Long story I would really rather not go into. I need to add approximately two quarts of trans fluid to my auto trans and can not find a fill plug. I know the exact amount I need to add and have read about the Toyota fluid one can use. Where is the fill plug that is supposed to be on top?

Any help appreciated as my countryman is out of commission until I get the fluid in him.

Allan

 

So it seems no one knows the answer so I will tell you how I got it resolved....

First off, regardless of how much experience turning wrenches you have, you too could be an idiot and remove the wrong drain plug. After a lot of searching I see I was not the first, second, third or tenth person who admitted doing such.

The good news was that I realized what was going on and did not drain much fluid out so I figured mixing a little from another brand would not hurt.

The biggest problem I had was figuring out where to put fluid back in (I did not use the fluid I drained because it was contaminated the second it hit the oil drain pan which already had oil in it from the filter change).

Lots of people talk about the plug(s) in lots of different places. It seems that the 2015 Countryman and 2015 Roadster are identical in this regard. You need to remove the upper air breather hoses and look on the top near the front of the transmission. There is a T55 bolt which is a pain in the rear to get to, that is your fill point.

Removing the bold required an extension and a wobble (a wobble is NOT a universal joint which would not work in this case, a wobble is a very short extension that allows the socket on the end to wobble, not swivel). I then had to use a rather large ratchet as the bolt was very tight.

Once loosened I used a magnet on an extension pole to remove the bolt safely.

Next I found a funnel and tube at the local Auto Zone store which fit in the hole perfectly. Unfortunately this did not allow the air to pass back out so I had to massage the line to in effect pump the fluid back in. This also caused some spillage.

I made sure to measure the amount of fluid that came out, plus the amount spilled (I used a measuring cup with water in it to recreate a spill the same size and then looked at how much water was gone out of the measuring cup). I am confident that the amount of fluid I put back in is within 1/2 to 1 cup of the amount that came out. This should be within 1/16 to 1/8 of a quart, more than close enough.

The fluid I found was both type T-IV and 3309 compatible Valvoline full synthetic which claimed it could be used in BMW and Toyota as well as others. My reading said the transmission was a Japanese made one which was probably Toyota at least in partial design and used their T-IV fluid. MINI specifies the 3309 compatible fluid and since this was both, I figured it would work.

Putting the bolt back in was fun, not. I used a dowel inserted in the torx to start the threading. Then once it was started good I managed to get the torx bit on the wobble and extension and get it tightened well.

Next I used a biodegradable citrus based cleaner to clean as much of the trans fluid off as possible and then washed it all off with a water hose.

Driving went well and I noticed no issues. Shifting was positive and smooth without any problems. I am hopeful I resolved the problem and can assure you that will never happen again.

Allan

 

Damn.