by racprops, March 13, 2014
Learned that our poor old 91 Toyota automatic transmission has a fatal flaw, the diff. runs on its own oil, and is almost always over looked by service techs causing transmission failues.
Question is does all Toyota autos have this problem??
We just replaced the 91 Corolla with a 2000 Camry.
Rich
As far as I know, only the 3-speed automatics had this "feature". The 4-speeds in that generation and newer use a single reservoir. The newer 5-speeds also use a single reservoir.
Good to know.
Seams they can learn from their mistakes.
Rich
hey guys.. new here.. is this 3 speed trans also found in 97 corollas with a 1.6L engine? if so.. how does one check the diff fluid -vs- trans fluid? im assuming the trans and diff have seperate drain plugs obviosuly.. a plug to refill the diff and dipstick opening for the trans??
Correct - the 3-speed A131L is also found on the 7th gen Corolla as well. Have to check the diff fluid level like a manual transaxle. Open the fill port on the side of the differential and see how far below the opening the fluid level is. Should be just below the fill opening - just stick your finger in there to verify fluid levels.
You assumed correctly, that there are two separate drains and two separate fill ports - lots of quick lube places and some dealerships miss that differential. If they didn't see any maintenance - usually by the time the car rolled close to 200K miles - differential usually lets go.
oh boys lol i sure hope the one in mine saw oil changes lol 320k kms so that converts to umm. lets see. carry the 1... 200k mile ballpark lol thanks for the info though 
