[Cloren10]

Hey guys,

Was lurking but a while after working on my S13 and hours of frustration I finally decided to go ahead and ask this on the forums. I tried using the search function but didn't quite find any real solution (maybe I didn't put in the best search terms or something) to this problem:

'90 S13 with the stock KA24E and the 5 speed transmission, bought it from some guy not terribly long ago. The engine is, if not destroyed, in awful shape because draining the oil pan and all that comes out first is about a pint or two of water is never a good sign, but to the guys credit he did warn me the last time he touched it it overheated and blew a head gasket.

Anyways - 240Kish miles, I go under it to drain the transmission. Like I saw in some other threads/guides, I loosened the fill plug first. That came off with really no issues, but a bit of fluid came out. No biggie.

Then I went to the drain plug. Nope. Just no. I tried first with my 1/2in wrench, what later turned out to be the outside rounding was what I chalked up to the result of there being so much grime on it. Hit it with a mallet. Tried a Snapon impact on it. Then I really rounded that sucker off. Alright, round three - I Dremel a straight line across the top of the bolt pretty deep, put a flathead biton it with the 1/2 drive, just twisted the metal away. No effect. Bought an easy out. Realized it's a joke. No better there either.

I almost got all of the way through it by just drilling through the center of the darn bolt with a Dremel and a cobalt drill bit, but it fried both of the ones I had on the way in. In all likelihood, I probably stopped about 1/4 inch from getting through the bolt. But I haven't given it another go because I feel if I go all the way through, that'll really make it impossible for me to remove the drain bolt once I get the transmission out from under the car short of taking it to a machine shop, where its gonna run me a pretty penny likely.

So in y'alls experience - which is the easiest alternative to drain the transmission short of making a huge mess? I've heard of two things so far - using a manual hand pump via the fill plug or tilting it up and draining it out through where the shaft hooks in. And while I couldn't find really a straight answer online, would unbolting the engine from the transmission without draining it first cause a ton of fluid to leak out everywhere as well?

Any advice is appreciated!

CL