Should I do a transmission oil flush ?

[WilliamEV]

Hello, to start I would like to say that I am new to the world of mechanics and manual driving

I recently purchased a 2006 Jetta TDI with 350,000 km (217,479 miles) manual transmission, 5 speed. I noticed that the shifting is not as smooth as other vehicles I have driven before. I feel a little resistance from time to time between almost every gears. I talked to some people I know and they told me to do a transmission flush to help.

My mechanic at work told me never to flush a transmission on a car with a lot of mileage because it could damage the transmission more than anything else. Is this true? Since old oil with metal residue is married to the transmission, should I keep it? I have personally never heard this anywhere else.

What should I do, thank you for your answer

 

[Rx7145]

That thinking is involving older automatic cars. On a manual, I would definitely change the transmission fluid.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

You definitely should. One additional thing you should know is that some BRMs were not fully filled with gear oil from the factory. The transmission is tilted compared to earlier cars and it didn't get a complete fill. Many have run around for a lot of miles with a liter of gear oil in them.

The transmmission should take a full 2 liters. You should poke around to find out how to be sure you can get a complete fill when you change it.

 

[325_Guy]

Hint....fill through the reverse light switch

 

[Steve Addy]

You definitely should. One additional thing you should know is that some BRMs were not fully filled with gear oil from the factory. The transmission is tilted compared to earlier cars and it didn't get a complete fill. Many have run around for a lot of miles with a liter of gear oil in them.

The transmmission should take a full 2 liters. You should poke around to find out how to be sure you can get a complete fill when you change it.

I had no idea that the engine / trans lists to one side in these, it's not readily obvious in the ones I've looked at.

So IBW, which direction does it list? To the driver or passenger side?

Steve

 

[turbodieseldyke]

So IBW, which direction does it list? To the driver or passenger side?

Or maybe it's rotated front/back?

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I believe it's tilted counterclockwise, or towards the front of the car. So the fill port is lower than earlier cars. Filling through the speed sensor as suggested above is something I've heard suggested before.

 

[325_Guy]

I believe it's tilted counterclockwise, or towards the front of the car. So the fill port is lower than earlier cars. Filling through the speed sensor as suggested above is something I've heard suggested before.

This is correct. The transmission is rotated forward in the engine bay as you look at it, which tilts the fill hole lower than it should be. No left/right tilt.

Filling through the reverse sensor hole is the easiest way to get it done. A deepwell socket (21mm, I believe?) will fit over it with the connector unplugged. The book fill volume is 1.9L, but a very slight overfill of 2L will not hurt anything.