transmission questions

#1

  1. what size hex tool does the fill plus require?

  2. what transmission oil do y’all recomment? ISTR that some bmw manual transmissions took ATF, or am i thinking of power steering systems. no idea what is inside mine but i suspect it’s leaking a bit from the input and i’ll need to top it off. have two bottles of redline mtl so i may just drain and use that if it’s suitable.

#2

17mm and Amsoil syncromesh manual xmission fluid.

Don “Can I use my kid’s trike as a tow vehicle?” Stevens is an Amsoil dealer.

IIRC correctly ATF is indeed used in the power steering pump.

#3

royal purple synchromax. your thinking of power steering that takes atf. redline mtl should be just fine. remove fill plug first, then drain. fill till the fluid runs out of the fill hole.

#4

Redline MTL and I use the Craftsman 17mm 1/2" socket and then remove the allen key from the socket and turn it with a 17mm wrench since you have limited room in the transmission tunnel for the fill plug.

#5

thanks guys. what do you use to add fluid? some sort of pump? syringe? turkey baster?

#6

Hard crowd tonight. That Don Stevens joke was a good one and I didn’t even get a .

My tranny was out when I added fluid so I’ve not done it the hard way. But if I had to do it, I’d grab 6’ of small diameter plastic hose. Small enough that you can barely put fluid in there with a turkey baster. One person holds the hose in the tranny and the other stands next to car with the hose held high and puts some fluid in.

Or you can get a little plastic pump from harbor freight.

#7

gah! i was at harbor freight this afternoon but didn’t even think to look for a little pump. but i need to go back tomorrow anyway since i don’t have a 17mm hex :slight_smile:

#8

Any good auto parts house will have a suction gun.

Hint: Always break the fill plug loose before you remove the drain plug.

#9

I have a pump that screws onto the top of my 1 gallon Redline jug. So I just fill the 1 gallon jug up with whatever fluid I need to pump in and then use the pump and clear hose to fill the tranny or the rear diff.

#10

If you go RedLine MTL works well and is used by many.

I also got a outboard motor oil pump I use to pump the fluid into the trans. Works great. Got mine at PepBoys. Most Auto parts places should have an option or two. I had a suction gun back in the day but it was harder to use then the simple bottle pump.

I also got a nice stubby 17mm hex socket from Pelican Parts. Plenty of clearance for the trans.

#11

get a tube and funnel and run the tube through where the shifter comes up into the car and into the trans. plenty of room there, much easier and less mess