Gearbox - How to top up/refil oil.

So as I'm a stickler for abiding by the manufacturer's recommendations, what's wrong in using the MTF 94 oil.

And as I use Millers Semi / Synthetic 10 /40 stuff for the engine, that's also gone in my box , because its also a MTF94 specification.

So has the specification for the gearbox changed to 75/90 or is it just a matter of preference here.?

Tone

Uncletone wrote: So as I'm a stickler for abiding by the manufacturer's recommendations, what's wrong in using the MTF 94 oil.

And as I use Millers Semi / Synthetic 10 /40 stuff for the engine, that's also gone in my box , because its also a MTF94 specification.

So has the specification for the gearbox changed to 75/90 or is it just a matter of preference here.?

Tone

There is nothing wrong of course with using 'MTF 94 oil' provided it meets the original spec. In my case it's more a question of what I can get without being robbed for carriage because large parts of Scotland, for example the Highlands or indeed anywhere north of Glasgow, are apparently not on the UK mainland.

Richard

Uncletone wrote: So as I'm a stickler for abiding by the manufacturer's recommendations, what's wrong in using the MTF 94 oil.

And as I use Millers Semi / Synthetic 10 /40 stuff for the engine, that's also gone in my box , because its also a MTF94 specification.

So has the specification for the gearbox changed to 75/90 or is it just a matter of preference here.?

Texaco MTF94 is a fully synthetic 75W-80W manual transmission fluid. 10w/40 engine oil is too thin! but thats up to you. :oops:

Tone

we use the oil used at the factory.but the easy easy way to fill the gear box is drain it,remove the speedo drive.funnel and tube and pour in the correct amount. takes 5 minutes we do around 2 a week.

My oil has just arrived courtesy of Halfords - no complaints at all about service & price.

I have an oil vacuum drainer which I use on the boat. It evacuates the oil through a capillary tube that goes in via the dip stick tube. It is quite slow but you can do other things while it works cleanly away. It is possible to suck out the last dregs too so in some ways it is better than dropping the oil. I'm thinking of using the mgf-reborn method of the speedo drive but extracting the oil with the vacuum as well as refilling that way. That should remove the 20 cl that draining doesn't.

Any thoughts? If it works I can post pictures. The vacuum pump was less than £30 when I bought it and great for other things like the lawnmower.

Richard

you can only drain the oil through the drain plug,fill through the speedo drive.
WARNING WARNING.
THE SPEEDO DRIVE IS ONLY PLASTIC AND YOU CAN BREAK IT.FIRST WIPE AROUND THE DRIVE,REMOVE THE BOLT.THEN WITH A SCREW DRIVE WIGGLE THE DRIVE AROUND FIRST,TWIST IT WHILE ITS IN PLACE.THEN GET THE SCREW DRIVE BETWEEN THE SPEEDO TAB AND GEAR BOX AND PRISE OUT SLOWLY.DONT HAMMER IT,PULL IT OR STAMP ON IT.
WHEN PUTTING IT BACK IN CLEAN THE SHAFT AND A LITTLE LIGHT GREASE.

Do you still take the filler plug out though?

we measure the oil as it goes in ,after we have filled it,we simply remove to check the level

Thanks for the tip about removing the speedo drive - if it looks fragile I'll go to plan B. However, if oil can go in through it I don't see why oil cannot be sucked out through it as well. The vacuum pump I use is by Pela and the tube is small enough for the smallest dipstick tube - it's the big brother of the one here with a lawnmower.

http://pelaproducts.com/

Richard

Changed my gear box oil today. In the end I reversed the car up my ramps as I was changing the oil filter and engine oil too. I took out the filler plug and used my Pela suction thingy to remove a bit over 2 litres before dropping the drain plug for the last bit. I also used the Pela in the drain plug hole to remove about 20 cl. Having replaced the drain plug first (I know) I then used an old oil syringe that I'd forgotten that I had to put in 2.2 litres.



The syringe takes about half a litre at a time (I fill it by removing the tube end and pouring the oil in to the cylinder rather than sucking it in which is a bit wasteful as you get oil drips from the tube). Anyway, it worked a treat and it was very easy to fill the gear box from under the ramps. Obviously the car wasn't level so I put the filler plug in, drove off the ramps and squirmed under the back to pump in a bit more oil until it over flowed - I put in 2.4 litres total so by using the Pela I probably took out a bit more than gravity alone would have managed. And yes, I did remember to refit the filler plug. So that's that job for aonther 10 years or so!

I've no idea whether these oil syringes are available these days but a bit like the hydragas pump, if you see one at a car boot sale it would be worth grabbing it.

Richard

But wasn't the original oil for these boxes a 10/40 what year did they decided it had to be a 75/90?

Uncletone wrote: But wasn't the original oil for these boxes a 10/40 what year did they decided it had to be a 75/90?

Tone,

The workshop manual simply says Texaco MTF 94. I believe though that it was 75w80 (the 75w90 is the Castrol equivalent).

This is what the bottles look like:



As you can see (I hope) it says 75w80.

Here is link to the spec sheet:

http://texacobaltic.eu/en/products/cars/mtf-94.html

10/40 sounds like a very light oil for a gear box.

Richard