The handbook says change the gbox oil evrey mjr service on my Civic vti, but my dad says he seems to remember HJ saying somewhere just change it once after it is run in.
It is 91k and fhsh, so it will have been done afew times now.
Do I take the advice to leave it, or should I change it?
Does it make any difference that thin engine oil is used in this gearbox?
Thanks,
Jonathon
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DON'T use engine oil in the gearbox. Yes, I'm shouting. The stresses and requirement of a gearbox are very different to an engine. That's why the Mini gearbox-in-sump was never succesful from a longevity point of view. Use gearbox oil as recommended by the car's manufacturer.
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Roger,
I would modify your statement to "do not use engine oil unless specified" because some gearboxes do indeed use engine oil...seems daft but true.
Examples...
Most Hondas!
Discoverys/Range Rover
Some Peugeots
Montego
Many Rovers
Saabs
David
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David
Add Morris Minors to that list!
Just to show how careful you have to be, a number of boxes also run on a so-called 'manual transmission fluid' eg 5 speed Sierras. Looks very similar to ATF
Range Rovers - interesting - some may use engine oil, but a number of 5-speeds use ATF. I was surprised when I changed the gear oil on mine a few years back.
Whatever, putting in 80 or 90 gear oil really causes problems - it's far to viscous, and it's virtually impossible to change gear until the oil's warm, as a I believe a few owners have found out!
Regards
John
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I once bought a three-year-old (late-83) Peugeot 305GT with only 14,000 miles on the clock which had been serviced by its previous owner. Gear selection was very difficult especially from cold, which I suspect was one reason why he sold it at well below book price. I found that the gearbox contained 'gearbox' oil rather than engine oil and changing back to the correct oil helped cure the problem. I say "helped" because the 'box still dragged a bit when I sold the car on a few weeks later -- probably some of the heavy gearbox oil remained in the nooks and crannies of the syncromesh mechanism.
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The best time to change gearbox oil is after the first year because that's when changing the oil will do the most good by getting rig of running-in swarf that will later get ground up into tiny particles which eventually find their way into the bearings. No harm in changing the oil again.
HJ
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As far as I know, mini gearboxes were at least as long lived as the rest of the car. The SDI Rover 2600 manual I had used ATF in the gearbox. Why, I never found out. At first I thought it was a misprint in the handbook but ATF is correct.
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I would say that any undue wear that MAY have taken place in the mini gearbox was not due to the fact that it relied on engine oil (this is what is was designed for) but because it shared the same oil as the engine, with all the carbon, acids, etc. that this contains, especially when not changed at the famous 5000 miles/6 monthly intervals!
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I am an avid follower of HJ's maintenance advice and am having the engine oil and filter changed every 5,000 on my 200X Audi A4 TDi, as opposed to 10,000 mile intervals stipulated for warranty. At the 15,000 mile change I asked them (dealers) to change the gearbox oil. They thought I was mad! They've only just got used to my 5,000 mile engine oil changes (which cost about £85!!) and could not understand why I wanted the gearbox oil changed as well.
Anyway, I insisted that I wanted it done, but when I came to collect the car I was told they couldn't do it because they didn't have the oil! I was assured that Audi do not have problems with transmissions and everything is best left alone.
Any experience/advice from learned contributors? I intend to keep the car for at least 100,000 miles. Inceidentally my MB 190E has never had the g'box oil changed and it's now about to turn 200,000 miles, transmission smooth as ever!
Regards
Pat
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Amazing that when the original sump gearbox Metro came out they changed the oil change regime to 10,000 miles. Does anyone know the best oil for using in Discovery 300s and Ranger Rovers from about 1994 on? I've been told fully synthetic engine oil, fully synthetic ATF, or add masses of moly in order to try to reduce wear on the bits of the works that don't stay submerged.
HJ
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The M47 5 speed gearbox is used in a variety of Volvo 240-340-740's all from the 1980's. Some use engine oil ie 10/40 others use A.T.F. The main dealers could not tell me why there is a difference but what ever, the oil gets changed every 25K.
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Audi don't have problems with transmissions? Ho ho ho. Audi dealers have made a fortune replacing differential crown/pinion assemblies on automatics.
Rob F
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