Hello All,
A few weeks ago I started noticing a whine in my '98 Corolla when in fourth gear. I decided I best change the transmission fluid. I opened the drain plug and out came about 1/2 quart of burnt, black, nasty gear oil. Obviously, there has been a leak, but because I park on grass, I never noticed. Now, I'm putting in about 1/4 quart of oil every two weeks or so to keep it full.
I've searched the internet and toyota nation high and low and I can't find straightforward, step-by-step instructions on how to diagnose and fix the leak. I do all my own car work, but I've never had to deal with anything as serious a transmission. My Hayne's manual doesn't help either. From the different confusing posts that I've read, it seems that there are three different seals that may be the culprit: Input seal, and left/right drive axle oil seals.
So my questions are:
1. How do I determine which seal it is?
2. How do I change the seal?
3. Is my fourth gear going out? (Whine increases in pitch as RPM's increase)
Also, please don't tell me to take it to a mechanic.
The whine is likely due to excessive wear on the teeth and possible bearing damage from running too little gear oil. You can help it greatly by keeping an eye on the fluid level and doing periodic drains and refills - but that will not reverse any damage that is there. Likely looking at a rebuild sometime in the near future or a transaxle swap.
As for finding the leak - treat it like any other leak, need to clean the exterior transaxle as much as possible - so that you can easily spot any leaks. If that doesn't show up easily or you cannot find the original source - you can park the car over some cardboard or similarly flat surface and monitor it for drips. Once it drips, you can work your way up and find out which seal it is coming from. They do make UV reactive or tracer dyes that you can add into the oil, then use a UV wand to cause the dye to fluoresce. That will make even hard to see leaks show up.
Once you locate the leak - then you can determine if you want to change it. Might be one seal, all seals, or even a crack in the transaxle case (I have this on a 1ZZ-FE transaxle currently - just freshly rebuilt a used one and it leaks like a sieve - I'm going to turn that transaxle into a coffee table base now).
Before you get too far into buying all (possibly renting ) the tools you'll need to replace the seals. See how much metal shaving is still in the transaxle case. If there is still quite a bit in there, might be better served in just swapping out the transaxle - addressing that gear whine and other possible damage inside the existing transaxle and taking care of the seals at the same time.
This is not an ideal project for a beginning DIYer, lots of things that could be easily made worse, if you haven't touched this level of work before. You'll definitely need the factory service manual before you start and a pretty high resolution torque wrench. There are SST (special service tools) that will make the job a lot easier - but many places will not sell them to an individual or rent them out. Take to a shop and see if they'll let you borrow the tools - if you want to DIY. There isn't really a good DIY guide out there because of the complexity of it - I would hate to see anyone follow such a guide only to get stuck part of the way. Ask around different shops to see what they will charge. Given how business is lately, you might be able to find someone to do the job quite inexpensively.
Fishexpo,
Thank you for the reply.
I just ordered the factory service manuals; they will be arriving shortly.
Sound like it's going to need a rebuild soon. I don't think the case is cracked; I'm fairly certain that it's one of the seals.
Can you explain what you mean about metal shaving in the transaxle case? Is this indication of a rebuild not being possible? Do you have recommendations on a rebuild kit? Are any of the SST required to do the job, or do they just make it easier?
I do understand that this task is rather complex, but I've been wanting to learn how to do transaxle work and this seems like a good opportunity to do so.
Thank you for your help.
1/2 quart of burned oil and making noise... My experience with these transmissions is ,if its run low on oil and its making noise you dont have alot of time left. Probably less than 10000 miles.
I have the factory manuals and it does give enough info for a rebuild, but it still helps to know what you are looking at , the manual does not hold your hand ( does not give great detail) and you have to improvise where SST's are needed.
It is doable , and you have to start somewhere. A new trans is $2000, so as long as you stay well below that in parts your OK.
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