'95 Celica GT Import Transmission Drain

[DJC]

These cars should definately carry some kind of transmission warning, synchro this, gear crunch that.....blah,blah,blah.
Anyway, I too have that gear clunk and am going to drain the gearbox oil and re-fill with ATF as soon as someone replies to this post.

Q.I don't have a chiltons, so can someone guide me to where the transmission drain and re-fill plugs are on the car mentioned in the subject.

I know it's a long shot, but mine only does it when the engine is cold, so I'm sort of hoping the oil in it is really thick and putting ATF in it should help. Not going to flush the box as I don't want to risk disturbing anything in the box which might make things worse.

Also, has ANYONE ever actually cured this problem, just with an oil change?

Cheers, DJC.

[Zrain]

WOWOWOWOWOWO

Is it a 5spd? if so DO NOT put ATF in it.
it needs GEAR OIL. there is a difrince.. a rather large difrince, arather pricy difrince..

as for flushing it.. your not going to hurt anything.

[Deep]

I've cured it with GM Syncromesh, you should do a search.

[DJC]

Yes, it is a five speed.
I'm pretty sure it has gear oil in in at the moment, but I went into my local Halfords and in the gear oil section they have recomendations for oil type for all makes/model of car, and they actually recomend using automatic transmission fluid for a '95 Celica 2.0 GT! ( manual transmission ), and I'm also pretty certain that quite a few other people have used ATF instead of gear oil, can someone else confirm this?
What I need to know is where the filler and drain plugs are, as I don't have any manuals etc...
Cheers, DJC.

[Deep]

if you jack up the car, and remove the plastic under the engine on the drivers side, you'll see a big (22mm i think) bolt, thats the fill/check hole. Directly beneath it is a smaller bolt, which is the drain.

[DJC]

Cheers.

Can you just confirm, that if it uses gear oil at the moment, I can use Automatic Transmission Fluid Instead?

I know you used the GM Synchromesh stuff, ( we cant get that over here ), if that is ATF, were you originally running oil?

Also, will it matter if there is any oil left and it mixes with the transmission fluid?, as I am pretty certain some people actually mix them 50/50 on purpose anyway?

Cheers again, DJC.

[T(ra)-VIS]

I'm kinda wondering about what fluid to use too. I was gonna change my fluid this weekend but I don't know what to use in it. What's weird is that I've heard just fluid CAN make a difference. In alot of Subaru WRX's the tranny's start shifting crappy after a couple years and ushally the fluid fixis that.

[silverstreakin]

if you drive a 89 or above....you need to use gear oil. period. dont mix it. period. they have alot different properties.

if you want a high performance gear oil look at royal purple's high shock stuff.

[DJC]

Right, fed up with the clunking, so drained the gear oil out yesterday, and after much discussion with several mechanics friends of friends etc...replaced it with transmission fluid, and early indications are that it has improved...A LOT!!!
When I used to shift it into third ( when cold ), at anything resembling quick, I got a clunk. Now at that same speed it is fine. Wanted to see how far I could potentially push it... a bit quicker and it was fine. It did grind when I chucked it in REALLY hard and REALLY fast, but under normal or speedy driving conditions it has improved it 100%. It would appear from manuals and discussion that a lot of manufacurers do recommend changing gear oil with transmission, don't know which ones, but I'm certain you are able to do it with this car...or at least my specific model : '95 Celica 2.0 GT Import.
The only reason why I risked it, was because I would have to have the gearbox repaired anyway, probably buy a used one, so I didn't have a lot to lose. I thin the synchro is shot aswell, but this should improve its life by quite a while.
I'll see how things go over the next couple of days/weeks, and if I get any problems I'll let you all know.
Cheers for the advice...DJC.

[DJC]

Just final confirmation on this topic, gearbox is till running fine. Would recommend trying this if you have same problem, if the only other option is to have the box repaired.
Cheers for everyones advice, DJC.