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Holy smoke. I've had reverse crunching for the last couple of years and just thought it was normal! I will test this the next time I get to drive.
Edit: blimey that works. And no clutch dragging. Thanks for the info!
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Technical Gearbox oil
- Thread starter AnthonyH
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Technical Gearbox oil
Holy smoke. I've had reverse crunching for the last couple of years and just thought it was normal! I will test this the next time I get to drive.
Edit: blimey that works. And no clutch dragging. Thanks for the info!
OP
OP
I got the gearbox plug off without any difficulty but i'm struggling to think of a way to get more oil in there. I've examined straws and the like but the oil is just going to go everywhere.
Can anyone tell me about a DIY tool to get oil in the gearbox?
Can anyone tell me about a DIY tool to get oil in the gearbox?
I used a polythene tube attached to the oil flask and had no trouble getting the oil into the gearbox. You may need to find an oil pack that has such a tube attached to the cap.
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I'll see what sort of tubing i can find later. I've left the car up on stands so no rush.
After opening the gearbox oil canister it was easy to recognise the smell and later confirm the car is weeping from the axle. I put my finger into the gearbox top up hole to check the level and it isn't full.
After opening the gearbox oil canister it was easy to recognise the smell and later confirm the car is weeping from the axle. I put my finger into the gearbox top up hole to check the level and it isn't full.
I use a funnel and length of hosepipe.
But I've had bottles of gear oil in the past with a flexible nozzle fitted to the cap that could be inserted into the filler hole.
If the car is up on stands, it needs to be level to give you the correct, er, level
But I've had bottles of gear oil in the past with a flexible nozzle fitted to the cap that could be inserted into the filler hole.
If the car is up on stands, it needs to be level to give you the correct, er, level
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LOL, err, yes I was going to fill it while still up on stands so I'll get it down! lolI use a funnel and length of hosepipe.
But I've had bottles of gear oil in the past with a flexible nozzle fitted to the cap that could be inserted into the filler hole.
If the car is up on stands, it needs to be level to give you the correct, er, level
One of those things that's surprisingly easy to forget! Don't ask me how I know..
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I got the car down and I used a new section of hose pipe to fill the gearbox. It took about 250ml, but some of that was dripping and other losses, as I over filled it and then let it drain out to the level it wanted.
I don't think I need to worry about this for a year or more, if ever. I'll keep an eye on the weep but its probably going to stay more less static. The sump also leaks a tiny bit, not enough to replace it. So on to the next job now...
I don't think I need to worry about this for a year or more, if ever. I'll keep an eye on the weep but its probably going to stay more less static. The sump also leaks a tiny bit, not enough to replace it. So on to the next job now...
Aye, just that wee pause is enough to let the oil drag slow the gearwheels down but so many in this modern world just aren't prepared to give it time. Mind you, I've never heard a salesman telling anyone about this, quite important in my opinion, point? Maybe @portland_bill can tell us whether driving instructors try to teach it?
Yup, My drive slopes downwards towards the road so I reverse the car onto the drive and then jack the front up and support on axle stands. Because I'm an obsessive perfectionist (idiot in other words) I actually checked how ;level the car was first time I did this by using a spirit level on the sills. luckily, with the axle stands in the second hole, the car is as level as makes no difference and gets the front up in the air by easily enough to get at the level plug in the front of the gearbox.I use a funnel and length of hosepipe.
But I've had bottles of gear oil in the past with a flexible nozzle fitted to the cap that could be inserted into the filler hole.
If the car is up on stands, it needs to be level to give you the correct, er, level
Because I was looking after all the cars in the "family fleet" up until recently I bought one of these: https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/cgg...1_1724958510_2659ac5e5d1aa3191b49aeda99589932 and it just makes this sort of thing so much easier. However, before that, when the top up bottle didn't have a supplied tube, I've done the same as rmjbn1 recommends above. A funnel with a length of suitably sized hose. With the funnel under the bonnet and the hose going down between the radiator and power unit and it's end inserted into the level hole in the front of the box, it's a simple job then to add the oil. Do it quite slowly though and don't let the level in the funnel get too deep or you'll end up not being able to stop when the box is full and end up with a puddle of oil on the ground!
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The hosepipe and funnel attached together with duct tape worked just fine.
I put two large, already oily towels under the gearbox and caught most of the dripping. Invariably I missed some, but that's ok.
The oil suction gun does look good, i put things like this in my memory bank and hopefully I'll come up with an excuse to buy one before long!
I put two large, already oily towels under the gearbox and caught most of the dripping. Invariably I missed some, but that's ok.
The oil suction gun does look good, i put things like this in my memory bank and hopefully I'll come up with an excuse to buy one before long!
Lots of stuff like this I'd like to be able to find an excuse to buy. My latest obsession is with battery condition analysers, like this: https://eu.topdon.com/products/bt20...IQKM_p09GIXEjxJd68nTmL6pnFupJ5uekE7NNJgPbyYQQ or this: https://www.gendan.co.uk/product_FXBT715.html Has to be a pretty good excuse to float it past Mrs J though!
I'd also like a supercapacitor type jump starter pack: https://www.sealey.co.uk/product/5637187875/12v-electrostartr-batteryless-power-start-800a but that's even less likely to happen than the battery analyser! Mind you I just clocked that they've knocked a big chunk off the price, so maybe?
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I considered going to Halfords a good while ago as they do a free analysis of battery condition, but the battery i was wondering about has a very large capacity and I just hadn't driven the car enough to top it up. It was interesting researching them on youtube though.
The GPs and EVOs i drive all drain the battery very quickly if the engine isn't on. It must be some kind of design fault, or a faulty car part I don't know about. I went through a phase of having to bump start a car every week, and perfected the technique. I've seen the super batteries used by scrap merchants and would like one anyways.
