so over the weekend I gave my truck an oil change (first time since buying it). It's an 89 4x4 regular cab, with a 22re out of a 1990

sadly the drain bolt was really hard to turn out the whole way, looked like it was cross threaded.

The thing that really confused me is that the drain-bolt was on the passenger's side, directly above the front diff, so when I did finally get the bolt off it dumped oil all over the diff

there's a lift in this truck and it seems to me if the lift wasn't there I wouldn't have even been able to get the bolt off.

is this normal or does my engine have the wrong pan on it?

I'll probably end up putting a new pan on it anyway just because of the drain bolt.

 

Sounds like you might have a pan from a 2wd?

 

have a pic of your oil pan?


I'm not sure about the 2wd's, but I know the original pan on my 91 4wd had the plug on the passenger side, and there's a sheild-like thing on the back of it, I assume for some protection (protection from what, I don't know; maybe from a paintball gun )

 

if the rain clears up I'll go snap a pic...

there's a shield on mine too, but it's on the driver's side, the passenger's side angles up on a 45* angle and the plug is on the angled part... my first thought was that it was maybe from a 2WD too...

 

searching around I found one that looks like mine:


the drain-plug is toward the back of the engine.

 

that's the same as mine

so that must be the the original

 

weird... seems like a rather poor design.

 

so is the placement of the fuel filter on the 22re


it's obvious that the same engineer that designed the internals of the 22r had nothing to do with the design of the items that bolted to it

 

remember most of the engineers of these trucks are half the size of your typical American.

 

I have never had a problem with the drain plug on any of my 22RE's that were all original. The only ones I everhave troubles with are ones that have been wrecked before, or the engine has been out. Even a tiny amount of frame or engine movement puts that over just enough to get oil all over the diff. If its untouched from the factory, it will just barely miss the diff.

FWIW, both of those pictures are the exact same thing. Both are 85+ 4X4 pans. Any 4WD pan from any year will work, but the 79-84 pans require a gasket instead of sealer, and can be identified by a 19mm drain plug, instead of the 14mm on the 85+

 

Also, 4WD pans are rear sump. 2WD pans are middle sump, and 22R Celica pans are front sump.

 

this truck of mine was torn down the frame and built back up, using a different motor and has a 4" IFS drop... so hardly anything is in the factory spot.

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next oil change I might see about getting a new drain plug and chasing the threads on the pan with a tap to fix the cross threaded issue and figure out a sheld of some kind that I can drape over the diff so I can keep it clean while draining...