348 Gear Oil Change Procedure

Amazingly, I couldn't find a picture laden thread about the process of changing gear oil in a 348! So, with the help of friendly Fchatter "resnow" (who has the next-in-line VIN 348 as mine), we worked through the fluid change today.

Having a service pit in his home garage made the job a breeze!


To perform the job properly, here's what you'll need:

1. Five liters of your favorite gear oil. We used Redline 75w90. We chose not to use the "ns" formulation, per the owners manual which suggests Agip FE LS SAE 75w90. (5 liters will require about 5.xx quarts)

2. A fresh crush washer 10263460 for the magnetic drain plug http://ricambiamerica.com/product_info.php?products_id=74

3. A fresh magnetized gearbox drain plug, 104280 (optional) http://ricambiamerica.com/product_info.php?products_id=189543

4. A 10mm hex wrench for opening the bottom drain plug

5. A 20mm? mambo-sized hex wrench or similar tool for the top filler plug (more on this later)

6. A few assorted slotted and Phillips screwdrivers for removing the air box

7. A bucket to catch all the oil and a crappy car or pickup truck to transport it to a disposal site. Even if you live in the deep south, you really shouldn't pour it down the sewer.

8. A nice long funnel for refilling the gear oil.


A Geography Lesson:
1. The filler port can only be accessed by removing the air-box. It is located on the top of the gearbox as marked by "C" in the below picture

2. The dipstick to check gear fluid is located on the lower left (US drivers side) of the gearbox, as marked by "A" in the below picture. I forgot what size socket removes the dipstick -- it's about 10mm. You will need a long extension to reach it easily because there is framework blocking easy (i.e. wrist-sized) access.

3. Accurate measurement of gear oil requires the dipstick to be screwed down. The measuring marks are located in the second picture below.

4. The main drain plug is located on the gearbox itself -- not the engine, not the A/C compressor, not the coolant tank. I'm not trying to be funny, but we've had too many Fchatters toast their boxes or engines by draining the wrong fluid. The gear oil is marked by the words "oilio cambio".

(next post, the process)
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The Process

1. Have the gear oil warm, but certainly not hot! I drove 45 miles to Bob's house and parked the car for about 15 minutes before we began. It was still plenty hot. In fact, maybe a scoch too hot!

2. Remove the air-box and place it in a secure undisclosed location.

3. Use the 10mm hex wrench to open the main gear oil plug under the car. Be careful not to loose the plug in the deluge of oil. If you loose it (and didn't buy a spare) you're going fishin'. Honestly, this is the most exciting part because you'll get instant validation about your driving & shifting skills: the big magent on the bottom of the plug will tell no lies!

4. Mine had a nice coating of metal bits. Mind you, no big chunks or anything bigger than a bowling ball came out (just kidding). Really, it was just fine particles that looks more like sand than anything else. (See picture below)
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The Process (continued)

5. Have a soda or beer.... let the box keep draining.

6. Using the 20mm hex, open the main filler plug on the top of the gearbox. There are blow-by hoses in your way, so you'll need to lift them slightly to reach the nut.

Now, here's where it gets interesting. Bob has every possible tool on planet earth, except a 20mm hex. Although I really don't reccommend this procedure, we were able to fashion a tool from some spare 3/4" bolts in his tool box. We built the tool shown below and welded the nuts together for a secure hold.
(Do not try this at home; we are trained monkeys, with a full parts warehouse at our immediate disposal
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The Process (continued)

7. Once the big-mambo filler plug is removed, clean it nicely and look at the gaping hole in your gearbox:
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The Process (continued):

8. Removing the filler plug will allow the last vestiges of gear oil to drain from the bottom of the box.

9. Using a new drain plug (or your cleaned up old one), pop a fresh crush washer on, and reinstall it into the bottom of the gear box. Below, you'll see my nice clean plug. (You only need 1 of the 10263460 crush washers. My picture shows two -- because I was a gentleman and brought a new one for Bob)

Tight is good, tighter is not better. If you strip the threads, you're ****ed -- don't call me. Call the nice folks at Heli-Coil or TimeSert.
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The Process (continued)

10. With the drain plug back in the case, begin filling the box with oil. We put the first two quarts into the car then stopped. We watched some racing on Speed, I oogled Bob's 250GTE that's "under the knife", and we just waited. Why? Well, the OM actually says to wait a little while and let the oil work its way to the bottom of the box through all the gears and bits. Far be it from me to argue with Ferrari.

11. After a few minutes, we dumped 2 more quarts into the gearbox. At this point, we were (mathematically) shy of the necessary 4.5 liters, but felt it was a good time to check things on the dipstick.

12. Using a really long extension, remove the dipstick, clean it, reinsert it, finger-tighten it, then remove again and check your fill level.

13. On my box, I still needed to add about 1/2 liter to finish her off. The dipstick was registering about one-third of the way between min and max.

14. Add enough to get the oil nicely between the min and the max (it doesn't have to be on the max level to be filled!)

15. Replace the big mambo oil filler plug. Again, tight is good; tighter is not better. If you gorilla-drip this one and strip the threads, call somebody else!

16. Put the air-box stuff back on the car.

17. Put all your tools away and dispose of the waste oil properly.


GRIP IT AND RIP IT !!!

 

Conclusion

My gear oil had been changed 10,000 miles earlier, and actually looked o.k. I'm not going to fret about all those whiskers on the plug. I drive the car hard, I enjoy it. If something goes bump in the night, well, so be it.

Now the bad news... I could tell absolutely no difference in shifting the car after switching to the Redline 75w90. If I remember correctly, when I bought the car, the P.O. had used RL75w90 too --- duh! Even the fresh oil didn't make much noticeable difference. When cold, my car does move into second gear without a huge fuss. Bob's does not.

Anyway, Bob and I took my car for a spirited (let's use that word) drive. Still, no difference... no matter how hard I pushed it. Nonetheless, there is some satisfaction in knowing that I'll hit the track at VIR in three days with fresh gear oil.


More bad news? Our homemade tool didn't have enough oomph to remove Bob's filler plug. We drained his box without incident (and his plug looked better than mine), but unable to get the filler plug removed, he's somewhat at a standstill. Tomorrow morning, he'll get the right 20mm tool from Sears or TractorSupply, and he'll be ready to roll too.

All in all, it's a very very very easy process. Have fun in your garage!


C'est tout.

 

Yup... that's exactly the problem we had on Bob's car. (And why his poor 348 is sitting in the garage tonight with an empty gearbox )

AARON - Yes, I would use Redline again. I might want to speak with a real tech (Rifledriver?) about maybe the NS option.

 

Bueno! resnow, check this out... compared to your welding technique (with me acting as the workbench "mid-arc"), this looks pretty good:

 

Through some offline conversations, we've been talking about the small oil filter also located in the gearbox. Can anybody chime in regarding the need to replace this when a proper oil change is performed? Should I include that part in a full service kit?
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Funnel = http://www.buytikitorches.com/images/funnel-small_1.jpg