The electrostart that you've linked above seems not to be a battery, it seems to be a transformer of some description that'll do the job. i.e. it'll take the last bit of charge in the battery and boost it, or steal some charge from another car.
The GPs and EVOs i drive all drain the battery very quickly if the engine isn't on. It must be some kind of design fault, or a faulty car part I don't know about. I went through a phase of having to bump start a car every week, and perfected the technique. I've seen the super batteries used by scrap merchants and would like one anyways.
The electrostart that you've linked above seems not to be a battery, it seems to be a transformer of some description that'll do the job. i.e. it'll take the last bit of charge in the battery and boost it, or steal some charge from another car.
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How did you know?!
As a "driveway greasemonkey" it's well worth cultivating a relationship with your local Halfords. If for no other reason that they're open at weekends so sometimes can really save you if you need something when other suppliesr, like factors, are closed. Their range of stuff on the shelves - relative to doing car repairs - doesn't compare to a Factor but they do have a lot of common stuff and offer services like the battery condition check which I've availed myself of at two of their branches up here. It was very professionally conducted and they didn't try to pressure us into buying a battery.
Supercapacitor jump starters are a relatively new thing and I find them very interesting. They consist of 5 or 6 super capacitors with a clever switching circuit controlling their operation. In very basic terms each capacitor can be charged up to around 2.5, maybe 3, volts - I don't know exactly how much but it's in that region. The device is in a discharged state when stored and won't hold charge over long periods like a conventional battery so has to be charged before use every time. Now here's the clever bit. Most "flat" car batteries - the sort of situation when they just won't quite turn the engine over because the interior light has been left on overnight - will register something like 6, 7, 8 maybe 9 volts when checked, this won't be enough to kick the engine over but it's way more than the somewhere around 3 volts needed to charge up one of these capacitors. So you connect the jump pack leads to the vehicles "flat" battery and press the command button to "charge". inside the pack the "clever" electronics connects the 5 or 6 capacitors in parallel to the "flat" car battery - so each capacitor is being charged as a separate entity until it's fully charged at around 2.5, maybe 3 volts. Most will have a readout which lets you see how this charging is progressing and indicates, often with an audible beep, when fully charged. Then all you need to do is press the button which initiates use and you get about 10 seconds with most of them, to get to the ignition key. The unit then gives an audible warning that it's ready and you twist the key to start the car.
And how does it perform this miracle? well it uses the residual voltage in the battery to charge up the capacitors - only needs a few volts to do this but most of the ones I've researched won't charge off battery with less than 5 or 6 volts in them. - which is actually likely to be most of the "flat" batteries you come across. It's not going to charge up from a truely FLAT, flat battery though so there are limits but you can always charge from another vehicle - only takes on average about 3 minutes - or a USB lead with many. So you're nearly flat battery charges up the capacitors in parallel and lets you know with a beep and on it's display saying "ready". So now you press the initiate button which gives you about 10 seconds until it changes the way the capacitors are connected to a series connection, So now all the capacitors are connected "nose to tail" like batteries in a torch. This means that you have all these batteries adding their voltages together. So, lets say there are 5 supercapacitors charged to 2.5 volts each. That gives you a total voltage of 12.5 volts ( it's actually a bit more than that because they charge to a bit more than 2.5 volts each, but you get the idea. The device will give you a beep when this connection is completed and you now have it supplying that voltage to the jump leads so you can twist the key and, as long as all that's wrong with the vehicle is a "flat" battery, it should kick into life. Capacitors, by their vary nature, don't hold a charge for very long so you'll only get a limited cranking time before you need to recharge the device, It's not like doing a jump start from another car with a nice big battery of it's own but it should be enough to get the car started.
Here's a short video showing basically how it's used:
I like the idea of this type of jump pack because there's no internal battery to degrade or that you have to remember to charge up from time to time - a flat jump pack is absolutely no use to anyone. Obviously it has it's limits in that it's not going to charge from a completely flat battery and it's cranking time will be relatively short but I recon it'll deal with most cases of a car, perhaps left overnight in freezing winter conditions, which just fails to start in the morning.
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I think you should buy one, its obviously something which has sparked or jump started your interest! You could possibly sell the purchase to the missus as essential. I usually couch non essential purchases as required or i can't do a job
I should buy one of these myself, now I better understand the technology, i can see it is infinitely better than what I usually do. The problem is that I'm quite stuck in my ways with batteries, i'm used to charging them, bump starting cars and using jump leads.
Maybe i'll ask for one of these as a present, with the cold weather coming i'd imagine it'll get a lot of usage. Why when something is better don't i just go get one?
I should buy one of these myself, now I better understand the technology, i can see it is infinitely better than what I usually do. The problem is that I'm quite stuck in my ways with batteries, i'm used to charging them, bump starting cars and using jump leads.
Maybe i'll ask for one of these as a present, with the cold weather coming i'd imagine it'll get a lot of usage. Why when something is better don't i just go get one?
Sadly many instructors have little or no idea how anything works, so just put up with a crunch. I've always taught to stop, ensuring the car is completely stopped, then move the lever gently to reverse, which on most vehicles gives enough time for the gears to stop spinning.
There should not be a crunch unless the clutch is dragging, or reverse is selected very quickly after the stop.
Reverse uses straight cut gears, which have to slide into mesh. Occasionally, the gear teeth directly align, so hit each other and refuse to engage. Select neutral, lift clutch, depress clutch, and try again. Thsi spins the gear shafts, and will often result in a crunch, but also engagement of reverse instead of a fight. Unless you have a Ford Fiesta or Focus, when it will fight once out of every 5 tries. Seems to be a feature.
