Stupid is as Stupid Does...

I know lot's of folks don't admit to stuff like this but I don't mind owning up to some occasional stupid moments; had one this morning. And it's doubly annoying when you do something stupid that you have done non-stupidly several times previously!

Along with the cam belts/other belts/coolant change, brake fluid change, I of course am going to change the oil. I was planning to change the engine oil this morning but now I am also changing the gearbox oil.

"Good, plan," I hear some folks saying...except it wasn't my plan. Wish I could say it was but it's because I forgot that the oil drain plug on the bottom of the sump is NOT the engine oil drain...

Yep, I drained the oil out of the transmission. Even then I didn't realize it until somewhat later when I pulled the dipstick to clean it off and noticed that it was still at the "full" mark. "How is that possible?" I was asking myself...then I had the "Aw S%$t!" moment.

Oh well... I went out and bought gear oil. The new gear oil looks no cleaner than the old gear oil!

Note to self: "Consult the manual or other reference before you do some work that you haven't done recently, even if you think you know what you are doing."

 

Haven't tried yet - project for tomorrow. I have changed the tranny oil previously several times and put antisieze on the fill plug, most recently about 18 months ago so I expect (hope!) to have no trouble! But you are absolutely right, if I was planning to drain the tranny oil, as opposed to accidentally draining the oil, I would have loosened the filler plug first.

 

Yep, quite right re the odor. All I can say in my defense is that Redline MTL (synthetic) does not have nearly as strong a "gear oil" odor as other gear oils I have used previously.

I'll be trying Lucas 75W90 synthetic this time because I had several qts of it on the shelf. BUT if it doesn't perform as well as the MTL did, I'll be changing the oil again very soon! FWIW, compared to the Motul gear oil that a shop in Maryland (and the PO) used, the MTL provided much smoother shifting and virtually NO resistance to shifting when cold to 2nd gear. I fear the Lucas won't match that but we'll see...

 

Nice job with the threaded rods! It's interesting to find all the "shade tree" ways of doing something that work just fine!

Re removing the tranny fill plug - I had no problem removing it with 1/2" drive socket/18" breaker bar other than the PITA of removing the inner wheel well cover. For some reason that side has always been much more difficult to remove than the other. Every time I remove that side I wonder if the factory got a deal on slightly oversize left-side covers and then built the cars around them.

I was going to fill it with the Lucas 75W90 synthetic that I have here but I think I've changed my mind and will order some MTL for the refill. I don't want to do this again in a couple of weeks if the Lucas doesn't shift as nicely as the MTL...

Hmm..what if the Lucas can shift even better?

 

I seriously thought about going ahead with the Lucas - and it may work great - but I'm going to go down the chicken-S%$T road and use what I know from personal experience works well on my car. If it was a easier to get to the fill plug - no wheel/inner fender removal - I'd do it for the "database" but lazy wins out!

 

Yes, they are labeled the same way on my 328.- I changed the oil, just like it says in Italian... "Cambio Olio" - "Change Oil!"

OK. seriously, never even looked at the label. I was under the car which was JUST high enough to get to the bolt/slide an oil-change container underneath.

ALSO -re the oil I went ahead and installed the Lucas Synthetic 75W90 gear oil after saying I wouldn't. So far, with just around-the- neighborhood type of driving, I can't tell any difference in shifting. Not to say there wouldn't be any difference with spirited driving but I haven't had the chance to do that and won't until next weekend. We're going out of town, returning next Saturday.

 

I ended up being able to do some serious runs/shifting with engine/oil up to full temp. I can't tell any difference between the Redline and the Redline MTL as far as shifting. From cold it goes into 2nd with no problem, just as the Redline did and the Motul didn't. So I wouldn't hesitate to put the Lucas in again, next time.

I have no idea, of course, whether Lucas will do as well as the MTL over long-term usage. IOW, will it shift as well in two years as the Redline did after two years?