DIY: 5S-FE Transmission Fluid & Strainer Replacement Procedure

[dz63]

I completed this procedure at 207,000 km on my 1996 Camry 2.2L automatic (5S-FE engine). The transmission fluid was turning a brownish-red colour. The transmission fluid was previously flushed at 145,000 km. No problems with the transmission - just preventive maintenance. Although, this procedure only covers the transmission, I also drained and filled the differential fluid at the same time. There is a very good DIY already posted on TN for the differential drain and fill. I recommend that you follow this.

DIY : Differental Fluid Change

Note that my local Toyota service department advised me that Toyota does NOT recommend changing the transmission strainer. Toyota officially only recommends a drain and fill. However, most other references including a local independent transmission shop informed me that for the small cost of a new strainer, they always change the strainer at the same time. After taking mine apart, the strainer was clean. It didn't appear to be in need of replacement.

Disclaimer
Use this guide at your own risk! I assume no responsibility for any damage to your vehicle or personal injury as a result of following this guide. Any comments to improve the procedure will be gratefully received and incorporated where possible.

Special Tools Required
¼” drive torque wrench (suitable to be set to 48 in.lbs. of torque).
10mm Allen (Hex) Key Wrench

Time Required
It took me 4 hours from start to finish, including time to take photos and make notes as well as fill the transmission and differential to the right level and take the car for a test drive. If I had to do it again, I think I could reasonably pare this down to about 2 hours.


Parts Required.
Aftermarket transmission gasket & strainer $19.72 taxes and environmental handling charge included (Partsource no. FK244)
10 liters of transmission fluid (compatible with Dexron II) $40.02 taxes and “Ecofee” included (Canadian Tire no. 028-1534-0). This is enough fluid to flush the transmission and refill the differential.
Total = $59.74 CAD (taxes included).

Note: For comparison, a Toyota OEM gasket = $18.31 + Toyota OEM transmission strainer = $146.90 = $165.21 (taxes included). Transmission flush at local lube shop is $112 (taxes included). To drop the pan, replace the filter and flush the transmission at a local transmission shop is $248.60 (taxes included).



Let’s get started!


1. Warm up the engine and transmission by driving the car just before this procedure. Hot transmission fluid is more effective than cold fluid at removing built up sediment. Block the rear tires, set the parking brake, jack up the front of the car and lower it on to jack stands. Ensure that the car is stable and adequately supported prior to proceeding. Place large amounts of newspaper or cardboard under the car to catch any spills.



2. Remove the transmission fluid dip stick (red circle) and set aside. Place a catch pan under the drain plug (green circle). The drain plug is on the bottom of the transmission pan which is located on driver’s side of the engine compartment. It is accessed by crawling underneath the car from the front.


3. Remove the plug (10mm hex key wrench required) and allow the fluid to drain. Warning: Fluid temperatures can exceed 350°F in a hot transmission, so be very careful when draining. Wear protective gloves. Be sure the drain pan is properly centered as the fluid will come out with some force.


4. There are 15 bolts securing the transmission pan to the transmission. While the transmission is draining, remove all of the rear bolts (10mm socket) and loosen the remaining two front bolts. Note that my front bolts were severely rusted and I rounded off the corners on a couple of them trying to remove them. I was eventually able to get them out by spraying the bolts with penetrating oil and using a slightly smaller 3/8” ( 9.5mm) socket to turn them out. If your bolts are rusted, be very careful. If you break the head off or round the corners, this will significantly complicate this job. Note that I replaced the two damaged bolts with stainless steel bolts and washers. For reference, the bolt size is M6 x1.0 x 14mm. My transmission pan stuck to the transmission even after that the 13 bolts were removed and the other two were loosened.


5. Reposition the drain pan to the back of the transmission and gently loosen the rear of the pan by prying downward with small pry bar or flat head screwdriver using one hand, while holding the pan up with your other hand. Slowly lower the rear corner of the pan. Fluid will pour out into your drain pan. This is where the newspapers come in handy – in case you miss the target!


6. When the fluid has stopped draining from the transmission pan, remove the last two bolts and lower the transmission pan. Here is what mine looked like. There should be three magnets. Mine was missing one, presumably lost by the person who did this procedure before me. Magnets are circled in red.
[EDIT: Nov. 22, 2011] I have subsequently learned that the photo shown in my Haynes manual with three magnets is for the transmission pan in a six cylinder Camry engine. The 5SFE four cylinder engine only has two magnets in the transmission pan as shown in the above photo. Thanks to TN member Posimoto for pointing this out.


