Ford Focus (1998 - 2004) - 2001 1.6 - gear oil change advice!

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Sun 10 Feb 2008 03:21
2001 1.6 - gear oil change advice! - telecaster
Advice needed on changing gearbox oil (manual) on stated car.

I take it there is a drain plug and a filler plug.....anyone know the location of these?

Also what type of oil to use(am guessing at fully synth) and box capacity?

Thanks in advance!

Edited by Webmaster on 10/02/2008 at 12:15

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Mon 11 Feb 2008 23:46
2001 1.6 - gear oil change advice! - telecaster
Anyone??????????? Am thinking Dextron 3 or something like that , want to be sure tho!
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Tue 12 Feb 2008 16:39
2001 1.6 - gear oil change advice! - quizman
I think you need Castrol SMX-S 75W-85, I don't think you should use ATF in a manual box.
You could also use Redline MTL gearbox fluid.
You can get the Castrol from Halfords, or either from Opie oils (opieoils.co.uk).

This gearbox oil is a mystery, they don't tell you what to use in a VW either.
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Tue 12 Feb 2008 16:58
2001 1.6 - gear oil change advice! - maltrap
somewhere like halfords should be able to tell you what you need and supply it.i don't think you use synthetic oil in a gearbox and surely not atf. if they've got a service centre there they might be able to tell you where the drain and filler plug is,or a haynes manual.
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Wed 13 Feb 2008 02:05
2001 1.6 - gear oil change advice! - telecaster
Appreciate the replies lads...Halfords for me tomm so!
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Wed 13 Feb 2008 10:04
2001 1.6 - gear oil change advice! - Rover25
According to the on line Castrol applications guide:

Ford Focus 1.6 (Zetec) Petrol 1998-2005

Manual Transmission: Castrol SMX-S (2.3 litres)

Castrol SMX-S is a fully synthetic SAE 75w-85 gear oil.

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Wed 13 Feb 2008 17:21
2001 1.6 - gear oil change advice! - quizman
That's exactly what I said, so it must be right.
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Wed 13 Feb 2008 20:14
2001 1.6 - gear oil change advice! - jc2
Be warned that Ford use two different FWD g/boxes which require different oils.One is the iB5(B5) and the other is the MTX 75..The b5 has no locking device for reverse on the g/lever whilst the MTX uses a lift-up device below the g/knob before you can select reverse.
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Thu 14 Feb 2008 01:42
2001 1.6 - gear oil change advice! - telecaster
Well if that is correct JC my box is the B5........any idea what oil I need?
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Thu 14 Feb 2008 10:21
2001 1.6 - gear oil change advice! - Pete Mansell
I always thought there was no drain plug on this gearbox, so not easy to change the oil.
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Thu 14 Feb 2008 12:35
2001 1.6 - gear oil change advice! - mfarrow
I always thought there was no drain plug on this gearbox so not easy to
change the oil.


There isn't. There's a bolt for the detent mechanism near the bottom but this may be inaccessible.

I've drained about half from a BC 'box (the predecessor, looks the same) using a piece of tube with a stiff wire inside it, angled into the filler plug hole.
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Thu 14 Feb 2008 13:52
2001 1.6 - gear oil change advice! - Collos25
Being careful not to overfill it as this can cause severe damage as in 6 speed renault and nissan boxes where overfilling can be pretty fatal they use auto fluid by the way.If there is no drain plug its pretty much telling you don't try and drain.
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