Transmission fluid 280z 1978

[siteunseen]

I used a 24" x 1/2" breaker on my drain plug. I put a small bottle jack under the handle to loosen it. I swear it lifted the car off the jacks before it broke loose.

 

[dylancorrea1]

I used a 24" x 1/2" breaker on my drain plug. I put a small bottle jack under the handle to loosen it. I swear it lifted the car off the jacks before it broke loose.
 

Would an impact wrench work?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tweeds]

13 minutes ago, siteunseen said:

I used a 24" x 1/2" breaker on my drain plug. I put a small bottle jack under the handle to loosen it. I swear it lifted the car off the jacks before it broke loose.

 

I used a hammer and a wrench - a bit more primitive. 

[Zed Head]

Heat makes a big difference.  Expands the aluminum and softens the sealer.  Even one of those blow dryer heat guns, doesn't have to be a flame.

[siteunseen]

9 minutes ago, dylancorrea1 said:

Would an impact wrench work?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I wouldn't but a 1/2" drive would work. I'm old fashioned and my manual torque is what I go by. An impact gun could damage something before you realize it. My $.02.

[Patcon]

11 minutes ago, dylancorrea1 said:

Would an impact wrench work?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I doubt you can get on it with an impact. The plug are square. Either square head or square recess. I believe the fill aught to be square head and the drain plug square recess if they're in the proper location. A 1/2" breaker bar aught to fit the square recess well enough. The fill plug is normally the problem

[Zed Head]

The old fashioned original impact tools work well.  Three pound sledge and a hefty wrench.  Pipe wrench or a solid open end wrench.  More slow motion high mass inertia than high speed low mass.

 

[Mark Maras]

 My first one required a pipe wrench and a jack. Much like Cliff, I recall a bit of vehicle lift before it loosened.

[SteveJ]

2 hours ago, dylancorrea1 said:

Would an impact wrench work?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

NO! One false move, and you would be looking to pay for a replacement transmission. You want to remove the plug, not break the case. 

For the fill plug, find a thick 19 mm or 3/4 inch open end wrench. Use a brass hammer, deadblow hammer, or rubber mallet to hit the wrench to loosen it. If it doesn't want to turn, try turning it SLIGHTLY clockwise (tighten) and try to loosen again. Also as stated elsewhere, heat can help.

[Namerow]

Don't consider heat as a 'last resort' strategy.  Instead, make it part of your basic strategy.   

As mentioned by someone else earlier, don't use a flame source (i.e. don't use a torch).  Instead, use an electric heat gun (inexpensive, easy to find, easy and fairly safe to use).  I would suggest that you heat the area around the plug for about 2 minutes.  Then you can go with whatever wrench strategy you decide to use.   

The square-head type of plug (whether male or female) isn't designed for high-torque, so it's not too hard to round off the corners if you get sloppy.  Make sure that you choose a wrench that fits as closely as possible.  In fact, a pipe wrench (a big one) may prove to be the most suitable because these are designed to self-tighten (if you use them properly, that is).  Another option is an 8-point ('double-square'), 1/2"-drive 17mm socket fitted to a 24" breaker bar.  The type of socket that I'm talking won't be available at your local tool store.  You can order one from Toolpan.com ($7.50), but it may be a few weeks before they can ship. 

No matter what wrench you choose, one of the challenges can be positioning.  With a four-sided plug head, a pipe wrench can only be installed in four positions -- i.e.  stepping around the plug head at 90-degree intervals.  An open-end wrench is much the same, although they're designed so that the wrench end is about 10 degrees off centre, meaning that if the plug head is oriented at 12 o'clock / 3 o'clock / 6 o'clock / 9 o'clock then the wrench end will be at (for the 3 o'clock example), either 2:45 or 3:15, achieved by flipping the wrench over.  The double-square socket on a non-ratcheting breaker bar will let you adjust the breaker bar position at 45-degree increments.

[SteveJ]

9 hours ago, Namerow said:

Don't consider heat as a 'last resort' strategy.  Instead, make it part of your basic strategy.   

As mentioned by someone else earlier, don't use a flame source (i.e. don't use a torch).  Instead, use an electric heat gun (inexpensive, easy to find, easy and fairly safe to use).  I would suggest that you heat the area around the plug for about 2 minutes.  Then you can go with whatever wrench strategy you decide to use.   

The square-head type of plug (whether male or female) isn't designed for high-torque, so it's not too hard to round off the corners if you get sloppy.  Make sure that you choose a wrench that fits as closely as possible.  In fact, a pipe wrench (a big one) may prove to be the most suitable because these are designed to self-tighten (if you use them properly, that is).  Another option is an 8-point ('double-square'), 1/2"-drive 17mm socket fitted to a 24" breaker bar.  The type of socket that I'm talking won't be available at your local tool store.  You can order one from Toolpan.com ($7.50), but it may be a few weeks before they can ship. 

No matter what wrench you choose, one of the challenges can be positioning.  With a four-sided plug head, a pipe wrench can only be installed in four positions -- i.e.  stepping around the plug head at 90-degree intervals.  An open-end wrench is much the same, although they're designed so that the wrench end is about 10 degrees off centre, meaning that if the plug head is oriented at 12 o'clock / 3 o'clock / 6 o'clock / 9 o'clock then the wrench end will be at (for the 3 o'clock example), either 2:45 or 3:15, achieved by flipping the wrench over.  The double-square socket on a non-ratcheting breaker bar will let you adjust the breaker bar position at 45-degree increments.

Here's a thought for the fill plug. Use a 3/4 to 1/2 socket reducer (https://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-47823-4-Inch-2-Inch-Reducer/dp/B000NQ4R4G) to go on the male plug. Grip the socket reducer with a pipe wrench for leverage. I would think that would be difficult to round the fill plug.

[dylancorrea1]

On top of everyone's useful information, once you've got the car on jack stands - give the car a nice hard shake on all four corners before you go under if you wanna be safe. Worst case, the car falls down with a crash, but that's better than dying or being in a wheelchair! On top of that, throw the wheels down under the car if you've got them off to be extra safe. 
And, to answer one of your questions, the switch for the reverse lights mount to the transmission, but I don't know why someone would put the transmission fluid in there since there's a fill plug. Maybe you could do that if the fill plug just won't come off...? At any rate, the fill plug is on the upper half of the transmission, if I remember correctly - though, I have a 4-speed 240 transmission so it could be different. 

I’m not yet super comfortable under the car, its surprisingly heavy for 3200 pounds, but I will definitely give it a nice shake, I actually do have a spare tire it came with. I remember seeing a forum where you could fill from top but I was skeptical.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk