Gearbox & Diff Oil Change - Guide

[beetie]

thought that it would be useful to do a guide while i did my car this morning.
looked through for guides on diff oil and gearbox

gearbox - there were no guides.
diff - was spread over a few pages in a guide (still a good guide though)

GEARBOX OIL CHANGE- around 2.4l needed
1)park car on the kerb (passenger side on the kerb) or jack up and use axle stands

2)crawl under the car and locate the gearbox plugs (tools to use- 1/2"drive(13mm square attachment) on a breaker bar, penatrating fluid eg WD40 or plusgas, wire brush)


3)wire brush arond the plugs to get rid of dirt and rust, then spray with the fluid. let it soak in for a bit.

4)undo the fill plug first - it will be a pain(if it doesn't undo you can fill it up using the gearstick hole)

5)now undo the drain plug but have a bucket ready.
the drain plug is magnetised so will look like it has metal hair (clean it off)


6)once oil has drained replace drain plug first ready for filling

7)nick a piece of your mum & dads garden hose and route it down the engine and into the fill hole



8)fill the gearbox with around 2.4l of gearbox oil (piercing a hole in the bottom of the upside down bottle will aid filling-just don't do it on the last bottle as you will have some left in it!)


9)when the oil starts to over flow the fill plug it's errr full

10)replace the fill hole plug and it's done

[beetie]

DIFF OIL CHANGE GUIDE- 1.7-1.8l needed

1)park car on kerb or place on axle stands. (tools needed- 1/2" drive(13mm square attachment) on a breaker bar, penetrating fluid - eg. WD40 or plusgas, wire brush)

2)locate the diff fill plug (passenger side) and the drain plug. (wire brush around the plugs to free them from debris or/and rust and spray with penetrating fluid- let it soak for a bit)
drain plug shown here


3)undo the fill plug first as you'd be stuck if you drained the diff but couldn't get any oil back in you will need a socket extension to get to the plug like this.



4)undo the drain plug next with a bucket at the ready. again the drain plug is magnetised so will look similar to this (clean it off)


next you can either go onto 5 or drain the diff cooler of its oil by following this diff change guide- i tried it but nothing else came out and 1.8l went in no problem
http://www.sxoc.co.uk/vbb/showthread.php?t=33002


5)let the oil drain out, then refit the drain plug before refilling.

6)route the trusty garden hose similar to this and into the fill hole of the diff and up through the wheel arch.


7)fill with around 1.7-1.8l of diff oil (pierce a hole in the bottom of the bottle to aid flow of oil- just don't do it on the last botttle as there will be some left in it)

8)once oil comes out of the fill hole it's done so refit the fill plug hole and jobs done

[Error404]

nice one

[ads.r]

im doing mine this weekend, just wonderd what oil i should be using in the g/box and diff?

[Mark]

its actually easier to fill the box by taking the gear lever out

[beetie]

i used the same for both - sylkolene syn5 from opie oils(on this site)

£10 per 1l bottle though - 5 bottles needed(but for how often you need to change it, it's worth it)

mark - i've pm'd you to see if you could make this sticky in your useful thread

[MeLLoN Stu]

Good work mate

nice to see write ups being done

[amnesia]

Whilst the rear of the car is in the air you could remove the diff oil cooler as it has probably never been used

[Error404]

doesn't it come on above 70mph?

[amnesia]

IIRC comes on with >75mph AND >130oC and stays on until temp drops below 120oC

[200krisx]

Originally Posted by Mark

its actually easier to fill the box by taking the gear lever out

Agreed, but I like both methods. Especially with my short shifter, its a bit easier using beetie's method with the hose pipe than taking all my B&M type shortshifter apart

Beetie - Good work mate, I'm sure it will give more SX owners confidence at taking on this task, its easy really, just a lot better with a guide and pictures

[pdh 14a]

Thats a good guide and just in time!got my oils at jae too

[JONXLR8]

Nice guide. Will be using it in the future

[pdh 14a]

How do you get the oil out of the diff cooler?do you need too?as it will be different oil going in,will a mix affect things?
Cheers.paul

[John Bennett]

I'd forget about the oil in the diff cooler mate, its unlikely to ever move, and diff oil isn't usually full of swarf anyway (unlike the gearbox)., so the old stuff isnt that dodgy Stick 12V onto the pump terminals if you want to squirt it out and back into the diff (if there's anything actually left in the cooler)

Originally Posted by Mark

its actually easier to fill the box by taking the gear lever out

Only if you have circlip pliers, or lots of patience . Bottle and tube method for me all the time. Actually, it's the only way on the 6-speed as the stick doesn't come out that way .

[pdh 14a]

Thanks John

[Jon_H]

Just done mine (with much help from Mids Si ) and tried out an alternative technique for filling the diff ('cos we didn't have a long enough bit of hose ).

If you've removed the oil cooler but still got the pump from it, just reconnect it to one of the fittings on the diff casing, and stick the inlet hose into a jug (or milk bottle) of new oil. Then connect the pump's wires to a suitable power supply and watch as it slurps the oil out of the jug and into your diff!

If you're a model car racer, a 6-cell battery pack makes an eminently suitable power supply, but otherwise I would have thought that it would still run at a usable speed off a 12V battery.

Sorry, no pics as it was getting gloomy.

[Si]

worked a treat! so much quicker an easier than my 'tube and patience' method D

[rosscosr20]

Superb guide - I was just thinking of doing this!

Cheers

[New2SX]

Originally Posted by Mark

its actually easier to fill the box by taking the gear lever out

Does anyone have any pics of doing it this way or can say whats involved ? I did it this way on an S13 I had previously and it was a pain in the ass



PS sorry for bringing up an old thread but its the best one