Transmission drain bolt stripped….

I won’t be able to leave it overnight, I assume I can pin open the thermostat to help it cool down to the right temp after driving ?

 

I can't say. Maybe some will answer. According to the video posted it shows it will get to the temp from idling..

 

I don't think it matters which direction you come from so long as the fluid is the correct temp when checking.

 

Update:

So it took me forever to get the truck to the right temp (solid D on dash after the shift sequence). But when I did I couldn’t get the stripped hex off. So I have 2 options now:

1. leave it until 60k miles when I do another drain and fill and deal with it then
2. Find a way to get the stripped hex off now to check the fluid level. I found that I could not get it to temp after driving, over an hour and it would not come down. Had to warm up from overnight and even then it took a while.

I did the drain and fill maybe 2 weeks ago and things seem fine. No hard shifting or gear slipping and temps looks normal through the dash gauge.

only worried as when I did the drain and fill, I drained 2 quarts and filled 2 quarts back, but when I did the level check, 1. It was not at the right temp(probably too warm). 2. Engine was off, and I ended up draining an additional 2 quarts until a trickle. So technically I drained 2 quarts without adding any.
But I’ve read thermodynamic expansion can be insignificant at warm temps? Should I be worried or should I just leave it ? Wondering if it was overfilled from factory ?

thanks for everyone’s help!

 

If the hex head is destroyed, you will likely need to weld on a cheap hex socket into the hex head bolt, or possibly weld a nut on top of the bolt to remove.

Doing this and then doing a proper drain and fill, by the book, is MUCH cheaper than possibly replacing the transmission from being over/under filled.

Most people will tell you it's no big deal bro, run it! But I won't. I'm a mechanic as my day job working on predominantly Toyota trucks for years.

 

thanks for your advice! Going to a local shop to help get the bolt off.
Any advice on the procedure to get the transmission fluid to the right temp? Haven’t been able to get it down after driving even after an hour and pinning the thermostat open.

should I let it sit overnight, pin open thermostat, let it warm up, then check while it’s running? Would this be good?
2022 tundra also for context

 

That's what I do.

 

If you aren't sure of how to do the job, then let someone else do the job.

For reference I do lift kits on Toyota trucks every weekend. I do maintenance like spark plugs and fluid changes as well. My day job is a mechanic.

I do not do transmission fluid flushes as a side job on any Toyota that doesn't have a dip stick.

At work, I do trans fluid on trucks like yours weekly. It's easy with the correct equipment. In the driveway not so much.

 

A large ez-out might bite the rounded hex hole? That drain plug shouldn't be that tight and it's definitely not corroded.

 

I had to do this trick on my wife Subaru front differential fill plug - hex head bolt. It’s a son of a bitch to get to the fill plug and it was really tight. I stripped it out. Still on there, I went to the dealer and got a new bolt. Then I pounded a Torx in there and lo and behold, it came right off. It doesn’t help that you need a 24” extension and have to take the front passenger side wheel off to get at it. Anyway, this is a good tip.

 

Update:

Was able to get it off with a screw extractor bit.

Temp was a bit over but pinned the thermostat open and left the engine running this time. Had to add 2 quarts and drained ~.5 quarts. So I was about 1.5 quarts low

going to check again tomorrow after leaving it overnight

 

Unless, of course, you always put your click-style torque wrench away without setting back to zero and discover the hard way that it’s no longer anywhere close to accurate…

…he says having no experience in the matter whatsoever.

 

I always store my wrenches at the lowest torque on the scale.

I bought a harbor freight digital torque adapter to check my torque wrenches periodically. So far, my Lexivon wrenches have held well. Unless the harbor freight unit is failing in parallel with the wrenches.

 

That's crazy, so you were pretty much on the dot on the initial drain and refill before draining out the 2 quarts again via the temperature check process?

 

Yes, but probably because I didn’t have the engine running, and didn’t have the thermostat pinned. So more of the fluid was sitting in the pan.
When I checked again today I had the engine running in P and the thermostat pinned, and refilled back 1.5 quarts to a trickle which makes more sense