Steps to change the transmission fluid
09-13-2017, 08:33 AM
#42
Team Owner
This is just my opinion.....WalMart's "stuff" is usually cheaper for a reason. $13 for a gallon of gear oil is REALLY cheap. I would suspect that it's possibly re-claimed gear oil, and if so, I wouldn't trust it in my car.
You only need 2 quarts, or so, of gear oil for most 4 speed, manual transmissions. Why "cheap out"? I'd get a quality, name brand oil, and go with that. The name brands all have various "extra ingredients" to help the gearbox work better, so that would be my choice.
You only need 2 quarts, or so, of gear oil for most 4 speed, manual transmissions. Why "cheap out"? I'd get a quality, name brand oil, and go with that. The name brands all have various "extra ingredients" to help the gearbox work better, so that would be my choice.
09-13-2017, 08:38 AM
#43
Le Mans Master
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St. Jude Donor '17, '19
This is just my opinion.....WalMart's "stuff" is usually cheaper for a reason. $13 for a gallon of gear oil is REALLY cheap. I would suspect that it's possibly re-claimed gear oil, and if so, I wouldn't trust it in my car.
You only need 2 quarts, or so, of gear oil for most 4 speed, manual transmissions. Why "cheap out"? I'd get a quality, name brand oil, and go with that. The name brands all have various "extra ingredients" to help the gearbox work better, so that would be my choice.
You only need 2 quarts, or so, of gear oil for most 4 speed, manual transmissions. Why "cheap out"? I'd get a quality, name brand oil, and go with that. The name brands all have various "extra ingredients" to help the gearbox work better, so that would be my choice.
I plan to do two flushes. One to get all the bad out and put in new. Let it run and get all over the gears and then drain and do it again. I don't know when the last time it was changed. So gallon is needed.
Last edited by ~Stingray; 09-13-2017 at 08:39 AM.
09-13-2017, 08:53 AM
#44
Team Owner
The description said recycled oil. Which I don't have a real issue with, trying to be less wasteful, unless it is not good for the car.
I plan to do two flushes. One to get all the bad out and put in new. Let it run and get all over the gears and then drain and do it again. I don't know when the last time it was changed. So gallon is needed.
I plan to do two flushes. One to get all the bad out and put in new. Let it run and get all over the gears and then drain and do it again. I don't know when the last time it was changed. So gallon is needed.
To earn a living, I worked in the precision optics industry for 30+ years, and most of that was involving vacuum coating of optical parts. Naturally, this involved vacuum pumps, which, like an automobile engine, require oil for lubricating/cooling (roughly equivalent to a 30W motor oil). The moisture that we'd draw out of a chamber, when pumping it down, wound up being drawn into the oil, and over time, the pumping efficiency was reduced. At that point, an oil change was required.
We had MANY small chambers, whose pumps held only 3-4 quarts of oil. We also had some very large chambers, whose pumps held anywhere from 6-10 gallons of oil. Given the amount of oil that involved, we didn't "throw away" the oil, after it became diluted with water vapor. We had an "in house" oil reclaimer, that heated and filtered the oil, then stored it in a holding tank, ready for re-use.
After all of that, my point is this....We knew where the "re-claimed" oil was coming from, so we knew it's condition before it hit the reclaimer. It was 30W pump oil, and nothing but 30W pump oil, with NOTHING ELSE potentially mixing in with it. Can you say that for the WalMart gear oil??
I certainly agree with you draining, re-filling, going for a short ride, then draining and re-filling again. Most likely, that's what I would do. I'd just be fussy with what I was putting in the car...........
09-13-2017, 10:29 AM
#45
Le Mans Master
Id drain it, refill with non recycled "economical oil" then run it.
Drain it again and put higher quality (the good stuff, whatever you think that is) back in.
Keep the "economical oil" for other home use, if applicable. I'd use it in a snowblower gearbox, ATV gearbox, rototiller gearbox. Hell, in a pinch I topped up a riding lawn mower engine oil with 80w90.
Drain it again and put higher quality (the good stuff, whatever you think that is) back in.
Keep the "economical oil" for other home use, if applicable. I'd use it in a snowblower gearbox, ATV gearbox, rototiller gearbox. Hell, in a pinch I topped up a riding lawn mower engine oil with 80w90.
09-13-2017, 10:37 AM
#46
Le Mans Master
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St. Jude Donor '17, '19
Id drain it, refill with non recycled "economical oil" then run it.
Drain it again and put higher quality (the good stuff, whatever you think that is) back in.
Keep the "economical oil" for other home use, if applicable. I'd use it in a snowblower gearbox, ATV gearbox, rototiller gearbox. Hell, in a pinch I topped up a riding lawn mower engine oil with 80w90.
Drain it again and put higher quality (the good stuff, whatever you think that is) back in.
