Stanleysteamer

Well-Known Member
Full Member
This really annoys me. I have done this job before, i.e. changed the fluid, so I must have found a way of getting a large amount of the new ATF into the filler hole, including while wifey sits with her foot on the brake moving the gear lever, but I am blowed if I can remember how I did it?

Why oh why do they not fit the vehicle with a remote header tank which I have, believe it or not on a Kit Car fitted with an old aircooled Beetle autoshift box?

Topping up is not too much of a pain, but shifting a gallon of the stuff? Drives me mad IU cannot remember and I am just about slim enough to get under the car. Currently trying to force myself to jack the whole flipping vehicle up onto ramps and axle stands, to give me the room to use a weedkiller spray tank underneath. (I work outside on a gravel drive.)
For the D1 300tdi box I made up a ridiculously long pipe attached to a (not very big) home made header tank, that I suspended under the bonnet and then threaded down to the gearbox, but it was very messy and wasteful. It is a manual box so takes far less fluid anyway.
I'm sure lots of you have your own pet methods. Looking forward to reading them.
 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282753016663
s-l1600.jpg
 
My first car was automatic and I did the refill 2 times. I used a long garden hose which fits to the filler hole and through the engine bay I have attached an oil plastic bottle to the other side of the hose. Cut the bottom of the bottle, fixed it somewhere in the engine bay and filled with oil. While the oil slowly went to the transmission box I could sit in the car and do the shift changes:)
If you ca find the suitable diameter hose it is not messy (at least I found it very easy).
 
Warm up the bottles of *ATFin a bucket of hot water, get a hand suction pump and start pumping away.
 
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Warm up the bottles of gear oil in a bucket of hot water, get a hand suction pump and start pumping away.
The OPs question refers to using ATF its not gear oil. Unfortunately D2 autos don’t have a Dip Sitck:(
 
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A long hose down through the engine bay with a funnel 'ont end..

pour the oil in the filler till it flows out, put the plug in..

Then start it up, cycle it through the gears pausing in each gear for 3 seconds.

After that, Pull the filler plug and pour in 'till it comes out.

Once it pours out put the plug in then shut the motor off..

Don't turn it off with the plug out as the pump will stop and the oil will píss out..


Ya done.
 
Thanks all!
After posting, I remembered I had a pump a bit like the one in Feather's pictures, except it only had one tube. Stupidly it is labelled "suction pump" but of course what sucks blows! So that is a possibility.
Berg's method is almost identical to what I did for my D1 as mentioned except I used a shower hose instead of garden hose, and you do have to f*** about a lot to get the hose to fit the mouth of the oil bottle with it's bottom cut off and then again at the other end to get the narrower pipe to go in the filler hole. It also has the disadvantage of not being able to see the fluid going down the pipe. So you can end up spilling a load. But I like the idea of being able to do a two person job on your own this way. Guess you just need a clean oil pan, on the outside and a bowl to catch the overspill.
Backinblack. Like it, but needed to get it done today and nowhere nearby to get a pump like the one in the picture.
Juke, never thought about heating the oil, great idea, although I always buy ATF and in fact all oils in 4.54 litre (gallon) so it would take longer to heat. I do have a hand pump a cheapo £10 job from the local car bitz shop, which I use to empty the engine oil out of the sump, as the sump plug is refusing to come out. In fact I dare not use brutal means to get it out, envisioning stripped threads at the very least. So, the pipe goes down the dipstick tube, so not huge bore and it takes a while and a lot of effort to do it, but it does do it. First time I left it to siphon out and it took 3 days!
Thinks. Backinblack's pump and a long hose, would be easier for the engine oil.
So, in the end, I did use the garden sprayer I used last time. First I went and got a rake and raked out a ton of gravel from under the car. This is not pea gravel (which always get trodden into the house) think Chesil Beach, irregular stuff about 1" long. NO burglar can walk across it silently! This gave me a lot more room, then I pressurised the sprayer with 2 litres of oil in it and locked the handle down then I dragged it under the car, and righted it. The end of the tube is a solid pipe with the trigger on it. I then squirted oil into the gearbox until it spilt out.
Once that was done I decided that I really did not have enough room to be under there when the engine was running etc, so I jacked the front axle up pretty high, shoved two big axle stands underneath and then, using the new angle of the vehicle, repeated the topping up exercise. I know this is completely not according to Hoyle, as the Americans would say, but, having done the job before, I have a pretty good idea of how much more fluid goes in once the engine is running and the box is put through all the gears. Anyway, I am sure I have not overfilled it, and it was working pretty well before, despite what is obviously a bit of a leak.
So once that was done, I tried to find where the leak is/was. Very hard without steam cleaning the whole thing off, but I noticed the front horizontal edge of the sump/pan was very clean but wet. So I reasoned that this might be where it is coming out, and hence clean. But it may be also coming out of the torque converter housing, as there is oil present there too. But this may be from the engine. Who knows? So I gently tweaked the gearbox sump bolts, some of which were a bit looser than others.
I can think of another use for a garden sprayer, fill it with Gunk or whatever degreaser mix you use then you can spray with one hand and brush with the other, then you can refill with water and use it to rinse it all off. I'll probably buy another one and clean under the gearbox area to see if I can really get to the bottom of the leak.
Obviously you cannot use the same one for everything, but they are just a bit more controllable than hand-held and pumped ones, and they hold a ton of stuff. The big disadvantage is their size, but, as I have explained, once pressurised, provided the handle stays locked down, you can put them on their side to move them, and then put them upright again.
So, thanks all. You made me realise that I had to hand at least four ways of doing this, and any of the methods mentioned would work. Just a question of taste or what job you are doing. I think the big thing was I had lunch, which gave me time to cool down and think sensibly. I often say the coffee cup is a hugely important tool in the tool box, it gives you time to think straight. But the best thing was simply to rake out the gravel!
I will now post and await all the people telling me to get wifey to do the biz with the gears while I finish the job off properly under a horizontal car! Quite right too!
 
