Originally Posted By: 7055
Originally Posted By: Astro14
OK... Be VERY careful about opening ANYTHING on a transmission. You must reference the FSM to ensure that what you (or a 3rd party reference service) think is a fill plug is actually a fill plug...and not a band anchor or some other fastener whose removal will kill your transmission. You're always safe adding fluid through the dipstick tube...if it's too small, get a smaller funnel...don't risk your transmission by loosening external bolts on it...some transmissions do not have a fill plug and must be filled via the dipstick.
I already removed it but it has a rubber gasket so it looks like it was the right thing.
Yep, the star-shaped bolt next to the gear selector is the fill plug. The above comment though is spot on, and particularly ironic w/this transmission. The older, 5 speed version had a bolt which held the 3rd gear band in place, and was often mistaken as a fill plug. Supposedly it was even listed in some repair data bases as a fill plug. Quite a few owners drained the transmission and then lost third gear. Here's one
cautionary tale.
I've done a drain and fill on this exact transmission before, and I have the FSM for it (covers both your car and my Freestyle w/the CVT). There's really nothing close to the fill plug you could mistake for a fill plug. The only hassle is getting to it as there's a lot of stuff in the way.
There are some used transmission on Ebay for $400-600 w/100K or less on them, and you could always check out car-part.com to see if any local salvage places have them. If the fluid swap doesn't help, I'd probably go that route. W/regular fluid changes these will go a long time, and it's probably cheaper than a rebuild.