Keep the "economical oil" for other home use, if applicable. I'd use it in a snowblower gearbox, ATV gearbox, rototiller gearbox. Hell, in a pinch I topped up a riding lawn mower engine oil with 80w90.
09-13-2017, 10:44 AM
#47
Team Owner
Not sure about the STP brand, but Valvoline, and Castrol are "quality" oils. Mobil1 is most likely synthetic, and while it's an excellent oil, it might not be "friendly" to the seals in an older transmission. Possibly the same situation with Lucas,...
09-13-2017, 10:50 AM
#49
Team Owner
09-13-2017, 01:50 PM
#50
Le Mans Master
09-13-2017, 11:25 PM
#51
Racer
09-14-2017, 06:50 PM
#53
Drifting
Hi Stingray,
I changed mine recently in my '72. Here's what I did:
1. Run the car for a while to get tranny oil nice and warm.
2. Jack it up in the front and rear enough to get under there with some tools and a drain pan.
3. I removed both the fill plug and the drain plug with a good quality, large crescent wrench - an open ended 9/16 wrench will also work (did on mine, anyway) but you'll need a large tool with some leverage to get those plugs loose.
4. Let all of the old oil drain out of the tranny case - give it some time.
5. Clean off your drain and fill plugs and reinstall the drain plug and snug it down.
6. I purchased Sta-Lube 80-90w GL4 gear oil (2 qts) from Napa for my tranny. https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/SLRSL24229 Also, I had to call ahead and get them to get two quarts from the warehouse for me to pick up. They only had the gallon jug in the store, and I didn't need that much.
7. You'll need some method to pump the gear oil up into the tranny fill hole - Napa sells a cheap little siphon pump you can use - I had one on hand already, so I don't know the part number. Just ask the counter guy.
8. Pump the oil into the tranny until it starts to run out of the fill hole. It will take about a quart and a half.
9. Snug down both fill and drain plugs.
10. Wipe everything down, remove the car off the jackstands.
11. Have a nice cold beverage.
I changed mine recently in my '72. Here's what I did:
1. Run the car for a while to get tranny oil nice and warm.
2. Jack it up in the front and rear enough to get under there with some tools and a drain pan.
3. I removed both the fill plug and the drain plug with a good quality, large crescent wrench - an open ended 9/16 wrench will also work (did on mine, anyway) but you'll need a large tool with some leverage to get those plugs loose.
4. Let all of the old oil drain out of the tranny case - give it some time.
5. Clean off your drain and fill plugs and reinstall the drain plug and snug it down.
6. I purchased Sta-Lube 80-90w GL4 gear oil (2 qts) from Napa for my tranny. https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/SLRSL24229 Also, I had to call ahead and get them to get two quarts from the warehouse for me to pick up. They only had the gallon jug in the store, and I didn't need that much.
7. You'll need some method to pump the gear oil up into the tranny fill hole - Napa sells a cheap little siphon pump you can use - I had one on hand already, so I don't know the part number. Just ask the counter guy.
8. Pump the oil into the tranny until it starts to run out of the fill hole. It will take about a quart and a half.
9. Snug down both fill and drain plugs.
10. Wipe everything down, remove the car off the jackstands.
11. Have a nice cold beverage.
09-15-2017, 09:00 AM
#54
Racer
It is a GL-4 oil, which is apparently like the original oil in that it does not contain sulphur based EP additives that are found in GL-5 oils. Some folks claim the additives create corrosion on the synchros. Others claim that the synthetic alternatives cause leaks. The NAPA oil was a readily available oil that matched the original specifications, so I went with that. There are tons of threads on the forum and elsewhere regarding this issue, and many differing opinions.
09-27-2017, 12:21 PM
#55
Le Mans Master
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St. Jude Donor '17, '19
Do I need a pump to fill the trans? is there a cheap one available? I didn't think about this until reading a post on the c6 forum. is it possible to pour into the fill hole?
09-27-2017, 01:08 PM
#56
Le Mans Master
No idea on your particular trans, sorry.
I have an old OMC outboard gear oil hand pump (looks like a hand lotion pump) and a inline cordless drill driven "transfer" pump for such occurrences.
I have an old OMC outboard gear oil hand pump (looks like a hand lotion pump) and a inline cordless drill driven "transfer" pump for such occurrences.
09-27-2017, 01:57 PM
#57
Le Mans Master
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St. Jude Donor '17, '19
Would an old hand-soap bottle be powerful enough to actually use? assuming all lotion is cleaned out. I don't know if there are viscosity limitations for those.
09-27-2017, 02:51 PM
#58
Le Mans Master
Try and pump some before you drain the trans. See how much you get in x pumps.
09-27-2017, 03:10 PM
#59
Team Owner
You could, but most every parts store sells the "Sta-Lube" pump, that you can insert directly into the gear oil bottle, and pump away....
09-28-2017, 07:43 AM
#60
Racer