7. Remove the magnets and clean them up with a rag. Pick all of the metal filings off of the magnets.


8. Wipe the transmission pan clean with rags and scrape off the gasket. My gasket stuck entirely to the transmission pan and scraped off mostly in one piece. Ensure that there is no residual gasket on either the pan or the transmission prior to proceeding to the next. The instructions in my filter kit indicated that it is NOT recommended to sand or wire brush the gasket surfaces, presumably because it may damage the paint and cause the pan to corrode? I just used a paint scraper and the gasket came off quite easily. There was no residue on the transmission flange.



9. Reposition the drain pan over the strainer (green arrow). Unclip the cable that is secured to the bottom of the strainer and then remove the three strainer retaining bolts (10mm) with one hand while holding the strainer up with the other hand. Carefully tilt the strainer in order to drain the fluid into the drain pan. Note that one of the bolts (red circle) is longer than the other two bolts (red arrows). Make a mental note of which bolts go where.


10. Install the new strainer. Ensure that the longer bolt goes in the correct position. Slide the cable under the clip on the strainer. The recommended torque for the strainer bolts is 84 in.lbs.
[EDIT: Nov. 22, 2011] The recommended torque specification was changed from 96 in.lbs. to 84 in.lbs. Thanks to TN forum member Dodgertown for supplying this information from the Toyota factory service manual.


11. Place the clean magnets in the transmission pan in the approximate location where they were removed. I actually changed their position to be near where the fluid discharges from the strainer and added a third magnet.
[EDIT: Nov. 22, 2011] The 5SFE four cylinder engine only has two magnets in the transmission pan as shown in Step 6 above. photo. It is not recommended to change this. Thanks to TN member Posimoto for pointing this out.


12. It is not recommended to use gasket adhesive to adhere the gasket to the pan. Some recommend using grease to hold the gasket in place, but I didn’t find it necessary. I simply pushed the bolts up through the holes in the transmission pan and through the holes in the rubber gasket. The holes in the gasket were tight enough to hold the bolts and the gasket in place.



13. Bolt the transmission pan to the transmission and evenly torque the bolts to 43 in.lbs. Note...this is INCH-pounds, not FOOT-pounds! Be careful not to over tighten the bolts, or it may squeeze the gasket out, causing a leak. 43 in.lbs is a very low torque. My ½” torque wrench did not go down this low, so I had to borrow a ¼” torque wrench to do this step. I recommend that check your torque wrench prior to tackling this job. Install the drain plug. Recommended torque for the drain plug is 36 ft.lbs.
[EDIT: updated Nov. 22, 2011] The recommended torque specification was changed from 48 in.lbs. to 43 in.lbs. Thanks to TN forum member Dodgertown for supplying this information from the Toyota factory service manual.



14. Lower the vehicle so that it is level. With the engine off, add about 3 liters of clean transmission fluid (Dexron II or compatible) to the transmission through the dipstick hole. The capacity for a transmission drain and refill is listed in the Haynes manual as 2.6 quarts. Check under the car to ensure that there are no leaks.



15. Locate the transmission cooler lines. Disconnect the hose that returns fluid from the transmission cooler to the transmission (red arrow). A small amount of transmission fluid will leak from the hose – not much. On my Camry, the return hose was on the driver side. If you are not sure which one is the correct hose, disconnect one of them and get a helper to momentarily start the car. With the car running, you want the fluid coming out of the hose that leads to the radiator. If fluid is coming out of the metal tube that leads back to the transmission, you have got the wrong one.



16. Insert a clear flexible PVC hose inside the transmission cooler hose and clamp it with a hose clamp. I found that a piece of 7/16” OD x 5/16” ID x 4’ long hose worked perfectly. This line is not high pressure, so don’t worry too much about the integrity of the connection. Insert the other end of the clear PVC hose into a drain pan or waste container.


17. Get a helper to start the car and while the old, dirty fluid is being pumped out of the transmission cooler pour clean transmission fluid into the dipstick hole. With the 5/16” ID PVC hose, the fluid came out at about 1 liter/15 seconds. I found if you keep the dipstick funnel full, it pours in at a slightly slower rate than it comes out, so I stopped the car a few times to catch up. If you see air bubbles coming out of the drain line, then stop the car and allow the transmission to fill some more before starting the car again. Continue this until the fluid in the drain line comes out red, like the new fluid going in. I found that it took about 6 liters in addition to the 3 liters already added. Reconnect the transmission cooler line.

