Hi All I have a 91 mk2 1.8 driver with 140K on i was just wondering what gear box it will have and also how easy is it to drain the oila nd replace. i dont think this has ever been done so what would be the best oil for a gear box with 140k on the clock? Cheers
The Haynes manual is rubbish for this, its well too vague. I was going to do my 1.6 driver myself but I dont want to cock it up.
how much do a garage charge then? is it really that hard? i dont even know the gearbox in mine any ideas?
This is the same with my 135,000 car, no idea if the gearbox oil has been changed, or if there is any oil in there Mine doesnt crunch or anything, I just dont want to mess it up.
i recommend you do a search on here as a few people have ended up putting oil into the inspection hole!
With the kind assistance of this thread, and Broke's site , it seems I may finally get round to this job this weekend Just been ferretting around for M10 bolt and nuts to make me a 17mm 'undoer'. Well done folks, thanks a lot.
use the speedo cable hole to fill it, saves have to remove passenger side wheel to gain access to refill
I've read that if you lose 5th gear, its because there's not enough oil in the gearbox. I had a slight gearbox leak and considered refilling the box, but after reading that, couldn't see the point. Though the gearbox on mine was replaced in 2003.
i have had trouble getting into 5th recently it only happens every now and again i think this job will have to be done soon
Correct. There is a 5th Damage Page on the site in my sig that shows what happens. It isn't instant damage, it is from being ran with low oil. If you see it leaking, and you add some, it isn't low anymore. What might be a damaged bearing and nothing more could turn into a stripped gear and damaged shaft splines. From a $5 bearing to a $400 R&P set If you have a wet oil pan from leaking motor oil, do you just ignore it after that? I know you've heard an engine without oil is damaged Broke
Progress on mine today. Those fill and drain plugs are stubborn little suckers though. Required the application of leg-muscle power as I didn't have the best tools . Got both loosened though, after a bit of a battle. Unfortunately I managed to buy the wrong oil yesterday (GL5 spec) and the place I got it from can't get the GL4 version 'til Monday. Gotta think I've done the hard bit though . Wish I'd got one of my colleagues to weld a nut on my M10 bolt, as the two nuts locked against one another wasn't ideal...
I use a wheel nut with a ring spanner, ie the hex bit of the wheel nut is just about wide enough to fit in the plug and have enough room for the spanner. And then kick it...! ...always take the refill one out before the drain one to make sure you can refill the box before you drain it.
Well after a 100 mile drive to Leicester, my gear change became stiff and abit hard. Looks like I will have to change my gearbox oil alot sooner (ie tomorrow) than I thought. Does anyone know the spanner/allen key size to drain the gearbox oil and to fill through the speedo hole? Also I'm abit worried I may loose the cog on the speedo cable, is it secured to the cable? Thanks in advance.
17mm across flats. GSF do a tool I believe, or you could borrow my welded-up M10 bolt/nut combo if you like. I shied away from using the speedo hole for fear of losing that gear. If you can undo the drain plug, you can undo the fill/level plug.
