Jack car up Crawl underneath Get a 12mm allen socket and ratchet and open the gear box oil filler plug, on the side of the transmission facing the rear of the car Stick your finger inside, the oil should be at the level of the hole. Done. Do put everything back the way you found them.
remember not to over tighten the filler plug. I use 24 ft/lbs on all my oil plugs (engine/gearbox) and have had no problems with leaks, a new copper washer also helps.
Don't forget to jack the car up and keep it level at the same time (or else the reading doesn't make much sense)
+ 1000 !!! if you want it to shift smooth as silk, change it yearly. (Redline 75w90NS about 4 1/3 quarts) I change mine every year.
Thanks for the tip. I'll contact them I was hoping to find a dealer in town that stocked it, or at least one that can order it in.
You can order it from Summit which is easier than trying to find locally. The one guy I knew locally that had it went out of business.
Thanks for the tip on where to buy, I found Summit was a little cheaper ....now is there a special place to pour it in or do you just poor it all over and hope it leaks in as fast as oil leaks out of a Ferrari? (just kidding....except for the leaking part)
I just changed the gear box oil in my 85 GTSi to Red Line. Wow, what a difference. It shifts like a real car, I had no idea it could shift like that and I can shift to 2nd when it's cold. The old oil was pretty thick, I am guessing it was basic gear oil with traction additives. Yes the Red line cost a bit, but is going to save me a bunch in crunched up gears!
Jacking up the rear of the car a bit allows you to overfill it by about 1/2 qt. with a slick synthetic oil it does not hurt it---likely helps a bit and a higher level gets more circulation out to the drop gears.
I had previously tried Royal Purple since it was locally available and had a lot of good reviews here. Red Line was better but no locally available. Switched last month to Red Line for comparison against RP and what a huge improvement w.RL! I can now cold shift 2nd gear, wheres not possible w.RP.
When I changed mine it was on my car trailer. I had parked the trailer and left it a bit nose high....oops mistake, I was able to put about 3 3/4 quarts in the trans. Now I need to jack the back of the car up and add about a pint more.
I'm convinced and I'll order from Summit - what's the corresponding Red Line for engine oil for 85QV?
Yep it is good engine oil, he was asking, " what's the corresponding Red Line for engine oil for 85QV?" That I don't have an answer too, I have never used Red Line Oil in an engine. There stuff is just too hard to get here in North Florida. I had to order the Red Line gear oil from Summit racing and with shippoing it comes in at about $10 a quart. I buy Castrol for the going rate at Advanced Auto Parts.
JEGS had Redline Gear Oil on my doorstep in four days after ordering it online. The price was quite good compared to what the down-the-street auto parts store was charging ($12+/bottle) for Royal Purple. Can anyone offer techniques for getting-off the fill plug located on the DIff? These plugs, if torqued-down with pneumatic tools, are VERY hard to remove manually, and on a QV car there isn't any room for most hand tools to get some torque going (driver's fuel tank being in the way and all...).
It probably didn't have a pnumatic tool tighten it, it's a 12 mm allen and most mechanice use a short pipe to loose and tighten it...why? I cant imagine,
I couldn't budge it with a breaker bar.....I was heaving so hard on it that the engine was moving on the mounts....that's WAY too tight!
Sounds like the last guy to check it used Liquid Nails instead of permatex. You might try a little heat You can also fill it from the top of the gear case, somewhere under the coils I hear
