Hi Guys (and girls?),

Last weekend i did the gearbox flush. Not before some preparation. Thought I might share this with you since I made some simple tools that make life easier .

The reason for flushing has been discussed in many topics and I'm one of the people who thinks it is worth the moneyand effort to do this in a timely manner. My FF has covered 210.000 km's. And the gearbox has been renewed by the dealer at 115.000 km. In my opinion a bit late, bit not too late for gearbox oil change.

I decided that I would go for a complete flush. I saw this youtube and like that it was going to happen:
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First I ordered the correct fluid: Texamatic 7045E and then inspected how to reach everything under the car.
Not easy to acces the pipes connected to the ATF cooler. In contrary the in- and outlet pipes are very easy accesible at the gearbox.

The order in which I ws going to things is:
1. drain the oil pan and remove it
2. remove oilfilter and replace it (original Filtran)
3. clean oil pan and magnet en reinstall it
4. measure the drained oil and refill the same quantaty fresh oil
5. flush out (TC en internals of gearbox)
6. flush cooler
7. top off

As 1 to 3 are straightforward and discussed much here I'm no going to repeat things.

For making things easier on the next steps I bought a brand new filler plug from the dealer and converted it to a real proper filler plug First I welded a big nut on it and after that i drilled (with the lathe) a hole in it and soldered a 12mm copper pipe in it in order to attach a hose to it. The hose is led through the engine bay with at the end a funnel where I could pour the fresh oil in it

Well done !!! Nice one for the Wiki !!! MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

good job, and wiki'fied.. ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
.

Good work Stan, after 4 years still sharp as ever  MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

This reply is aimed at Rangie4fun I do not have easy access to a Lathe to make some of your mods for a full ATF flush as you describe.

My question, is their any reason why I could not connect to the cooler return pipe and flush as your direction ie. 2 or 3 litres a time until all is new? Instead of going down the Gearbox Flush and then Cooler flush route.

Chinkoa

Hi Cinkoa,

I guess nothing against your suggestion.
I mainly did the gearbox first because I didn' t know if the oil level in the box would exceed the level where the return from the oil cooler was going in and thus make a mess (I now think this is not the case). Another reason was that I wanted to know what kind of oil was going to come out of the box instead of a mix of box and cooler.
So now I think your way is also OK to go.
Please let us know what your experience is.
Good luck!

Thanks for your reply and input, Always good to have a sounding board. I will be doing the flush in the next week or two after I get my Series 3 I am rebuilding out of the garage. I will let you know how I get on.

On most mornings my gearbox is now hesitating for a few second before the drive takes up. So it seems worth trying a flush to see if it helps.

This aimed mainly at "Rangie4fun"

Got round to Flushing the Gearbox but doing it in one go. IE. Flushing the old oil out of the oil cooler return, Worked a treat, If any else decides to go down this route just be very methodical have everything to hand when you start.

Wasn't impressed with the oil that came out but I am much happier knowing that it has now got new oil running through it. Like you, I used about 12 Litres 2 of which ran clear.

If any body wants to borrow the Filler plug I will happily post it to you. But please return it when finished.

Thanks due to "Rangie4fun" for showing the way.

Colin

Hi Collin,

Glad you done a good job!
Mine has covered now some 7000 KM since the flush and still changes gears smooth!

Did you open up the filter? Gives you an idea of what's going on in the box.

Cheers!

Very interesting read. Top job.