Bruce L. Bergman wrote:
(...)

Well, you said elsewhere that the final drive gears ("differential")
went south. Those normally don't *ever* die. Who has been doing the
oil changes on the car - You, the Dealer, or (this is the one that can
be big trouble) the untrained teenagers at the local 'Spiffy Lube'?

I did the last transmission and differential oil change.
I did the SOP which is to:
Drain the ATF and remove the tranny pan
Clean the gunk off the magnet and from the pan
Remove, wash and dry the filter
Reassemble everything with a fresh pan gasket
Refill and check the level.
(The transmission proper and the differential fill from the same location).
It worked fine for 40K miles and the car was literally on the way to
the shop for its next tranny service when the differential came apart.

Some of the Toyota front-drive cars are tricky, and I'm not sure if
yours is one of them - they use ATF in both the transmission and as
the gear lube on the differential compartment side of the case. So
you'd pull a drain plug and see red fluid coming out and figure it's
coming from the transmission... But there is a divider and an oil
seal between the two compartments, and a separate fill plug.

That separate fill plug is true for the 1988 but not for the 2000.

If they (or you) drained the ATF from the diff side and didn't know
they have to pull a pipe plug and fill the other side of that divider
with ATF too, your final drive gears could have been running dry - and
that most assuredly WILL quickly kill them.

Not on the 2K. Both fill from the same location.

(Transmission Cooler: A Good Idea)


(I had to change the transmission rear cover on the Corvair to a
Truck/Greenbrier rear cover to get the trans cooler fittings - Car
cases didn't have the fittings, just a bypass slot.)

Did the trailer you were using have brakes?

Never!


(Trailer Brakes: A Good Idea and Foreign Concept in my Rental Yards)



It saves both the car's
brakes and the transmission if you were downshifting too much and too
hard.

Downshifting?


(Downshifting and RPM control)

Very good Bruce. Thanks!

I will refer to these notes next time I pull a trailer (Using a Big Truck).

--Winston