Transmission Swap Write-Up and Photos

[kocho]

I finished the replacement of my automatic transmission and posted all photos and a brief write-up here:

http://www.pbase.com/kocho/camry

Individual photos have some text as you look at them too. Make sure you click at "original" size to see them a little larger.

Thanks for the forum members who helped with advice - this was my first (and hopefully last) tranny swap and it was not easy. But as it turned out, not impossible to handle by a *non-mechanic* as myself in a few nights...

A view of the old tranny coming out of the car on top of the rigged-up transmission jack:

[vdop69]

wow, good job. allot of pics. encourages me to do my swap soon. thx

[marc780]

kocho great post, can i offer one piece of advise? you pulled the tranny from a 2001 car - this trans MAY require toyota TIV fluid, only - not the stuff that got put in after the install. I own a 2001 solara, V6, and it requires TIV fluid. So maybe you might want to double check this detail. It would be a shame to go to all this work and have it start slipping and malfunction -

[jsl222]

you are a god

[kocho]

Originally Posted by marc780

kocho great post, can i offer one piece of advise? you pulled the tranny from a 2001 car - this trans MAY require toyota TIV fluid, only - not the stuff that got put in after the install. I own a 2001 solara, V6, and it requires TIV fluid. So maybe you might want to double check this detail. It would be a shame to go to all this work and have it start slipping and malfunction -

Good point. I managed to find the specs - the i4 '94 to '01 use Dexron III, while the v6 indeed uses T-IV. My document is a few years old, so things might have changed, but the original specification calls for Dexron III.

Here is the full list (per engine type):

3MZ–FE, 1MZ–FE, 2AZ–FE: Type IV
5S–FE: Dexron III

I also found the capacity: 5.9 US Quarts for the tranny, 1.7 for the differential. I put in very close to this, but my car front was raised somewhat, so I will need to re-check to make sure I am at good level. I filled the differential till it overflowed but that was with the car raised by jack-stands as high-up as they would go. So I think I might be 0.2 or so quarts low, which should not really matter much (that's just about 10%)...

[1996camry]

share your experiences...what is the most difficult you found when you were swapped tranmission? what the things should prep and watch out when swapped tranmission?

[kocho]

Originally Posted by 1996camry

share your experiences...what is the most difficult you found when you were swapped tranmission? what the things should prep and watch out when swapped tranmission?

Nothing was really a "killer" step but a few gave me trouble.

- The driver-side driveshaft was hard to hammer out from the differential since I did not have good leverage. Once I figured out where to place a small extension and hammer on the extension end against a bolt on the transmission housing (as shown in one photo), it came out in seconds. If I have to do this step again it will hardly take a minute but I struggled with it in various ways for may be half an hour if not more, trying different tools...

- The front sub-frame is large and heavy and is time consuming to remove and to put back on the car if you work alone. Have to support it in two-three places securely while you work on one corner.

- The power steering rack bolts were pretty well stuck together. Again, these would be relatively easy to remove if the car is up on a high platform, but on jack-stands there is not much room for a breaker bar. Use rust-penetrating oil wherever possible and wait, sometimes overnight to help work it in.

- I could not separate the front exhaust pipe from the back - I spent a lot of time on this and not a single nut moved - they are rusted together in one piece pretty good. I imagine with specialty worn nut removal sockets these might have came out but at the end I think what I did was not much more difficult: I removed the entire exhaust front to back. Putting it back together required a car ramp to support the muffler in the back and a jack to support the middle, while I worked on the front so that the pipes do not bend too much. The flex pipe seemed vulnerable to damage so I was careful not to stretch or flex it too much.

- Having an engine hoist with engine leveler helped to align things more easy at assembly time. And having a stable transmission jack that goes very low was also very important as the clearance is not that big to take the tranny from under the car. I spent several hours trying to find a good way to rig the regular large floor jack with the particular transmission adapter platform I had. I did not want to buy a dedicated transmission jack for $220 and was hoping to get by with a $20 jack but it did not work. I ended-up buying a $100 large floor jack. I missed a $50 complete large transmission jack (well used) on eBay sold locally to my area - should have bid on it when it was up as these things are expensive and heavy and does not make sense to ship. Trying to find one used locally is the best option. Rental fees I found range from $15 to $30 a day for a transmission jack and the same for engine hoist. Since I could not have done the job in less than a week part-time it did not make sense for me to rent.

- Using thread locking compound at assembly is important IMO as it helps with future repairs. And torque to spec!

- If you remove the valve body from the transmission for some reason, be very careful - it has extremely gentle and brittle gaskets that are easy to break with fingers by just holding it the wrong way in your hand.

The rest is just careful work and follow the instructions.

[aleem86]

thread should be stickied, great post bro.

[guate6]

Ok so I'm done. I replaced the clutch and the passenger-side axle seal. I have more pictures than a writeup, but it's still good stuff. I'm glad my car is working now! I hope it helps someone out, and now that I did it, I can answer questions too! The 'write-up' is actually below each picture (as caption)...most pictures have something written.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...ca7&id=2040890

[Eye8Pussies]

wow...another great diy with pics! added to the DIY thread!

[dc_98_cam]

Originally Posted by marc780

kocho great post, can i offer one piece of advise? you pulled the tranny from a 2001 car - this trans MAY require toyota TIV fluid, only - not the stuff that got put in after the install. I own a 2001 solara, V6, and it requires TIV fluid. So maybe you might want to double check this detail. It would be a shame to go to all this work and have it start slipping and malfunction -

Thanks for the heads up on th V6 T-IV fluid...
I had recently done a drain and refill on the trans of a Gen 5 V6, but had completely overlooked the fact that the T-IV fluid is required, mistakenly using Dex III instead ... So, I went to the dealer today and got 4 qts. ... and did a drain and refill, which I will repeat in a week or two. .... I only had 100 or so miles using the Dex III mix, so maybe there won't be too much permanent damage. ... I think there is a definite difference with the T-IV fluid ... the shifting is a little more positive, whereas with the DEX III caused a softer, sort of flared shift between gears.
I had completely missed the T-IV inscription on the Trans dip stick, which you can only read if you wipe clean and look closely. ... not to mention ignoring the owner's manual recommendation. I think that now there is a different trans fluid for the latest Gen Camrys.... WS version ...
Definitely will pay more attention to all fluids in the future. Thanks again.

[gonesurfing]

- The driver-side driveshaft was hard to hammer out from the differential since I did not have good leverage. Once I figured out where to place a small extension and hammer on the extension end against a bolt on the transmission housing (as shown in one photo), it came out in seconds. If I have to do this step again it will hardly take a minute but I struggled with it in various ways for may be half an hour if not more, trying different tools...

If it only took you 30 minutes the first time, that was good. I fought a driver's side shaft for over an hour once. Crowbar and hammer are your friends here.

And another one to save someone else time... When reinstalling the driver's side shaft make sure it's completely level with the ground when trying to hammer it in. If it doesn't tap in easy, something's not right.