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Transmission Fill Help

2K views 13 replies 11 participants last post by  mx5msm 
#1 ·
Hey guys,

I was hoping you could help me out with some alternative solutions.

I recently pulled the engine/tranny to do some work on the car. Before I pulled it I drained all the fluids. The engine/tranny are sitting in the car right now and the last step I need is to fill the transmission before I can finally drive this thing.

I realize a siezed fill bolt is a common problem, but I have done absolutely everything I can think of to get it out, but its just not happening. At first I soaked it in PB blaster and went at it with an adjustable. After that didn't work I tried torching it and PB blaster. Still no results. I moved to a "gator grip" socket that someone else said they had luck with, no luck. After a week of soaking and conventional attempts,the bolt started rounding, so I tried one last act of desperation. I got a pipe wrench and went at, even jacked the end of the wrench with my hydraulic jack, all it did was tear the fill plug.

I really want to avoid having to pull the transmission again after putting all this work into it. Is there any other way to tackle this problem? The only two other solutions I could think of were jacking the rear of the car and trying to fill through the drain plug or somehow filling through the shifter. Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks for your help.

BTW, the car is a '94 5-speed
 
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#11 ·
remove the insulator boots inside the car and pour it thru there

:EDIT:

Worst advice ever.

I have always used a 1/2" breaker bar with a 14 or 16 (can't recall) mm socket.
 
#3 · (Edited)
shifter turret trans fluid and regular trans fluid are not connected.
There is some secret voodoo way to fill your trans fluid from up top, but that is not it...and nor do I know the details of it.

I use a crescent wrench with a long pipe on the end to break it, but it may be too late for that at this point.
If you have a torch you can try to heat it up a bit. If for some reason somebody put some loctite on it that could melt it and let you get it off.
Other than that idk...I'd say try to shock it with a hammer but there's not much room down there.

And just to make sure...from the bottom, you would be pulling the wrench toward the rear of the car to loosen it...Just saying this cause I know it can sometimes be hard to visualize/remember which way is righty/lefty while laying squished on your back underneath the car.
 
#5 ·
There is some secret voodoo way to fill your trans fluid from up top, but that is not it...and nor do I know the details of it.
It'll go in from the top... if you have a bad seal somewhere. lol Everything I've ever put in my turret leaks into the gearbox, unfortunately.
 
#9 ·
Had the same problem, eventually I got it out by using a pair of vice grips, a shop rag and a two post lift, having enough room under the car to put your whole body into it makes all the difference, as for the reverse bung, I tried this with no luck myself, the gear oil just kept pouring out, I think it would work if you did it slow enough. good luck!
 
#12 ·
This might seem a bit obvious, but make sure if you are using heat that you are heating the area around the plug, not the plug itself. I understand you are looking just to fill the tranny at this point, but at some time in the future you are going to want to replace the fluid again. It might be easier just to pull the tranny out now and remove the plug since the fasteners won't have had time to corrode.
 
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