@#$%#$^% Tranny fill plug is stuck!!!

[venom42]

I drained the tranny. Replaced the speedo gear o-ring. Now the damn fill plug will NOT come loose. Hit it with PB blaster and everything. Tried Vice Grips - no luck. Any advice? How can I get it loose? As a last resort, could I drive it about 1 mile with no damage? There is a shop just up the road, and I was thinking of just taking it there and getting them to do it, so if anything breaks they gotta fix it. I was so pissed earlier I could not see straight.

[Bambikiller240]

I would not drive the car at all with the transmission empty of gear oil.

As for removing the fill plug, this can be difficult on a car which has not had the plug loosened for many years. Your best bet in my experience is to use a LONG extension on whatever socket/ratchet, or wrench you are using to gain leverage. On my car, when I first bought it I had to use a long extension and apply all the force I could muster using my LEG, rather than arms to loosen the plug. Steel plug threaded into Aluminum transmission = Disimilar Metal Corrosion.

If when you get the plug loose, smear the threads with anti-seize compound to keep this situation from happening again.

If you have read this far down, here's a little trick you might think about trying. Try to remove the back-up light switch (just a few inches forward of the fill plug). Sometimes that is easier to remove. If you get it out, fill the trans from that location. Re-install the switch, then figure out how you are going to get the filler plug loose.

[frank13]

Nothing like a good cheater bar and being pissed offf! It'll work every time. In the end! :devious:

[venom42]

A large part of my problem is that it rounded the bottom edge of the plug the first attempt I made at it. Now I am having trouble getting anything to grip it. My fiancee is out of town right now (with her car), so I have no way to get around until I resolve this problem. I put an old tag on the Talon and drove it to the store last night (less than a mile down the road), but I would not want to chance being pulled over going any farther than that. Will I be able to get the tranny full from the back-up light switch? Otherwise, I was thinking of pulling the speedo cable again and filling it from there with the back end jacked way up to get it high enough to get it full.

[Victor Laury]

Dude,

Remove the reverse switch and fill from there. Save the plug for the next time you drop the tranny or the next time your car is on a rack.

[Ed]

I'm asumming your fill plug is of the male kind not the female kind. Since you mentioned using vice grips. Have you tried a pipe wrench? Throw a cheater bar on that and the plug stands no chance.

[venom42]

The reverse switch worked well. However, the wires pulled off the switch when I Was putting it back in (before I even tried reconnecting it). I put them back on with some spade connectors for now, until I can get a new switch. Thanks for the help guys!

[Bambikiller240]

There is provision to un-plug the wiring on the switch from the chassis wiring harness. Unplug them first, Remove the switch again. Clean the terminals (lugs) on the switch and solder the short wires back onto the lugs.

[venom42]

There were 2 connectors (one for each wire) about 4 inches or so upline from the switch. I unplugged it from there before removing it. When I was screwing it back in, the wires pulled loose from the terminals on the actual switch itself. Like I said, I just used spade connectors to connect them back onto the terminals, and then connected the wires back up like they were. I will go back and solder them later (or just get a new switch), I was just in a hurry.

[biker]

I know it's too late for this advice but may help the younger players - always loosen the fill plug before draining anything.

I learn't the hard way myself!!

biker

[venom42]

I will be doing the diff as well in the next few days. Should I expect a similar situation with the fill plug on the diff?

[Fun_in_my_z]

I dont know a single thang about the diff. But since you put the fluid in the tranny. Why dont you take it to that shop so they can get it out.

Might save you some work later on.

(just make sure they put it back in .)