removed wrong drain plug

I hate his sig... I lose my train of thought for a good 15 minutes after I stare at it for 5 minutes.

 

No offense, but how does this even happen? I haven't been under my truck yet, so I'm asking in all sincerity. One is on the oil pan, the other is on the transmission. And the other question I have, do you not just fill it through the dipstick? (The transmission fluid). I have a manual, and haven't filled/checked an auto in years, but that's how we did it back when I was a pump jockey.

 

This made my day.

 

Had a friend drive his with no tranny fluid for about 40 miles. It's been 20k since he was stupid and did that and still no problems.

 

You tell em babytruck!!

 

x2 to what Whipper said. The engine oil pan is small and the transmission oil pan is large and looks like what you'd typically expect to see as an engine oil pan. People just see the drain plug and the big pan and go for it. Then when red ATF fluid comes out, let the 4 letter words fly.

The Tacoma doesn't have a transmission dipstick. To check the fluid level, you have to go through a whole process of 'jumping' 2 pins on your OBD2 port, then keep shifting from N to D to get in 'Transmission Temp Check Mode', then pull the fill plug when it's at the perfect temperature. It's a complete asshole setup and way more complicated than it should be in my opinion... But, there is a fill plug for the transmission.

 

He may have driven 40 miles LOW on fluid, but you can't drive a transmission without ANY fluid. (ok, unless you are talking about a manual transmission, but we are discussing automatics here...)

 

I have been taking advantage of the "Toyota Care" free oil changes and found this while I was checking to see if they performed the work... I assume that someone at the dealership did the same thing (drained tranny instead of oil) and this is their remedy to prevent it happening again (mark the oil pan with yellow paint). I asked the service writer of the purpose but she claimed "it is to ensure the oil has not been tampered with"... bullshit, it's because someone messed up.

 

That is weird looking. I'm assuming it's to make a vulnerable part of the undercarriage as small a target as possible?

 

Actually they are correct. Most of the places I have worked at will "mark" the drain plugs in some way or another (though never with that much paint) so that if someone were to tamper with the drain plug, in an attempt to make an insurance claim, our shops would have a defense. i.e. if I changed your oil, and you drained it out, then locked up your engine, and refilled with oil, or tried to claim I never put oil in your truck. (trust me, this DOES happen when people want to get a brand new engine for nothing) I have the defense of showing that the drain plug had been tampered with since I worked on it. It saves the shops ass a lot. I have seen it happen!

 

Actually, I am talking auto trans. He thought he had something else wrong with it until I informed him of his mistake. I will say it was not a normal drive when I was helping him figure it out. So, you can go back to your ignorance. You can drive ANYTHING without fluid. It will just ruin the life of it.

 

You do realize that auto transmissions work on the premise of fluid being pumped through a torque convertor right? Even if you pull the transmission drain plug, let the fluid out and put the plug back in, you will have a fair amount of fluid left in the torque convertor itself, which is probably why it still ran. A clean auto transmission with truely no fluid, WILL NOT WORK. Your buddies vehicle either had some fluid left in it or there was enough grit in the torque convertor to make it catch. You can not run an auto transmission without fluid, they don't have friction plates like a manual. So before you go caling people ignorant, you should know what you're talking about.

 

Yeah, it's like that shirt has a life all it's own......I mean her eyes are so pretty

 

Eyes?!?! you mean she has a face??

 

That's good to know and I appreciate the clarification. I really did think it was because of an F-up... I still don't like the yellow oil pan.

 

On the flip side, I've always marked my oil filters before a service to make sure they actually changed it. There are a lot of shady shops out there so it's a simple piece of mind.

 

Ignorance huh? I guess I am sitting here with over 20 years as an automotive technician, with 17 of that being ASE master certified, and a transmission diagnostician and rebuilder, but I am ignorant on how an automatic transmission works. Now read Pugga's post below, and it will explain.

Correct. the clutches in an automatic transmission will not engage without fluid pressure, and the valves will not move to allow said fluid to go where it is supposed to go. An automatic transmission will NOT MOVE without a minimum amount of fluid in it. period.

 

I agree. I use just a small amount of "paint" placed on one edge of the drain plug and filter to assure that it has not been disturbed.

Good idea. It helps to just be sure with so many unreputable shops out there.

 

Excuse me, I was wrong. When I see the whole pan is out of fluid, to me it says that it is out of fluid. Not fluid hiding in the middle of the whole thing. This is me coming from an aircraft mechanic that knows when fluid stops pouring, there is no longer fluid.