18. With the engine idling, check the fluid level. Add fluid up to the “cool” level on the dipstick. Replace the dipstick. Over the next several days, re-check the level and adjust if necessary. CAUTION: Do not overfill the transmission.

Note: Drop the transmission fluid off at a local garage or lube shop. In our city, they will take the old transmission fluid with the recycle goods, provided that it is placed in the original containers.

[Dave's]

Not bad! Since they warn not to move the position of the magnets I don't think I would. There may be clearance issues you can't see or some other reason. (Doesn't mean you'll have a problem, I have no idea.)
Not sure but I think the connector with the white wire is one of the shift solenoids. For those who have shift problems I solved mine by following your procedure but also removing the solenoids (very easy) and cleaning them. Use less than 60 PSI with a rubber-tipped nozzle pressed to the hole on the end. Then apply 12V to the wire and the case. (I attached neg to case and momentarily touched pos to wire.) It should 'click' and air come out the side ports (holes) with voltage applied. They can also be replaced of course.
(Sorry, don't mean to hijack your thread, but you provided such good instructions with photos- just thought I'd add to it.)

[Tom 2000]

Great photos and instructions. I will have to do the same.

[Stillrunning]

You can just clean and re-use the trans filter (actually only a screen). I agree magnets should not have been moved from factory positions. Unfortunately you just replaced the pan fluid, about 2.6 qts. The entire system holds about 6 quarts so you'll find your new fluid will be re-contaminated fairly soon. A complete change would involve flushing the old fluid out with new. I also use an in-line trans oil filter, Magnefine, which is actually a filter with magnet. Best place to buy is here: http://www.bulkpart.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?

[dz63]

Originally Posted by Dave's

Not bad! Since they warn not to move the position of the magnets I don't think I would. There may be clearance issues you can't see or some other reason. (Doesn't mean you'll have a problem, I have no idea.)

I also debated about moving the magnets. The fact that one magnet was totally missing and the position of the remaining two magnets did not match my Haynes manual, led me to believe that the person who cleaned the transmission pan before me was a bit careless. In the end, I intentionally decided to move them closer to the position shown in the Haynes manual.

When you dropped your pan, do you remember where your magnets were located?

[dz63]

Originally Posted by Stillrunning

You can just clean and re-use the trans filter (actually only a screen). I agree magnets should not have been moved from factory positions. Unfortunately you just replaced the pan fluid, about 2.6 qts. The entire system holds about 6 quarts so you'll find your new fluid will be re-contaminated fairly soon. A complete change would involve flushing the old fluid out with new. I also use an in-line trans oil filter, Magnefine, which is actually a filter with magnet. Best place to buy is here: http://www.bulkpart.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?

Stillrunning - interesting! Thank you for the link. With the in line filter, does this mean that you no longer need drop the pan and change the filter inside the transmission? If so, that would save a lot of time and mess in the long run. Can you give us some more information like how much did the inline filter setup cost and how much are replacement filters? Is it a cloth or paper filter element or simply an inline mesh strainer similar to the one in the transmission? Where did you install it and does it need to be supported? Any chance, you could post a photo of your installation?

A complete fluid change would indeed include a flush after dropping the pan and cleaning the magnets. This would flush the fluid out of the torque converter and transmission cooler and make sure all of the fluid is fresh. I discussed this with my local transmission shop and that is exactly how they do it. They quoted me $220 to drop the pan, clean the pan and magnets, change the strainer, re-install the pan, then flush with 12-14 liters of clean fluid and also drain and fill the differential.

In the end I have read a number of warnings against flushing the transmission (problems with dislodging particles and then the particles getting stuck somewhere else in the transmission) so that I am now a bit reluctant to do a flush. That in combination with the added expense and in the end, when I dropped my pan, it seemed to be very clean inside. So, I deliberately chose not to flush this time.

I welcome any thoughts on transmission flushing as I have done it twice before on this car with no known ill effects, but I have recently read a lot of negative opinions about it on the internet. A transmission flush at the local Economy Lube is $99.

[dz63]

double post

[DMZ]

Good post dz'.

My 98 is due for the same procedure and I was going to schedule the work with the dealer next week. (I have been putting it off until the new year).

But, I think I can take it on myself after reading through your post. I even have a 1/4" drive torque wrench.

[BMR]

Nice DIY post dz63! BTW, two of the three magnets on my V6 were up in between the longish ribs on the pan. I doubt it matters, tho.

[sbushnak]

Great job. vote for sticky.

