Owners of other Toyota, Lexus or Scion vehicles such as the Yaris, Matrix, Prius, Camry, Celica, RAV4, Sienna, Tacoma, Tundra, FJ Cruiser, Venza, Highlander, Avalon, Sequoia, Land Cruiser, Allion, Premio, Auris, IS 250, ES 350, GS 350, tC, xB, xD, iQ and FR-S may also find these DIY instructions to be helpful.

The items needed to complete this procedure include a floor jack, two jack stands, a 10mm Allen Key or 10mm hex head socket, a fluid catch basin, 4 U.S. quarts of Toyota WS ATF (World Standard - Automatic Transmission Fluid), a gallon jug marked with half quart measured lines and a small automotive funnel.

(Please double check your manual for the ATF drain and refill specification. Some Corolla model years only require 2.6 U.S. quarts.)

Since Toyota claims that the ATF is a "lifetime" fluid, by doing a simple "drain and fill" that replaces about half of the U341E automatic transmission's 6.9 U.S. quart total capacity at least every few years, your vehicle's maintenance will be far ahead of the average Corolla owner.

If the engine is very hot, I'd recommend allowing it to cool a bit to prevent from burning yourself on the underside of the engine bay or when you drain the ATF fluid.

You may be able to reach the transmission oil pan drain bolt without raising the vehicle. I found it easiest to raise the car with a floor jack at the lifting point under the front bumper at the center of the vehicle.

Then I securely supported the car with two jack stands.

The black metal ATF pan is located on the right (driver) side of the engine bay. The silver metal drain bolt is situated at the left (passenger side) rear corner of the pan.

Slide the used oil catch container to just below the drain bolt.

To keep my hands clean, I chose to wear synthetic oil resistant Nitrile rubber gloves.

Loosen the ATF drain bolt by turning it counterclockwise with a 10mm Allen Key or a 10mm hex head socket.

The fluid in my 2010 Corolla was still steadily dripping out in a small stream after five minutes, so I let it continue draining for about 15 minutes total.

Inspect the old metal washer on the drain bolt and replace it if necessary.

(Contact your dealership for a replacement washer. I believe that the crush washer gasket part number is Toyota 90430-18008.)

Update - The new transmission drain plug washer part number is Toyota 90430-A0003.

Spin in the drain bolt a few turns by hand in the clockwise direction to prevent it from becoming cross threaded.

Tighten the drain bolt in the clockwise direction with the 10mm Allen Key or 10mm hex head socket to just past hand tight

If you have a torque wrench, tighten the drain bolt to 36 lb-ft (49 N*m) of torque according to service manual.

Try to avoid over tightening the drain bolt to prevent from stripping the threads or damaging the aluminum pan.

Note - If you are removing the transmission oil pan, the small bolts should be tightened to the 2009 Toyota Corolla (2ZR-FE) service manual specification of 69 in-lbf or 7.8 N*m.

(To create a measuring bottle, just pour in 2 cups (1/2 quart) of water in to a gallon jug and mark the levels until you reach 4 quarts.)

You should have about 3.1 U.S. quarts of old ATF in the jug.

On some model years (such as possibly the 2009 Corolla) with a slightly different version of the U341E 4 speed automatic transmission, you might only drain out about 2.6 U.S. quarts.

This is why it is very important to measure how much ATF you have drained out!

I spilled some fluid and had a few ounces slosh out of the catch basin, so I estimated that I drained out about 3.05 U.S. quarts out of the transmission.

Remove the transmission fluid dipstick, wipe it clean and set it aside in a safe place.

This 2010 Toyota Corolla S with the 1.8L 2ZR-FE I4 engine and the U341E automatic transaxle has an ATF fluid specification for a drain and refill of 3.1 U.S. quarts (2.93 Liters or 2.58 Imperial Quarts).

Attention: Please check your owner's manual to verify the correct specification for your vehicle.

On some model years of the Corolla with the U341E A/T, the drain and refill capacity is only 2.6 U.S. quarts.

(The "service fill" capacity for the U250E 5 speed manual transmission is 3.7 U.S. quarts.)

Slowly pour in only about 3 U.S. quarts of the new Toyota ATF WS in to the transmission fluid dipstick hole.

It is far better to have slightly less fluid that necessary in the transmission than to overfill it.

1. Turn on the engine.
2. Engage the emergency / parking brake and firmly press down on the brake pedal.
3. Move the shifter knob to cycle the transmission through all the gears while pausing in each gear (e.g. "P" Park, "R" Reverse, "D" Drive) for a few seconds.
4. Place the transmission in "P" Park and leave the engine running.
5. Pull out the transmission fluid dipstick, wipe it clean, re-insert it and pull it out again to check the level.

The ATF fluid level should be somewhere between the two notches that indicate the "HOT" range on the dipstick.

If the fluid level is far below the "HOT" range, turn off the engine and slowly pour in more ATF fluid and repeat the process until the level on the dipstick reaches the correct range.

I poured in just over 3 U.S. quarts of new Toyota ATF WS fluid to replace the amount that I had drained and measured with the gallon jug.

The level on the dipstick was almost at the top of the "HOT" range.

I'd recommend checking the ATF fluid level again after your next trip.

Be sure to record the transmission fluid change in your vehicle's service records.

For more, check out my other Corolla DIY tutorials at the links below -

2009-2013 Toyota Corolla Repair & Maintenance Guides

2003-2008 Toyota Corolla Repair & Maintenance Guides