$25 transmission drain plug

[D60]

I'm having a little diff problem with my used 2019 Toy Highlander with the 8 speen Aisin
with the side mounted pan. I've finally broken loose the fill bolt, however I'm rounding out
the bottom drain 10mm hex. I'll destroy it if neccessary to remove but I'm wondering,
can't find, the size and thread pitch for a new bolt to remove with typical socket. It appears
that someone overtorqued the bolts all over the vehicle, lugs too! It appears that they used
soft pot metal to make these.

A few options:
- Sock-It-Out! tapered removers
- Astro offers hex sockets with a leading eccentric that swivels a bit and theoretically binds:

- pound a torx in there and use an impact. Push hard and just use a couple impacts per attempt. I've successfully done this on a '14 Taco

 

[D60]

I have a unique situation with my EV's single-speed gearbox in that Hyundai thought it was OK to install an internal magnet in a pocket which allows it to move around slightly in the oil circulation. Whenever it's inspected (through the drain opening with an inspection camera) it's clean, apparently failing to hold onto most particles. The oil also becomes contaminated very quickly, the example below is from another owner with a new gearbox, only 600 miles on it. I think that the blackness is due to aluminium rubbing off the walls of the pocket, and/or iron particles being worn down in while in ongoing circulation.

My research has indicated that iron particles lose their magnetism as they are worked and heated, so they have to be caught immediately after they wear off the gear teeth. Once they are broken down further they are difficult to catch. I added two Votex magnetic plugs 3 years ago which does sequester some particles.

Among these EVs I'm guessing up to 1% fail, developing a tapping noise due to worn bearings. Hyundai has been replacing the gearbox under warranty but a few owners have repaired them and in every case that has only required replacing the ball and roller bearings.

The only sure solution appears to be to split the cases and remove the factory magnet. For now I'm just changing the oil once a year.

View attachment 206840 View attachment 206842

Color me skeptical.....most t-cases use a magnet that just slips in like that and is NOT tight.

But maybe this one is exceptionally loose.

It sounds like others have investigated this quite a bit so I'm happy to be wrong, but I have to wonder if the dark fluid isn't from poor metallurgy (which is kinda H/K's specialty) elsewhere?

And it's not the type of fluid that inherently darkens almost immediately, correct?

 

[Cromagnon]

Thank you everybody will try that, it certainly seems like it is bonded