[Stillrunning]

Originally Posted by dz63

With the in line filter, does this mean that you no longer need drop the pan and change the filter inside the transmission?

As I said, the pan "filter" is just a screen, no need to replace it, maybe just clean it, but frankly, if you flush the system every 30k or so (depending on color) then no need to remove pan. It is advised to drain the pan fluid pryer to flushing. Just remember to fill pan first before starting engine.

Can you give us some more information like how much did the inline filter setup cost and how much are replacement filters?

Just the cost of the filter as shown on web site. You mount it in-line in the fluid hose to the cooler in the rad. Just cut the hose and insert with clamps. Use biggest fitting possible, 5/16 or 3/8. I always filter it before it enters the cooler. I also use the Magnefine in my PS system, on return line.

Is it a cloth or paper filter element or simply an inline mesh strainer similar to the one in the transmission?

Paper element, plastic housing, magnet on in-flow side.

They quoted me $220 to drop the pan, clean the pan and magnets, change the strainer, re-install the pan, then flush with 12-14 liters of clean fluid and also drain and fill the differential.

You can flush yourself with a buddy helping. Remove return hose from cooler to trans and place in bucket. Have about two quarts more than total volume ready and open. Place funnel in trans dip stick tube, have helper start engine and as engine idles pour new fluid down dip stick tube. Don't stop pouring if engine is running. If you need to stop, turn engine off. When done stop engine. Re-attach trans fluid hose, check level. Do Goggle search for procedure.

In the end I have read a number of warnings against flushing the transmission.

I've always done it on my used vehicles and had no problem. I think it's bunk if you think that somehow dirt is holding your transmission together. Would you change the engine oil on a used car?

[dz63]

Originally Posted by Stillrunning

I've always done it on my used vehicles and had no problem. I think it's bunk if you think that somehow dirt is holding your transmission together. Would you change the engine oil on a used car?

What I have read, but admittedly cannot substantiate, is that it is not good to flush the transmission. The concern raised is that flushing may dislodge some debris which could get caught in a valve body or some other part of the transmission. After doing some further research, I discovered that there are a lot of opinions out there on this topic. I found this link below. It has some good information and explains several types of transmission flushing machines.

Transmission Flush Scare

I also found a DIY procedure to flush the transmission:

DIY flush transmission fluid

I plan to give it a try and will post back with a modified procedure.

EDIT: Stillrunning is correct! If you only drain and fill the transmission, the existing dirty fluid in the cooler and torque converter quickly contaminates the new fluid that you just added. After running the vehicle for only a few days, I noticed that the new fluid was looking brownish again. Note that it only take about 15-20 minutes and an extra 6-8 liters of clean fluid to get all of the old fluid out. In hindsight, I would recommend the removing the transmission cooler lines in order to get all of the dirty fluid out. It is a much better method in my opinion than just draining the transmission. I have updated the above procedure to reflect this.

[Eye8Pussies]

great write-up! thanks! added to FAQ!

[Phat Devil]

Just making sure about this (could be a solution to my tranny woes). So when you recheck the tranny fluid a couple days later, after the car's been running and is at its normal temp, I'm guessing the dipstick should sit at the "hot" section right? And we are suppose to check it with the engine running too right?

When i checked the level the other day after driving home from work. (15-20min drive) Parked the car and checked the dipstick with the car running. It was in the cold part of the dipstick even tho the car is hot. (The last fluid change was at the dealership when they had to replace my torque converter and the main seal about 25,000km ago.)

[dz63]

Originally Posted by Phat Devil

Just making sure about this (could be a solution to my tranny woes). So when you recheck the tranny fluid a couple days later, after the car's been running and is at its normal temp, I'm guessing the dipstick should sit at the "hot" section right? And we are suppose to check it with the engine running too right?

When i checked the level the other day after driving home from work. (15-20min drive) Parked the car and checked the dipstick with the car running. It was in the cold part of the dipstick even tho the car is hot. (The last fluid change was at the dealership when they had to replace my torque converter and the main seal about 25,000km ago.)

After 15-20 minutes of driving, the tranny should be "hot" (ie. at its normal operating temperature). With the vehicle idling on level ground, pull, wipe, reinsert and pull the dipstick again. The level should be between the two notches labelled hot. Take a few readings to make sure. It takes about one pint to raise the fluid level from the low mark to the high mark. Add a little at a time and re-check. A low fluid level can lead to slipping or loss of drive. Too much can lead to foaming and transaxle damage.