6 speed transmission oil change: car level / oil volume

[sltous]

Hi all,

 

I did a full transmission oil change today and was wondering if the car is at the wrong angle to get sufficient new oil in.  Per the docs I have found the car should be able to hold approximately 1.9L of oil, I put approx 1.6-1.7L of Redline MTL after draining from both the transmission fill plug and the drain plug at the bottom of the transmission.

 

The nose of the car was slightly low compared to the tail of the car as measured with a level across the body / bonnet mating surface and I was surprised that a relatively large quantity of oil came out from the transmission fill plug when I removed that first.  Pics attached, any thoughts appreciated.

[Anker]

The car is supposed to have some rake. It does look a bit extreme, but you need to measure the ride heights front and back to confirm.

 

Anker

[sltous]

Hi Anker,

 

Thanks for the note about rake.  I haven't checked levelness of the setup on the ground, I was looking to understand if my car is accepting less transmission fluid due to the nose being a bit down or if the variability is normal.

[sltous]

After checking the levelness on the ground I adjusted the car on a set of jack stands instead of assuming the maxjax was holding it level.  For my setup that required the rear jacking points at the gas tank supports to be held one notch higher than the front jacking points at the cruciform.  I did check the garage floor is relatively level to ensure I am not simply reproducing an off-level situation and the garage floor looked OK.

 

 

This did not fix my transmission fluid problem, when I removed the fill screw a small further amount of transmission fluid dribbled out.  Any further thoughts welcome.

[fastg]

I think you wii find the drain plug does not drain all the oil.  There  are flanges within the trans that cause oil to pool in various places.  I just drained a Mazda trans.  But after I got it out of the car it still left a significant pool of oil on the garage floor. So your doing it the correct way. 

 

Graham

[sltous]

Thanks Graham.  My concern was that I drained 2L from the transmission and can't seem to refill beyond 1.6L but I did find some references to this being normal on Caterham and Lotus 7 Club.  https://www.caterhamlotus7.club/forum/techtalk/gearbox-oil-level-question

[sf4018]

It's the same for the other fluids too, they never refill the same amount as the original fill.