advice of lightly tapping the lip of the pan to edge it up.

Another problem was the dip stick tube, which was not mated together well. I ended up taking the top part of the tube out (thanks for the advice, Landar) and trying to jam it in. The O-ring kept getting stretched and causing the tube to bind. I tried it without the O-ring, and it went in smoothly. So I had another O-ring (new) that I put on. I don't think that it's quite as thick as the original, but it's close. Putting the tube back together took some effort, shall I say to get the bracket lined up with the bolt hole. The tubes are mated, but they don't slide all the way to together. There's about 1/2" gap to the base, but it appears to not leak when I top off the fluid, and the pan stayed oil tight all night after a couple test drives.

Total time investment: 19 hours!!!!! I can't believe that it took that long, but it did. I'm not totally convinced yet that everything is leakproof, but I'm going to watch it closely over the near term.

Thanks for everyone's help and encouragement. I truly appreciate it!

Micah

[billydpowell]

I have been out of touch with thanksgiving activies, and missed much of your troubles, hope you have them behind you....

[Micah.Berry]

Seems to be good news! The car hasn't leaked in the garage over theist few days. I wanted to do two things - 1. Say a "heartfelt thank you" to every one that wrote and helped with advice. 2. I want to confirm that the LS fluid level should be checked at operating temperature while running. I'm reading a bit low, which makes sense based on what came out and what I have put in thus far. Also, because the two dip stick tubes aren't completely seated, the dip stick may not quite reach as far. Shifting is very smooth.

Thanks again. I was ready to quit several times and haul the thing somewhere. I also would like to give some thanks to my wife, who got royally dirty trying to help me get the pan on and the top dip stick attached. It was a team effort.

[Micah.Berry]

Dang typos. Writing posts on my phone can be a chore...

Micah

[billydpowell]

Dang typos. Writing posts on my phone can be a chore...

Micah

good for you and 3 CHEERS for the little Lady