Syncro Gearbox Oil for Dummies

1
Hey Everyone,

I'm realizing followings recent adventures with coolant and cv joints
(not game to tackle fronts yet!) that the syncro isn't as easy to work
on as my other cars!

I'm trying to change my gearbox oil for general maintenaince and
hoping the gear shifting might become smoother. Following a recent
failed attempt a friend has made me a custom tool - a bunch of 17mm
nuts welded together for the drain / fill plugs.

And despite the recent discussions on this group I still have some
basic questions I was hoping to clarify.

1. Do you need to use a piece of garden hose and funnel to fill up the
gearbox?

2. Apparently only 4L can be emptied. If I just remove the drain
plug will that 4L come out or exactly what else do I need to do to get
max oil out of the gearbox?

3. Don't fill up all the way - only to 1cm below the fill plug? So
do I just keep putting a bit of oil in then sticking my pinky in the
fill plug to see where the oil level is? how precise does this need
to be?

Cool, thanks guys. Sam.
2
Sam,
 
Forget the garden hose and funnel!  Auto spares places sell a device called a scavenge pump that is ideal for refilling the gearbox.  They are like a short, fat bike pump (but a metal body) with a flexible hose on the nozzle and it operates in both directions.  They can suck oil from the bottom of a gearbox or engine sump, and they can pump oil into a difficult filler hole.  I bought one recently from Bursons (lost track of my original pump in a recent house move) and it takes 125cc per stroke, so it is very easy to keep track of how much you have put in.  The amount that drains out is 4 litres; the rest is below the drain hole and will not drain out.  The 1 cm below the filler is correct.
 
In the past, I have had to do refills without the benefit of a purpose pump and found that a bike pump will do the job quite well.  It just doesn't hold as much as the purpose pump.
 
Les
----- Original Message -----
From: pootaguru
Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2006 2:55 PM
Subject: [Syncro_T3_Australia] Syncro Gearbox Oil for Dummies

Hey Everyone,

I'm realizing followings recent adventures with coolant and cv joints
(not game to tackle fronts yet!) that the syncro isn't as easy to work
on as my other cars!

I'm trying to change my gearbox oil for general maintenaince and
hoping the gear shifting might become smoother.  Following a recent
failed attempt a friend has made me a custom tool - a bunch of 17mm
nuts welded together for the drain / fill plugs.

And despite the recent discussions on this group I still have some
basic questions I was hoping to clarify.

1. Do you need to use a piece of garden hose and funnel to fill up the
gearbox?

2.  Apparently only 4L can be emptied.  If I just remove the drain
plug will that 4L come out or exactly what else do I need to do to get
max oil out of the gearbox?

3.  Don't fill up all the way - only to 1cm below the fill plug?  So
do I just keep putting a bit of oil in then sticking my pinky in the
fill plug to see where the oil level is?  how precise does this need
to be?

Cool, thanks guys.  Sam.