Gearbox and Engine oil change

[Steve440]

Yesterday I decided to replace the Gearbox oil while doing my Engine oil on my 2002 manual Aero.

The oil that came out of the gearbox was shockingly horrible, the magnetic plug had a lot of metal particles on it and the fluid that came out had a lot of metal dust in it.

I have been having problems selecting 3rd for the last few miles and for the cost of a couple of liters of oil I thought it had to be worth a go.

First thing I noticed 1.5 liters did not come out, im guessing but there was probably less than 1 liter. I have no apparent leaks so I wonder where that has gone?

The biggest thing I noticed today was how much smoother the car feels, I am not sure it is the engine or gearbox oil that has caused this but I have never noticed it before when I have done the engine oil. As a buy the way I usually use 5w40 in the engine as it makes the engine quieter.

3rd gear seem to go in as it should and the other gears seem to slot in easier as well.

You will need to chop down an 8mm Allen key to get access to the drain plug and  had to use an extension to get the plug to move

[jianelli]

Sounds like a good thing to do. Where is that drain plug? What did you put back in?
Thank,s
John

[Steve440]

On the side near the bottom facing the road wheel.

I used 75w90 semi synthetic. My local motor factor books reckons this is the correct oil. Even if it is not it has made my gearbox work as it should.

I will say the gearbox is still performing great, before I did the oil change selecting 3rd was getting very difficult but now it selects as good as the other gears.

Steve

[Audax]

I've seen gearboxes on the 9-5 several time where they had no fluid in them. Customer complaint would be sticky gear selection and in the process of looking at this we'd find the box had no oil in it but no visible leaks either, filling them up again usually cured the problem just as described.