Automatic Transmission life expectancy? Mileage?

[Steve40th]

So, how many years can I expect from a '02 Corollas auto transmission? I drain and fill the auto every 30k miles with approved Toyota fluid. I just pull the plug and drain, then refill. I changed the filter once a while back and it was very clean.

[Clayton1984]

There is no hard and fast answer other than eventually they all will fail.

[PhatRoyale]

That depends on a lot of factors. Your driving style and maintenance upkeep play large parts.

[Bennie]

So far so good on mine.

We're friends with the original owner of the '98 so we know the full history.
I don't know the previous history on the '99 before 200K but based on everything else I have no reason to believe it's not original. It's still got the OEM starter, alternator, muffler, ect....

[scys]

My ex GF had to replace her tranny and it was at 280 000km. She never did any maintenence or even checked the fluid. there was no signs of any leaks and it had no fliud in it. I would not worry about it lasting the life of the car unless it was showing signs like slipping, shifting odd or not going into gear.
CY
I guess I should add it was a 93 with the 3 speed.

[WTFseabass]

I got a 01 corolla, has been in 2 front end accidents by drunk drivers and is still running like the day my dad bought it...202k

No major engine repairs,(even after both crashes, just aligning the radiator support) just do the regular engine care.

[bohem4e]

well mine currently has 220,000miles all original with exception to the struts and water pump I replaced.... if the previous owner was a complete idiot who put engine oil in the brake master cylinder causing the calipers to lock but then still driving the car I am pretty sure that clutches inside the auto tranny would still be fine... I literally have no idea what happened but when I took down the transmission pan to change the filter I found 4 or 5 gear teeth on the bottom... which probably explains why the car slips in reverse but only when the fluid is worm, in the morning when its cold I can put in reverse and no problems what so ever.... all other gears are perfect to the point where you can't really tell when the transmission shifts you just have to look at the rpms... Point of the story is that by many assumptions my transmission has "failed" but the car still runs perfect gets 35+mpg and when on the highway driving at 65-70mph she runs smooth 2300-2400rpms...
I have been meaning to replace the transmission ever since I purchased the car but every time I drive it I just cant justify me spending a couple of hours in the garage swapping the transmission...Don't believe me? check some of my posts from about 2 years ago... we have put over 20,000 on the car since we bought it with a "bad transmission" I called a few shops around my area and asked if we can just take it apart and swap the bad gears.. they told me they have never seen the insides of a corolla transmission before ....

[zythr]

Originally Posted by Steve40th

So, how many years can I expect from a '02 Corollas auto transmission? I drain and fill the auto every 30k miles with approved Toyota fluid. I just pull the plug and drain, then refill. I changed the filter once a while back and it was very clean.

'

Do you do a lot of expressway driving?

[Steve40th]

Originally Posted by zythr

'

Do you do a lot of expressway driving?

Mostly stop and go. I know this puts more strain on a tranny, but its less than 3 miles at a time around this island. Probably doesnt even get warm

[Bennie]

The other thing to keep in mind is that if you have the 3 speed you also need to change the diff. ATF. The diff. is part of the tranny but has separate ATF. If the diff. were to fail you would be pulling the tanny out anyways. Talking to a local tranny shop, it sounded like spider gear (part of the diff) failure was the number one problem they saw on these cars. They actually had some bad ones out of a corolla to show me.

Note: I was not getting anything done on the Prizm, I was picking up the 3rd tranny for our POS Honda Pilot. Man I wish that thing would get stolen......

[jbod]

don't shift before a complete stop. if you're backing up come to a stop completely before slapping it into drive. my 99 corolla had 155k or something miles maybe a few less or a few more. might have even been down in the 140s, and it went slipping a little bit. put some lucas in it, and at 186k miles when i got rid of it it was still going strong. lucas don't always help, but it did wonders there. new owner still hasn't had any problems last i saw him with over 190k miles now. he says it shifts real good. i had a problem with shifting before a stop back then. i broke the habit after that. i'm sure the woman before me shifted like that too. 75% of people of all different ages shift like this i notice.