I think my husband drained trans fluid...not oil

When he drained the oil, did he use an Allen key or a wrench? If the first, he drained the transmission fluid, incorrectly. Then he would have grossly overfilled the oil.

Best thing to do now is to check the transmission fluid level with the dipstick. If it's not right and if you still have the container that you drained the fluid into, measure the amount of fluid that was removed and add the same amount through the transmission fluid dipstick tube.(The transmission fluid dipstick has an orange handle on many Toyotas).

You will then need to drain the engine oil. It would be better to drain all of it and add the appropriate amount of fresh oil.

Now that your husband has learned his lesson, there is no reason why he shouldn't change the oil in the future.

'oil'...I was driving home

== Check the engine oil with the engine cold. Check the transmission, idling, engine hot. Don't guess. Determine the correct fluid levels. If they're wrong, drain and refill as needed. Could be he just spilled some oil when changing and you saw smoke when the exhaust heated up. To drain the transmission you need a different type of wrench. I wouldn't expect this would be done mistakenly but it is possible. Just check the fluid levels so you know for sure.

What gear should the transmission be in for this check? Over the years, some manuals have specified PARK, others NEUTRAL...with the parking brake on, of course.

This is as sad as the story I was told by a co-worker some years ago, about the fact that her teen age daughter (early teens) had tried to help her out by pumping gas....but had gotten hold of the Diesel hose instead. Luckily the mom found out before they tried to leave the station, but about 7 or 8 gallons of diesel rested in the gas tank, which meant the tank had to be dropped and emptied. The daughter never volunteered again.

This poor fellow apparently drained his transmission and proceeded to pour in five quarts of new oil on top of the five quarts of old oil ....not happy-making for the engine. All ten quarts have to be removed, and the transmission refilled if this is the case. and the crankcase of course. With this fellow's expertise, he might end up putting oil in the transmission and ATF in the crankcase! Well, to his credit, he was trying to save some money. A pity that he didn't.

Probably won't lockup. It's hard to change out ALL the trans fluid even if you WANTED to - usually about 2/3 of the fluid stays stuck in the inner parts of the transmission (torque converter, etc). But get the oil situation remedied pronto.

He probably only drained about 2 quarts (1/2 gallon) of fluid - is this right?

Get a Haynes manual for the car (about $12-$15 from any auto store) to get the locations for all the parts.

What year car is it? If 2001 or earlier, get 2 bottles of Dexron III and a narrow neck funnel, and put the oil (slowly) into the tranny oil dip stick hole (the dipstick doubles as the oil intake. Inconvenient, huh.)

And drain and change out the engine oil while you're at it, too.

Michael

using

Quite a mechanic he is, he didnt even check any levels. Dont drive it, fill the trans the amount he drained { you will likely overfill it , requiring draining again} drain the motor, replace the filter and pray. Check trans level after its hot and running, but you knew that.