Tacoma Blunder

Thought I would be slick and change my own oil in the oreilly auto parking lot during a road trip from Oregon to Denver. What I actually did was drain my transmission fluid empty, and drove with 11 quarts of oil in my motor from Portland to Boise.

 

Dam. What’s your situation now? Did you breakdown? How did you realize what you did?

 

Well, you're not the first and you won't be the last

 

Crap, that's 400 miles, hope it's ok.

 

Actually it's funny you ask that. After I "added" the 6 quarts and got back on the road I noticed my transmission was slipping so I got on Tacomaworld.com to see if anyone had a similar issue with slip after oil change. Turns out some kid had done the same thing and made a post about it- So I read that and thought to myself I'll be damned I bet that's what I didSo a big thank you to that kid and to Tacoma world.

 

I drained both completely and refilled properly, back on the road now running smooth... for now-Could cause problems down the road

 

My policy is that an oil change is like a lab experiment. Everything is in a controlled environment (the garage) where I have time to think and to do things right. Plenty of light, tools laid out, etc..

Hope your truck is not any worse off as a result.

 

2 options.

1. Sell truck, do not disclose
2. Drive it. Fix if/when failure occurs

1 is dishonest so not recommended, but not an uncommon practice

 

Toyota needs too start casting huge letters on the transmissions that say this is your transmission ,NOT your engine,and then highlight the lettering in bold bright red paint.

 

Talk about being anal with the OCI. It won't hurt a thing to go a few hundred, even a couple thousand, miles farther than your normal OCI. Wait till you get home next time.

You probably shortened the life of both the transmission and engine by 100,000 miles. Kinda sucks that you may not make it to 1 million miles now.

 

Thanks for sharing your bonehead move of the day. lol
Seriously. This thread, like the one you found, will help someone else.
I try to share what I do as document for others.
Right or wrong.

 

Nope.

 

It’s fine. Drive the hell out of it.

 

It wouldn't change a damn thing my friend. What WOULD work, that would piss off us DIYers, is complete removal of the drain plug from the tranny pan.

 

Actually, I think people should have an idea of what they're looking at first and foremost.

 

I have changed my own oil for years. religiously O20 synthetic, not that it matters now. I guess my presence of mind slipped from the shitty conditions hot dirty parking lot chaotic schedule- mid road trip. I'm just gonna go ahead and blame it on Toyota wtf would they put two drain plug bolts only 1mm size difference 12" from eachother.

 

How?

 

Put some red nail polish on the transmission plug

 

Don't blame Toyota. Just take the L and learn and move on with life.

 

You're not alone. I drained the transmission on my daughter's 2006 Corolla when I thought I was draining the oil pan. First oil change when it was new. Didn't have any Toyota transmission fluid on hand so she drove our beater back to college while I waited for the tranny fluid to arrive. A couple of days later she was moderately t-boned in the beater, escaping unscathed. Had it been the Corolla....... Oh, well. It all worked out for the best.