Changing gearbox oil - any point?

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Wed 16 Aug 2006 13:39
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - DP
This never seems to appear in the maintenance schedules, but I was just wondering if, after 120,000 miles, it might be worth dropping the gearbox oil out of the Mondeo and filling with fresh stuff? I plan to keep the car for a bit by the way.

This gearbox actually seems to have a drain plug as well.

Would you bother? Any experiences to share?

Cheers
DP
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Wed 16 Aug 2006 13:44
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - 659FBE
Definitely worth doing. Gear oil is subject to shear damage in use, meaning that its viscosity will tend to drift out of specification, particularly when hot. Many vehicles have magnetic drain plugs - there will be a surprising amount of metallic swarf from the synchro rings accumulated here.

Be careful to use the correct grade and specification of oil for a refill, be meticulous in keeping dirt out (clean round the plugs first) and get the level absolutely correct.

659.
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Wed 16 Aug 2006 23:13
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - John S
659FBE is spot on. Oils deteriorate in use and gear oils especially pick up debris. Having just changed the so-called 'lifetime fill' oil in my BMW at 50k miles I can confirm that gearchange quality has improved. That seems to me to be a reasonable change interval. It's been commented here before that 'lifetime' oils in manufacturer speak means 'sees out the warranty period', and they've little interest beyond that.

JS
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Wed 16 Aug 2006 13:51
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - Cliff Pope
Yes. It's cheap, and if you are keeping the car it just feels as if it makes good sense, whatever the manufacturers might say.
Whenever I have bought a car, presumably with its oil unchanged, the old oil has usually been discoloured or sludgy. I do the same with axles - I change the oil every 50,000 miles or so. The gearbox on my current car has done about 400,000 miles, the back axle 350,000. There's a lot of life in them yet, I'm convinced because of proper attention to oil changes and periodic level checks.
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Wed 16 Aug 2006 14:01
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - mss1tw
Do either of you know much about changing it on the (You guessed it) VAG cars with the 1.9TDI engine?
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Wed 16 Aug 2006 16:14
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - martint123
When you see the state of the stuff that comes out you will wish you did it earlier.

Hint - before draining it, make sure you can undo the filler. Some cars are a bit restricted in space near the filler and if it's seized up a bit you can be off the road until you can sort it out. Not unknown on MX5's.

Martin
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Wed 16 Aug 2006 17:36
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - Alec
"Do either of you know much about changing it on the (You guessed it) VAG cars with the 1.9TDI engine?"

With regard to VAG :

forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=132884

Also you will find the drain requires a tamperproof socket.
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Wed 16 Aug 2006 17:45
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - mss1tw
Is there a specific page?

Lots of data there!
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Wed 16 Aug 2006 17:56
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - DP
Thanks for all the replies. Looks like I'll be doing it then!

Nice tip Martin - I'll check I can get the filler undone before I do anything. That's exactly the kind of thing that would catch me out!

With regard to oil type, the local factors sells a transmission fluid specifically for MT/MTX75 transmissions. I'm guessing this is OK to use. Apparently this is not a conventional gear oil, but a type of ATF fluid(?) Strange!

Anyway, will probably have a crack at it this weekend.

Cheers all!

DP
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Wed 16 Aug 2006 22:46
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - DP
PS The stuff in the local factors is Comma MT75 Gear Oil, which is (and I quote)

"Suitable for use in all Ford MT75 and MTX75 gear boxes."
"Service Classification: ESD-M2C186-A"

It seems the Ford 'boxes need specific fluid, not standard gear oil.

Cheers
DP
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Wed 16 Aug 2006 23:45
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - 659FBE
Double check that the oil at your local motor factor precisely meets the required Ford specification. Cross check this with the Ford documentation for your vehicle.

659.
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Wed 16 Aug 2006 23:47
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - bell boy
yep seconded on this one......
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Thu 17 Aug 2006 10:31
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - glowplug
I know it's slightly different but the wrong spec of oil is blamed on the demise of countless Citroen autoboxes - www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=148...1 .

I friend of mine always used to put molyslip additive in his manual gearboxes, I'm not sure I would unless I was already having problems.

Steve.
---
Xantia HDi.

Buy a Citroen and get to know the local GSF staff better...
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Thu 17 Aug 2006 10:42
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - DP
Thanks a lot - I'll check it thoroughly. I have the Ford manuals at home with the specs in and will cross-check. If I'm in any doubt at all, I'll just get the oil from the local Ford dealer.

Cheers
DP
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Sun 20 Aug 2006 11:32
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - GregSwain
According to Castrol their SMX-S oil works in all ford Manual gearboxes (fully-synth 75W85).
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Sun 20 Aug 2006 13:42
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - Spospe
I have a Transit based motorhome which uses the MT75 gearbox. The change was becoming a bit 'clunky' after 67,000 miles and a change to synthetic 75W90 oil worked wonders.

I am fairly sure that any modern fully synthetic gear oil will meet Ford's specifications and can confirm that my motor has not suffered any problems as a result.
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Sat 19 Nov 2016 16:48
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - Cyd

I think that's the new name for what they used to call Multivehicle. It's what I've changed over to in my GM F40 box and I'm very pleased with it.

Personally I never leave a box more than 50k without a change.

Don't forget from the manufacturers pov, "life" is 10 years or 120k - so if you want more "life" then more servicing is required.

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Thu 17 Nov 2016 14:58
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - Peter Ferguson

Absolutely. Bought a 10 year old fiesta which had a full history and in lovely condition but the shift from 1st to 2nd gear was obstructive when cold (the car had a second gear synchro fail early in its life). Got my mechanic to change the gearbox oil when doing its routine service. Really improved the feel of the gearbox afterwards and change from 1st to 2nd transformed.

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Fri 18 Nov 2016 13:20
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - Gibbo_Wirral

I also lift up the "leather" gaiter of the gearstick and re-grease the base with white spray grease. Over time (years) it dries out, but a quick spray of this makes the gear change like new again.

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Sat 19 Nov 2016 10:54
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - Peter.N.

It depends a lot on how many miles you do and under what circumstances. Many years ago a had a CX diesel estate which I did around 160k miles in, I checked the gearbox oil when I bought it and it was nice and clean, I checked it again every 10k or so and it was still clean, I then forgot about it until 100k + and started having synchro problems, I checked it again and it was black, never seen gear oil like it - after the horse had bolted od course.

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Sat 19 Nov 2016 18:42
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - madf

Clean oil may be clapped out.

On CVT boxes, if you don't change oil as speciied, it does not work properly.

I always changed manual boxes at 40k miles and used synthetic oil..

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Mon 21 Nov 2016 18:40
Changing gearbox oil - any point? - hardway

Actually got one in for tomorow,

Owner convinced a wheel bearing has started to go,

Less convinced when it was up in the air and I spun the wheels in silence,

And as I could feel the whine from the center footwell I'm changing the oil tomorrow.

Now I'll guess we'll see just how much comes out!

And I could't tell you how many gearboxes I've pulled apart or the horrors I've found inside the price of a few litres of oil seem cheap to me.

Compared to even a S/H box plus fitting.

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