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Also, while under snapping the pics I noticed I had small drops of oil on the bolts to the oil pan, so I tightened them up a little, not too much due to the gasket. The head of one of the bolts snapped off and I did not really tighten it up that much at all. Should I worry about it?

 

Yes, the one on the side of the transmission is for filling.

If there is not leak from that oil pan bolt then don't worry about it about this time.

 

Yep; second pic is the drain, first pic is the filler hole. With car level, you fill til fluid is at bottom edge of the filler hole.

Pan bolt torque is quite low (only 6 to 8 ft/lb!), since there's a lot of them and some go into soft aluminum. The bolts only really keep the pan on and flat; the gasket and sealant do the actual work. No pressure in there.

One snapped bolt shouldn't cause a leak, unless the sealant was already leaking. Eventualy, you'll want to easy-out that bolt and replace it, but you sould probably save that until you're ready to drop and reseal the whole pan.

 

fill is a 14mm open end...

make sure that comes off before the drain, it really blows to drain the fluid and not be able to get the fill off!

 

I dont have a 14mm open end, was planning on just using a adjustable. When filling, how much does it hold, I got one bottle and have a 1/2 left over from doing the rear gear a few weeks ago.

Was planning on jacking up car to get under, loosen bolts, filler first, then let down off jack and use a tube to fill from the bottle. That should work, right?

 

Hey, what is that round thing next to the filler hole, it looks like a starter to me but I know it cant be, can it? Looks like it has a ground right above it.

Thanks

 

it is the starter. ground is right above it.

i think its closer to 2 qts, maybe 2.5? i just did this, but i bought gallons, and spilled

 

Thanks, I need to get another Quart of oil then. I just tried to loosen the filler bolt and I cant budge it at all. I tried with both hands (while laying on the ground), and moderately hitting my adjustable with a hammer. Anyone have any suggestions?


Darn, Ive never seen a starter under the car. Is that an unusual location?

 

You can fill through the shifter as well.

 

NO!

Do not listen to this! I know for a fact that you cannot, at least on a SE. (I think it is 79-80 models only?) The fluid will just remain in the shifter housing and not flow into the trans. I learned this the hard way. My interior smelled like gear oil for months...

 

I put some penetrating oil on it and Im going to let it sit overnight and try it again tomorrow. If I cant get it, I guess I will just have to pay someone to put it on a lift so I can get under it good and pull.

Any chance it could break off like the oil pan screw did?

 

It's approximately 2.1 quarts to refill the transmission.

You can also see if you have a 5/8 or 16mm 12 point socket as these will work as well to remove the plug.

 

if u have the rear of the car up in the air when pouring the oil in the shifter it will run into the tranny. the fill plug is just a hefty pipe plug, u wont break it. i've had some stubborn plugs before, put a pipe on the wrench if u need to. they really shouldn't be that tight.

 

I have heard you can add heat with a torch to loosen the bolt but I have never done this. I would do that as a last resort. You can try using a breaker bar or slide a small pipe over the handle of a ratchet to get more leverage. I would be more worried about rounding off the bold then breaking it. Use a 6 point socket as apposed to a 12 point. You could also slip the round end of a large wrench around the handle of the ratchet for leverage if you don't have a pipe or breaker bar. there are lots of tricks to getting more leverage. work smart, not hard. If none of that works you could try taking it to an oil change place to see if they can get the bolt out. Any oil change place should be able to change transmission fluid too.

 

I've never seen a starter on a rear-wheel drive car anywhere else...

 

Im gonna give it another try tomorrow with my 1/2 socket wrench and see what I can do. I just dont want to break anything while trying to fix something else. I seem to be good at that. Is a 5/8 the closet socket to the size of the 4-sided bolt?

 

lol, I guess so, Im not a real car guru as you can probably tell by all my questions. I thought most were in the engine bay, is that just front wheel drive?

 

May be - - I'm not a front-wheel drive guru, only ever worked on 2 so far.

 

yes that's on front wheel drive. things that apply to front wheel drive cars don't always apply to all cars.

 

Yes, the 2 sizes I have mentioned will work and no you cannot use a 6 point socket.

 

6 is not a multiple of 4, it must be a multiple of 4 for it to work.

 

This is pretty basic, but as far as the stubborn fill plug, remember-righty, tighty / Lefty, loosey! Sometimes its the simple things that count.

 

i kinda scanned here and there at some posts, but make sure you're able to remove the fill plug first, then remove the drain, else you may be fucked.

 

On the 79-80 transmissions you can fill from the shifter. The 81+ transmissions have a serperate shifter housing and the tube for the shift rod has an O-ring in it to seal it away from the transmission case itself. You do need to have oil in there but it will not go into the transmission case. You have to fill them seperatly.

 

^^ah didn't even think of that one. as long as i've been dealing with these i should have thought of that.