Thanks all!
After posting, I remembered I had a pump a bit like the one in Feather's pictures, except it only had one tube. Stupidly it is labelled "suction pump" but of course what sucks blows! So that is a possibility.
Berg's method is almost identical to what I did for my D1 as mentioned except I used a shower hose instead of garden hose, and you do have to f*** about a lot to get the hose to fit the mouth of the oil bottle with it's bottom cut off and then again at the other end to get the narrower pipe to go in the filler hole. It also has the disadvantage of not being able to see the fluid going down the pipe. So you can end up spilling a load. But I like the idea of being able to do a two person job on your own this way. Guess you just need a clean oil pan, on the outside and a bowl to catch the overspill.
Backinblack. Like it, but needed to get it done today and nowhere nearby to get a pump like the one in the picture.
Juke, never thought about heating the oil, great idea, although I always buy ATF and in fact all oils in 4.54 litre (gallon) so it would take longer to heat. I do have a hand pump a cheapo £10 job from the local car bitz shop, which I use to empty the engine oil out of the sump, as the sump plug is refusing to come out. In fact I dare not use brutal means to get it out, envisioning stripped threads at the very least. So, the pipe goes down the dipstick tube, so not huge bore and it takes a while and a lot of effort to do it, but it does do it. First time I left it to siphon out and it took 3 days!
Thinks. Backinblack's pump and a long hose, would be easier for the engine oil.
So, in the end, I did use the garden sprayer I used last time. First I went and got a rake and raked out a ton of gravel from under the car. This is not pea gravel (which always get trodden into the house) think Chesil Beach, irregular stuff about 1" long. NO burglar can walk across it silently! This gave me a lot more room, then I pressurised the sprayer with 2 litres of oil in it and locked the handle down then I dragged it under the car, and righted it. The end of the tube is a solid pipe with the trigger on it. I then squirted oil into the gearbox until it spilt out.
Once that was done I decided that I really did not have enough room to be under there when the engine was running etc, so I jacked the front axle up pretty high, shoved two big axle stands underneath and then, using the new angle of the vehicle, repeated the topping up exercise. I know this is completely not according to Hoyle, as the Americans would say, but, having done the job before, I have a pretty good idea of how much more fluid goes in once the engine is running and the box is put through all the gears. Anyway, I am sure I have not overfilled it, and it was working pretty well before, despite what is obviously a bit of a leak.
So once that was done, I tried to find where the leak is/was. Very hard without steam cleaning the whole thing off, but I noticed the front horizontal edge of the sump/pan was very clean but wet. So I reasoned that this might be where it is coming out, and hence clean. But it may be also coming out of the torque converter housing, as there is oil present there too. But this may be from the engine. Who knows? So I gently tweaked the gearbox sump bolts, some of which were a bit looser than others.
I can think of another use for a garden sprayer, fill it with Gunk or whatever degreaser mix you use then you can spray with one hand and brush with the other, then you can refill with water and use it to rinse it all off. I'll probably buy another one and clean under the gearbox area to see if I can really get to the bottom of the leak.
Obviously you cannot use the same one for everything, but they are just a bit more controllable than hand-held and pumped ones, and they hold a ton of stuff. The big disadvantage is their size, but, as I have explained, once pressurised, provided the handle stays locked down, you can put them on their side to move them, and then put them upright again.
So, thanks all. You made me realise that I had to hand at least four ways of doing this, and any of the methods mentioned would work. Just a question of taste or what job you are doing. I think the big thing was I had lunch, which gave me time to cool down and think sensibly. I often say the coffee cup is a hugely important tool in the tool box, it gives you time to think straight. But the best thing was simply to rake out the gravel!
I will now post and await all the people telling me to get wifey to do the biz with the gears while I finish the job off properly under a horizontal car! Quite right too!


A fluid change should only require 1 person.
 
A fluid change should only require 1 person.
As you say, "should" only require one person. Haynes says two, no idea what RAVE says, as I do have Wifey around, I haven't investigated. But I hate jobs that cannot be done on your own although it is obviously possible as long as you do not mind ATF being wasted and clean up possibly being more of a pain.

3 seconds in each gear! Hmm! Haynes mentions no time for each gear, so I only ever did 1 second for each. Bet it matters whether the ATF is hot or not as well. Such a STUPID way of doing it, I cannot help but feel.
Glad I read this Henry b before finishing it off properly. Thanks Mate.
 
As you say, "should" only require one person. Haynes says two, no idea what RAVE says, as I do have Wifey around, I haven't investigated. But I hate jobs that cannot be done on your own although it is obviously possible as long as you do not mind ATF being wasted and clean up possibly being more of a pain.

3 seconds in each gear! Hmm! Haynes mentions no time for each gear, so I only ever did 1 second for each. Bet it matters whether the ATF is hot or not as well. Such a STUPID way of doing it, I cannot help but feel.
Glad I read this Henry b before finishing it off properly. Thanks Mate.

Haynes is good for some things but can miss some , you should wait for 3secs atleast in each gear to refil the galleries with fresh atf.
 
Haynes is good for some things but can miss some , you should wait for 3secs atleast in each gear to refil the galleries with fresh atf.
Yep, Haynes are nowhere near as good as they used to be. I still have old ones with proper exploded diagrams and details on how to rebuild a gearbox and a back axle. Nowadays they seem to keen to tell you when to hand the job over to a professional.
 

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