2002 Corolla ATF EASY Flush @ 140k miles

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J

Juhsga

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Sep 27, 2009
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Daytona Beach, Florida
So I changed my transmission fluid a few days ago @ 139500 miles. I have taken some photos I would like to share with everyone. I went from ??? ATF that had been in it since I bought the car some 8k ago to now Valvoline Max-Life.

This is the color of the oil before and after .....

Drain.jpg

And this is the under side of trans and the pan. There were two magnets attached, one on the pan and a second one was stuck to the filter. I couldn't find the other two. I looked in several shops to see if any of them carried these magnets and had no luck finding two. I'll buy them when I find them and change them out on my next OCI.

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pan.JPG

...so comments about the work: It was easier than I had ever imagined ...it would have been even easier if I were to buy the correct filter kit initially ...it took me until I dropped the pan to realize the gasket didn't match and had to ride my roommate's bike to pickup the correct kit (ProKing FK-285, I believe?). I followed advice from fellow BITOG'rs in another forum ~here~
I did the "power flush" by disconnecting the cooler return line after I drained the old oil replaced the filter, refilled with 4 Qts ....idle'd the engine and shifted through all the gears ...then checked to make sure it was level (while Idle) ...then stopped engine ....disconnected the cooler return line ....I thought it would be fine not to go without the additional 3/8" hose I bought from Advance on the cooler side and boy was that a mistake!!! I started the car and oil splewed a huge puddle over all the newspapers I layed down ...I was quick to fit the hose, though, and it ended up working perfectly because the hose was just right to go an inch from the top of 1 gal milk jugs I was using to store the used oil. It took me 12~13 Qts until I noticed clean red oil to come out the return. From then I made sure the level was correct when idle. However, because my dipstick doesn't shoot straight into the trans and snakes around components I am still not very sure if I am getting an accurate reading because the oil is still working its way down from the fillup to the pan. I may either be a quart too much or a quart too little I am not sure. ..

I have so far driven 300 miles since the change. I am about to move and recently my "check engine" light came on. I went to Advance and it gives me a catalyst error. Since then I have made sure all my fluids are good and they are. And I also put in a few gallons of 93 octane to see if that may help as well. Not sure if there's a link between my recent ATF change and this catalytic converter error I just got? What do you guys think?
 
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No link catalytic converters are not part of the transmission lube circuit at all. In fact the only lube they ever see is what your engine burns. Now you might check conectors to make sure you did not pull one lose while working on the car that is common to know a wire or vacum line lose when working on a car!
 
That is some nasty looking fluid. You really should consider some Lube COntrol or AUto-Rx to clean that thing up between now and the next change. As far as magnets go you can by hard drive magnets from used hard drives dirt cheap and they are about 100times more powerful then what cameon the car and they are tiny! They use rare earth metals to make them neonydium(sp).
 
That's the typical colour of toyota T4 type ATF.Even Castrol Transmax E looks like the one in the first container.
 
Looks like what came out of my Festiva on Monday. Didn't do a full flush yet. I put in 1/2 quart MMO and 2 1/2 quart of Mercon. Going to run it about 1k and repeat. After that a full flush with Mercon V and Lubeguard.
 
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Good job on the changeover, it was definitely time.

Did you support the car with jack stands or just that scissor jack in the background?


To answer your question, yes I used the scissor jack only. I made sure the rear wheel was chocked but that was about it.

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Not trying to be a grump father or anything, but never trust a scissor jack when working under a car!


I was wondering why wouldn't I trust a scissor jack? ...there's no pneumatics that will fail ...the stand and supporting member aren't very stout I only see that being the problem there? Either way I never feel great about sliding under any car, jacks or not.
 
Hey John,

I believe the magnets in the trans pan were neodymium ...they were very strong, very small, and thin and smooth metallic ...not like the norm black brittle magnets.
 
I just changed the fluid in my girlfriends 03' Corolla, similar color. It was T-IV and had 37,000 miles on the fluid. Didn't look quite as bad, but smelled like paint, nasty! I only did a drain/fill though and will do the same for the next few OCI's. Re-filled with Schaeffer's ATF, shifts great just like always :)

Perhaps I should quit being lazy though and give the cooler flush a try, everyone says it's easy.
 
I doubt that Toyota magnets were neo. They're too weak. If you can pull them off with your fingers, they're probably and most likely NOT neodymium.

No need for cooler flush if you perform drain/refills with regular intervals.

UOA would've been interesting. Its nasty looking fluid, and typical doesn't mean its any good.
 
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I doubt that Toyota magnets were neo. They're too weak. If you can pull them off with your fingers, they're probably and most likely NOT neodymium.


I used to have neodymium magnets that I purchased in Korea. They were meant to be for toys for kids. They were shaped like little footballs but more slender. You take two and throw them in the air and they connect and spin to make a wierd electric sound. I actually still have them somewhere. So I know what neodymium are. And yes they are strong but when they are as this as the magnets were in my pan you can pick them up with the help of either a flat-head screw driver or what I did was pushed them against those raised & curved edges to get some leverage with my fingers to pick them using newspaper as well because the oil was too slippery for my fingers.

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UOA would've been interesting. Its nasty looking fluid, and typical doesn't mean its any good.


I would have liked to do a UOA myself ...but I needed to get rid of the oil because I was moving and wouldn't of spent the money anyways on a UOA. Maybe later on down the road when I have a good job and another car? I'll do UOAs/VOAs to determine what condition the car is in.

~John
 
That fluid looks terrible. It almost looks like it had moisture in it.

It might just be the camera, but it looks very milky to me.

Good thing you changed it in time.
 
That ATF drain was way past due. That fluid is nasty.

I did a pan drain on my 09 Corolla at 30K kms (18K mi) and the WS fluid still looked bright red, still smelled new. I will continue to do this interval (30K kms or yearly) until the car dies. I know that regular ATF pan drains is the most critical key to top performance and longevity. ATF is cheap, cheaper than gas over a couple of fuel fill ups, so to me its a no-brainer.
 
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ATF is cheap? Not on the Corollas... they use type IV and the stealership wants $5 a quart!
 
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