Thanks for all the help and dealing with my stupid questions, im bringing my car with me for the last 2 months of college and just want to take care of everything that needs to be done to be driving back and forth from New York and Ohio a few times a month. I am ordering the fluid from parts geek

 

Just ordered 5 quarts of toyota ATV -IV fluid and 1 crush gasket for the drain plug. Paid 42 dollars shipped from Texas to New York

 

Good move on your part.

 

Hopefully the change goes ok and doesn't leak i won't be able to fix anything when i'm in cleveland with no tools or somewhere to work

 

ya i too exchanged from Mobil to OEM Toyota type 4. I didnt know the price were the same. If it was a big price difference then i would have stayed with Mobil.

 

I didn't want to start a new thread so I'll ask here, I need new sway bar links and was wondering what brand to get I won't get oem because 140 bucks for the front and 110 in the back I can't justify.

 

here's online source of gasket for drainplug: they can be found cheaper I laugh at the one I have on my keyring for use next summer: paid 1.13 for it at Lexus dealer!

http://www.fcpgroton.com/product-exe...ategory_id/126

 

Any input on these http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-FRONT-REAR...#ht_1811wt_939

 

I'm doing the ATF drain and fill right now. I have the A541E transmission which has a drain plug for the main ATF pan and a drain plug for the differential. Both use the 10mm Allen Key. I removed the main plug and drained the fluid, but the differential is a lot trickier. There is not much clearance for your tools, because the cross member gets in the way, so I'm gonna attempt using a swivel adapter. Somebody on here suggested trimming the actual hex key a little bit, but I don't have the tools to do that. Oh well....

Note: Do NOT remove the ATF drain bolt all the way when draining the fluid. Loosen it and let the fluid come out. I foolishly removed it all the way and had quite a big mess to clean up. Luckily, it didn't look like I lost too much, so I can still accurately measure how much I drained.

 

I didn't plan on changing the differential fluid in my car. I don't think it has ever been changed either, crap.

 

Will the plug be the same on the 98 as the 01?

 

did u had any problem removing the nut with 10mm allen key? my bolt is soooooo damn tight from previous trasnmission shop i gone to. . i think mine have stripped a tiny tiny bit. I dont want to make the same mistake as i did on the IACV sensor screws. so i will let the transmission guys do it for a small fee.

 

1. The differential only holds about 0.5 quarts, and it shares the fluid from the main ATF sump. So if you can't drain it, don't worry about it, because the fresh new fluid will still mix with the differential. The only point to draining the diff. is to get that extra half a quart. If the transmission fluid has been changed, then your differential fluid has been changed as well - since they're connected.

2. I'm not sure if the plug will be the same. I'm suspecting that if you have the same transmission as me, then it will be. I have the A541E - it's written on the sticker of your driver's door.

I ended up not opening the differential. There was just no way to break the bolt loose with the tools that I had. So I decided to leave it for next time. Just draining the transmission yielded 2 quarts and 26 ounces, which is 2.8125 qt. It might have been more, since as I said previously, some of it spilled on the floor. Oh and the fluid looked very dark in my measuring cup, but still red if you wiped it on a white paper towel.

Here it is next to a tomato.

 

For the life of me I can't figure out why some shops jackhammer those bolts on with the torque that they do. I actually had to use an impact wrench to get one bolt off of another vehicle...

 

Thank you very much for all the help, i appreciate it. Most forums people just get pissed that im asking stupid questions. I don't even add my own washer fluid so this is a big project for me haha