Manual trans fluid change

Here’s the set up. This past week shifting into 3 and 4 has been difficult. So I decided I should check and change the transmission fluid. I don’t have jack stands but have two scissor jacks. Got the 17mm hex bit I need and started.

Put the car on ramps to get the panzer plate off and check that I could loosen both the drain plug and the filler plug. Did that and was able to back them out a bit. Took the car off the ramps and jacks up the front end. (My front end is lower than the rear. Measure the distance at the rear and front end. Car was level. Drained the trans. Cleaned out the plug. Put it back in. Took out the filler plug. Put two quarts of pennzoil synchromesh in. As I was putting e second quart in oil started coming out of the filler cap. I know this should happen put 2 quarts does not equal 2 liters. Less than two quarts made it into the trans. I sat around around for a bit thinking. I measured the oil that came out of the trans. It was less than 2 liters. (I poured the fluid into an empty 2 liter bottle. It was around where the sticker sits on the bottle.) Less than 2 liters came out the trans.

I’m thinking I should drain it again, keep it up on the ramps and just put 2 liters in. Maybe weight a little longer for it to drain. Or drain it off the ramps, jack it up high and fill it up with 2 liters.

This seemed pretty straight forward but I’m not trying to destroy my transmission. Another reason why I decided to change the fluid was to see if shifting continued to be difficult after wards. I don’t want to drive the car right now as I’m unsure if I have too little or two much fluid in the trans.

Any comments, questions, concerns, or criticisms are appreciated.

~ your friendly wannabe shade tree mechanic


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Assume it's a 02j trans. Are you tried to adjust the shift cable yet? That is a online video showing how to adjust 02j trans cable.

1 L = 1.06 Q (US).
Don't sweat it, you can never get all that heavy oil out.
Now lets hope it shifts better!

chz17 said:

Assume it's a 02j trans. Are you tried to adjust the shift cable yet? That is a online video showing how to adjust 02j trans cable.

Click to expand...

I don’t actually know what trans I have.


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BobnOH said:

1 L = 1.06 Q (US).
Don't sweat it, you can never get all that heavy oil out.
Now lets hope it shifts better!

Click to expand...

That’s good to know. I’m curious. You think even as much as .5 liters can get stuck in there?


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I usually fill them with the nose slightly high and I can typically get the 1.9l in. I've never measured what drains out.

I just had mine done and it took a bit more than 2 quarts of Syncromesh. I know this as I gave them 3 one quart bottles and the third bottle is no longer full.
I would say if your frame rails are basically level, when oil starts to pour out of the fill hole, you are full and done.

Nevada_TDI said:

I just had mine done and it took a bit more than 2 quarts of Syncromesh. I know this as I gave them 3 one quart bottles and the third bottle is no longer full.
I would say if your frame rails are basically level, when oil starts to pour out of the fill hole, you are full and done.

Click to expand...

Yeah. That’s how I did it. The frame rails are wonky so I based level off of the undercoating that comes up onto the side of my car. A flush line all the way across. All sides were at 10.5 inches off he ground, passenger rear was at 10.25 off the ground. But that was the closest I could come to level. Still didn’t take even 2 full quarts. Before stuff started coming out. Someone above mentioned sometimes all the oil doesn’t come out. The car is shifting better. (I also tightened the shifter cables.).


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2.0 liters or 2.1 qts us.



You are over thinking this.
I usually have the front wheels up on ramps for filling in order to get the full 2 L in before it starts to run out.
Anywhere between 1.8 and 2.2l will be fine.
It's when you have less than say 1.5l in there your 5th gear will tend to starve for lubrication.



http://www.myturbodiesel.com/wiki/m...iy-service-and-fluid-replacement-mk4-vw-audi/


.....not sure why all the links?