[mcdawgg1]

2010 Camry base, 6 speed manual. My front brake calipers were getting noisy, so I took my car into the dealer to clean and lube the calipers. Also, I had them drain and fill the transmission oil.

Well, the first thing I noticed is the tranny took a little more effort to move the shifter after I left the dealer. Seemed to be OK after a while.

I get home, and went back into the garage a while later and noticed a good amount of oil all over the garage floor. Took a look underneath, and the entire driver's side (tranny side) of the car was covered in oil.


Dropped it off at another Toyota dealer that is close to my house. I called the dealer that did the "work" and told them that they totally screwed up and they need to take care of it with the other dealer.

Dealer that I took the car to calls me and tells me that they estimate that the transmission was overfilled by about 3 quarts! It was coming out the top of the vent holes in the transmission!

The problem dealer agreed with me that they will pay the other to do another drain and fill to the proper level, and clean it up the best they could.


With all that said, what, if anything, could have been screwed up by having a manual tranny that over-filled for 60 miles? What else could be affected by having transmission oil all over it? They did a decent job cleaning it up, but still has some oil coating on some parts around CVs, tie rods, etc.:headbang:

By the way, they screwed up my tire pressures too, and put the specs on their inspection sheet as "32", including the temporary spare, when the door jamb says 34 and 60 for temp spare.

 

[mcgowaw]

1. stop using dealerships and start doing more DIY if at all possible. especially for fluid/filter/plug changes and the like.
2. the extra oil on the suspension parts will lube them good and shudn't hurt anything.
3. only time will tell if the trans was hurt but i can't see how, since it's a manual box. I'm sure others will chime in if I'm incorrect.
4. set the tires at 36psi after the car's sat overnight and check it monthly, yourself, and you'll be fine.
oh, might want to get a haynes, vom, and obd2 reader as these are invaluable for the diy'er.
tony

 

[mcdawgg1]

1. stop using dealerships and start doing more DIY if at all possible. especially for fluid/filter/plug changes and the like.
2. the extra oil on the suspension parts will lube them good and shudn't hurt anything.
3. only time will tell if the trans was hurt but i can't see how, since it's a manual box. I'm sure others will chime in if I'm incorrect.
4. set the tires at 36psi after the car's sat overnight and check it monthly, yourself, and you'll be fine.
oh, might want to get a haynes, vom, and obd2 reader as these are invaluable for the diy'er.
tony

Yes, I do my own oil changes, air filter, etc. and always check tires every 2 weeks. I was just pointing out how they even screwed up something as simple as tire pressure!


Thanks, still a bit nervous about tranny, but seems perfect now.

 

[surgeon0]

60 miles of drive like that is not critical. You got it taken care of. It would have taken some time to cause damage. We know of another case like this on a honda (that too by a dealer) and that was noticed by the user much later than you did. That case had little bit of damage. You caught yours quickly.

 

[Donald E George]

The dealer probably hired the screw up guy who just came from a stint at Jiffy Lube.

 

[Greasymechtech]

The real question you should ask is.... what did they drain out? did they simply add quarts to the already full transmission? Did you check the engine oil level? and everything else? Or maybe the tech confused pint capacity with quarts? and didn't bother having the overflow open? So sad!

Because of the 'vent', I don't foresee any issues with the transmission. It got a good bath and rinse.

I am more worried about the gear oil used that either dealer refilled your transmission. I usually have to buy the fluid online since most dealer parts guys can't find out what it takes or what the fluid PN is or how to order it. Hopefully by now the parts clowns figured it out(blame Toyota since they forget to provide that OE fluid for a couple years).

If the dealer put in bulk gear oil, that could damage your transmission. Read page 489 of the owners manual and DEMAND that the dealer fill it with the GL4 75w fluid. There are no GL5/75w90/80w90/SAE90/ bulk gear mud substitutes. Post a picture of both dealer receipts to see the PN/spec/quantity of the gear oil used!

 

[mcdawgg1]

The real question you should ask is.... what did they drain out? did they simply add quarts to the already full transmission? Did you check the engine oil level? and everything else? Or maybe the tech confused pint capacity with quarts? and didn't bother having the overflow open? So sad!

Because of the 'vent', I don't foresee any issues with the transmission. It got a good bath and rinse.

I am more worried about the gear oil used that either dealer refilled your transmission. I usually have to buy the fluid online since most dealer parts guys can't find out what it takes or what the fluid PN is or how to order it. Hopefully by now the parts clowns figured it out(blame Toyota since they forget to provide that OE fluid for a couple years).

If the dealer put in bulk gear oil, that could damage your transmission. Read page 489 of the owners manual and DEMAND that the dealer fill it with the GL4 75w fluid. There are no GL5/75w90/80w90/SAE90/ bulk gear mud substitutes. Post a picture of both dealer receipts to see the PN/spec/quantity of the gear oil used!

They did use GL4 75w gear oil, and I did check the other fluid levels.

 

[Kingdom934]

My question is...

How do you overfill a manual transmission? On my 2004 SE I4, There is two 24mm nuts. One is the drain (bottom) and fill (middle top). I can't overfill it because it'll just overflow from the fill hole as it faces towards the radiator. Unless they filled it from the top sensor or something...

Or does the 2010 have a different transmission fill up method?

 

[HotRod53]

I feel your pain, my dealer changed my oil and filter in my '14 Tacoma under Toyota Care about 400 miles later I heard a weird noise from the engine, when I checked my oil it was WAY overfilled. I also noticed that the idle had not been as smooth ever since the oil change. I started draining oil to get it within range and it was 5 quarts over filled! They apparently forgot that they filled it and then filled it again!

I took it back and met with the service manager. They drained and refilled the oil with a new filter, checked the transmission to insure that they hadn't accidentally drained it, and marked my history that if any future engine issues occur because if this, it will be covered.

 

[TrailDust]

I feel your pain, my dealer changed my oil and filter in my '14 Tacoma under Toyota Care about 400 miles later I heard a weird noise from the engine, when I checked my oil it was WAY overfilled. I also noticed that the idle had not been as smooth ever since the oil change. I started draining oil to get it within range and it was 5 quarts over filled! They apparently forgot that they filled it and then filled it again!

I took it back and met with the service manager. They drained and refilled the oil with a new filter, checked the transmission to insure that they hadn't accidentally drained it, and marked my history that if any future engine issues occur because if this, it will be covered.

And ditto. I took my Avalon in for recall work and risked having the dealership change the oil while the car was in, and the idiots bungled a simple oil change. How did I know? About a half hour out of the dealership my Avalon was blowing a cloud of blue smoke so vast it could have acted like a WWII destroyer smoke screen, no b.s. I took it back and they drained the oil and verified in writing that they had inspected the catalytic converter, etc., and declared no damage. Just more proof for why you find a respectable, decent local mechanic if you don't perform maintenance work yourself.

 

[Men in Black]

The dealer probably hired the screw up guy who just came from a stint at Jiffy Lube.

More likely the village idiot.

 

[mcgowaw]

unfortunately, this thread pretty much sums up why we DIY.
tony

 

[surgeon0]

Adding to this that this happens with "any" dealer regardless of brand. Within the last couple weeks, honda forum notes that oil was overfilled by double and transmission fluid doubled and fluid leaked all over garage floor too. Many people here complain that its hard to read a tranny dipstick for level, better not ask at these dealerships where some of the folks have had problems (if we know the dealership names).

In general, at least some diy knowledge helps even if you do not do everything yourself. On the funny side, BMR posted a pic of a lady pouring engine oil all over the engine of a mini cooper.

 

[mcgowaw]

everbody knows that's how you top off the oil ...

tony