Draining Tranny Fluid Question

[texasz]

Ok, this may sound like a silly question at first. How do you drain the fluid from a manual tranny while it's in the car still?

I guess another question would be how much fluid should there be so I know how large a container I need to catch it all?

Last time I pulled an engine/tranny together all the tranny fluid ran out through the drive shaft hole and made a mess on my garage floor...I'm looking to avoid that from happening again.

[Racer_Z_]

On the bottom of the tranny is a tapered pipe-plug. Take it out using a 1/2 inch breaker bar. We had to use a cheater bar on ours. This is the oil drain.

To fill and or check the fluid level, on the side is another tapered pipe plug. Remove it and pump the oil in through that hole. When the oil just starts to dribble out, it is full.

Later, to check the fluid level, put you little finger in the hole and wiggle it. If you can't touch the oil, it is low.

The same goes for the differential. This is the normal procedure for all manual transmissions and differentials, regardless of who made it or what car it was sold with. I should point out that most differentials don't have a drain plug and you must remover the inspection cover. We (240z owners) have one of the few stock diffy's with a drain plug.

[Darrel]

Do NOT drain the fluid before making sure you can fill it back up through the fill hole.

Open the fill plug first.

[Racer_Z_]

Do NOT drain the fluid before making sure you can fill it back up through the fill hole.

Open the fill plug first.

Good point!

[cegrover]

On the bottom of the tranny is a tapered pipe-plug. Take it out using a 1/2 inch breaker bar. We had to use a cheater bar on ours. This is the oil drain.

FYI: I picked up one of these:

http://ultimatetoolco.com/10mmdrainsocket.aspx

and it worked beautifully on my diff plug. I will be draining/filling the trans soon, but I believe the plugs are the same. I found the 1/2" breaker bar left too much play and wanted to chew up the plug.

[Zed Head]

Looks like texasz is taking the engine and transmission out so he's going to lose some fluid anyway.

It might be easier to apply torque to loosen the fill plug while the transmission and engine are in the car. If not, try to loosen it while it's still bolted to the engine. You could easily drag the transmission all over the garage floor trying to loosen the plug.

Use a torch to heat the aluminum around the fill plug, it helps a lot.

The FSM says 3 1/8 pints.

[sblake01]

FYI: I picked up one of these:

http://ultimatetoolco.com/10mmdrainsocket.aspx

and it worked beautifully on my diff plug. I will be draining/filling the trans soon, but I believe the plugs are the same. I found the 1/2" breaker bar left too much play and wanted to chew up the plug.

Yeah, I've got one similar to that. I've had it for years and don't recall where I got it from but I do know one thing. I didn't pay anywhere near $28 for it. I'm not really certain the the trans plugs and the diff plugs are the same size but then it's been a while since I've worked on either. Aren't the trans fill plugs 'male'? Edited February 28, 2011 by sblake01

[zKars]

Careful gang, that ad states its a 10mm tool and makes reference to a 3/8 ratchet/breaker bar, which is close to 10mm. Our drain plug recesses are roughly 1/2" square drive, I'm not sure this is the right tool. if anyone is thinking of buying it. Look for a 13mm drive tool.

[sblake01]

Yep. I just looked at the one I have and it is 13mm.

[texasz]

Once again you guys are a wealth of information! Thank you for the replies. I'll look around for such a tool locally first...maybe Harbor Freight??? If not I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and buy one online.

[Racer_Z_]

Interesting comments on that $28 tool.

I'm not going to pay $28 when I can put my breaker bar directly in the plug and turn it out. It is made to that size for a reason and has been since day-one. The reason is, so you can use the breaker bar direct.

We had put a two foot cheater on out 1/2 inch breaker and even then it was a bear. A 3/8 drive would have bent or broke along with knuckles or worse.