Gearbox oil change

[gti mad man]

on a petrol 1.9 4 speed how often should it be changed is it hard to do /worth it?

[jed the spread]

Its easy to do, take the top plug out first because if the bottom one comes undone then you cant undo the top your screwed

jed

[T'Onion]

Andy ,look on the wiki , easy to do ,so long as the filler and the drain keys come out , do the filler one first , otherwise you'll be dropping the box, and yes it will be worth it , you'll know its be changed and know what oil is in it

tip on refilling , funnel and length of hose pipe , fed via the engine bay

[kevtherev]

Just changed mine after 130,000 miles Andy, did it like mark suggests

No great difference but the cogs love it!

[Titus A Duxass]

I had mine done at 270,000 Ks, got a box like butter now!

[Aidan]

IMHO every three years 20k miles more often if abused or touring in hot climes
£20 oil change
£500 gearbox rebuild
you know it makes sense

remember these vans were designed to do 100k miles/10 years and "throw it away and buy a T4" (that was VW design brief and business plan)

there was no oil change for gearbox for vehicle life, ie last service at 90k miles, just check for leaks and top up was all that was on the service schedule

after 100k miles you are running a grinding paste not a lubricant

I've seen westies with 250k miles on and barely any wear but clear signs that regularly oil changed and I've seen boxes dead with burnt insides less than 50k miles

oh and stick 4 litres in a petrol rather than 3.5, better too much and a slower gear change than too little and wear and don't forget the syncro box is baffled so always measure the oil put in don't rely on the it's overflowing the filler so it must be right seen quite a few syncro boxes with a litre less in them than they should have.

GSF sell Fuchs Titan 75W/90 Gear Syn oil which is semi syn GL4 compabile part 98048A 4 litres and 98048 1 litre about £20 for 4 litres this seems to be excellent and was what VW used to sell us for £15/litre, whatever you use GL4 is the thing, not all GL5 are backward compatabile and our moly coated brass syncros don't like a certain addative that some older spec GL5 has. Modern oils are probably ok but unless it says GL4.......or there's a spec sheet that says so then I'd rather not except in an emergency.

[irishkeet]

Hello Aidan

Would I follow the same guidelines for changing the oil on a 2L Aircooled gearbox?
thanks
irishkeet

IMHO every three years 20k miles more often if abused or touring in hot climes
£20 oil change
£500 gearbox rebuild
you know it makes sense

remember these vans were designed to do 100k miles/10 years and "throw it away and buy a T4" (that was VW design brief and business plan)

there was no oil change for gearbox for vehicle life, ie last service at 90k miles, just check for leaks and top up was all that was on the service schedule

after 100k miles you are running a grinding paste not a lubricant

I've seen westies with 250k miles on and barely any wear but clear signs that regularly oil changed and I've seen boxes dead with burnt insides less than 50k miles

oh and stick 4 litres in a petrol rather than 3.5, better too much and a slower gear change than too little and wear and don't forget the syncro box is baffled so always measure the oil put in don't rely on the it's overflowing the filler so it must be right seen quite a few syncro boxes with a litre less in them than they should have.

GSF sell Fuchs Titan 75W/90 Gear Syn oil which is semi syn GL4 compabile part 98048A 4 litres and 98048 1 litre about £20 for 4 litres this seems to be excellent and was what VW used to sell us for £15/litre, whatever you use GL4 is the thing, not all GL5 are backward compatabile and our moly coated brass syncros don't like a certain addative that some older spec GL5 has. Modern oils are probably ok but unless it says GL4.......or there's a spec sheet that says so then I'd rather not except in an emergency.

[windysurfer]

I didn't do mine and it turned out that there wasn't enought oil in which resulted in one knackered gearbox a week before my main 2 weeks holiday.
Worth doing as said above if just for a piece of mind

[s60owl]

Andy, It is worth doing and is easy enougth as long as you follow the advise posted by others on here. I changed mine about 2 weeks ago with the gearbox having covered 93000 miles and found a marked improvement. Not to mentioned the stuff that came out was just like black water, no viscosity to speak of so god knows what it was doing in there, if anything.

[rikisha9]

hi all

yes but

what about gearbox flushing?

does it makesense, is it a good idea?
what product would one use?

best rik

[Aidan]

just oil change it, if you want to clean the insides do it again after a month, but tbh there's a limit to what you can acheive, but the oil foams in use and penetrates into all the bearings and oilways and the new oils have some addatives in which do seem to dislodge some of the residue build up on the case insides and you can tell a box that was recently oil changed when you strip it.

[Tug]

Hi,

This is a preventive maintenance exercise that is a no brainer really. Changed mine 4 weeks ago and the box is smoother between changes.
I used Morris Lodexol 75-90 semi synthetic.

My Bus is an 81 Aircooled Holdsworth. Dont hesitate change it.....

[windysurfer]

Whats the best way to remove stubborn filler and drain plugs?

[Aidan]

with a snap on tool for 3/8 drive about a tenner, plus gas, patience, heat and clean out the recess fully first, sometimes a little tighten first but be careful they are taper thread

[John Potter]

Changed my gearbox oil on my Syncro a few miles ago and it came out smelling really 'orrible and was thin and nappy brown in colour with a good head of foam. Xmas tree on the drain plug was moderate......

It took a 17mm hex plug driven by a socket with an 18" bar and a bit of scaff pole over the bar to shift the plugs....sheared off the stupid 1/2 to 3/8 adaptor for the drain plug key thing that i bought on the 1st try.

Worth doing though, gearbox is a bit better, sychromesh still dead between 4th & 3rd.