2002 GS300 transmission pan service
03-20-16, 10:56 AM
#1
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
2002 GS300 transmission pan service
Hey everyone, I'm new to this forum so don't rag on me too much. I have a 2002 GS300, 111k miles. I'm the second owner, and the car was meticulously maintained (for the most part). I'm not sure when the last time the transmission fluid was flushed/drained/refilled, but after this winter, I noticed that the car was shifting a bit less smooth than I remember it. I checked the fluid and while it smells alright and isn't black, it is a bit darker than what I would be comfortable with. It was very dark but still had that red tinge. I got under the car the other day and opened the drain plug on the pan and I have a few questions regarding the procedure.
1) I have heard that draining the pan should yield only about 2 quarts of fluid. I got the car on jack stands, took off the drain bolt, and let it drain for 45 minutes. After this time I replaced the oil drain pan with a clear quart container to continue catching the remnants of the fluid. I measured what had drained and it was a hair under 4 quarts. It was still coming out quite a bit so I left the plug open for another day and a half and filled up another quart container and three quarters of another. Is this normal? I figured 3 quarts would be unusual but nothing to worry about but 6 quarts? That's not even counting the half or three quarters of a quart that I spilled in my driveway. There's more.
2) I decided that a full service would be in my best interest so I decided to replace the filter/screen with one that I bought last fall. The pan is rectangular and is held on with 10mm bolts that are all accessible except for one on the corner. The bolt on the passenger side of the car, furthest back in the corner of the pan is covered by a bracket. This bracket bolts to the bottom of the transmission in 2 places and has another bolt opposed to the other 2 at 90 degrees that bolts through a flange in the exhaust. My exhaust is original to the car and being that it's 15 years old on a car from the northeast, is completely corroded and fused into one piece. It looks as if you should be able to undo the 2 bolts to the tranny, loosen the exhaust bolt, and rotate the bracket 90 degrees downward to access the pan, but the nut and bolt on mine are indistinguishable from the rust, they're literally one piece and I sheared all the corners clean off the bolt with an impact, so I just drilled a hole in the bracket big enough to fit a socket through. Any ideas? Suggestions? Am I an idiot, or is this just an uncommon service to perform on this car combined with some prohibiting factors?
And 3) Could dark (NOT BURNT) fluid cause a slightly rougher shift? I know cold weather wreaks havoc on trannys and they feel a bit sloshier, but we're not talking about that.
Any input or suggestions are welcome. Thank you all.
1) I have heard that draining the pan should yield only about 2 quarts of fluid. I got the car on jack stands, took off the drain bolt, and let it drain for 45 minutes. After this time I replaced the oil drain pan with a clear quart container to continue catching the remnants of the fluid. I measured what had drained and it was a hair under 4 quarts. It was still coming out quite a bit so I left the plug open for another day and a half and filled up another quart container and three quarters of another. Is this normal? I figured 3 quarts would be unusual but nothing to worry about but 6 quarts? That's not even counting the half or three quarters of a quart that I spilled in my driveway. There's more.
2) I decided that a full service would be in my best interest so I decided to replace the filter/screen with one that I bought last fall. The pan is rectangular and is held on with 10mm bolts that are all accessible except for one on the corner. The bolt on the passenger side of the car, furthest back in the corner of the pan is covered by a bracket. This bracket bolts to the bottom of the transmission in 2 places and has another bolt opposed to the other 2 at 90 degrees that bolts through a flange in the exhaust. My exhaust is original to the car and being that it's 15 years old on a car from the northeast, is completely corroded and fused into one piece. It looks as if you should be able to undo the 2 bolts to the tranny, loosen the exhaust bolt, and rotate the bracket 90 degrees downward to access the pan, but the nut and bolt on mine are indistinguishable from the rust, they're literally one piece and I sheared all the corners clean off the bolt with an impact, so I just drilled a hole in the bracket big enough to fit a socket through. Any ideas? Suggestions? Am I an idiot, or is this just an uncommon service to perform on this car combined with some prohibiting factors?
And 3) Could dark (NOT BURNT) fluid cause a slightly rougher shift? I know cold weather wreaks havoc on trannys and they feel a bit sloshier, but we're not talking about that.
Any input or suggestions are welcome. Thank you all.
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