Guide: Changing the gearbox oil

[Antz]

The box whines in my T4. Changed the oil for some more genuine stuff and it made absolutely no difference.

Ill just throw a secondhand box in when I change the clutch next year.

[skyship007]

Originally Posted by Antz

The box whines in my T4. Changed the oil for some more genuine stuff and it made absolutely no difference.

Ill just throw a secondhand box in when I change the clutch next year.

There are two things you can do for old box bearings, firstly if you used a 75W80 which is best for cold shift quality and fuel economy it might help to move up to a 75W90.
Secondly this box oil additive often works well, BUT only use one tube:

http://www.liqui-moly.de/liquimoly/m...Additiv_EN.pdf

PS: I just had a look at what LM say about T4 box oil and they only list 75W80 because it needs to be a GL3+ for the T4's. So it's best to check their oil finder guide to see if it is possible to use a 75W90 as I do:

http://www.liqui-moly.com/liquimoly/...oil_guide.html

Oddly enough LM do list the gearbox contents correctly at 2.1 liters. The box oil I use is their GL4+ 75W90, NOT a GL5 (The 4+ can be used in boxes that need a GL5 BUT NOT VICE VERSA).

[v40alex]

The last diesel I had had a very whiney gearbox, ran it for three years with no actual problems.

[Antz]

Originally Posted by skyship007

There are two things you can do for old box bearings, firstly if you used a 75W80 which is best for cold shift quality and fuel economy it might help to move up to a 75W90.
Secondly this box oil additive often works well, BUT only use one tube:

http://www.liqui-moly.de/liquimoly/m...Additiv_EN.pdf

PS: I just had a look at what LM say about T4 box oil and they only list 75W80 because it needs to be a GL3+ for the T4's. So it's best to check their oil finder guide to see if it is possible to use a 75W90 as I do:

http://www.liqui-moly.com/liquimoly/...oil_guide.html

Oddly enough LM do list the gearbox contents correctly at 2.1 liters. The box oil I use is their GL4+ 75W90, NOT a GL5 (The 4+ can be used in boxes that need a GL5 BUT NOT VICE VERSA).

I used whatever oil Volvo recommended. Thatll do. Easier to fit a new box whilst its all in bits doing the clutch than fannying about with different oils.

It works fine, just hums a bit, like Bigfoot making a daisy chain on a warm summers day, underneath the trees...

[v40alex]

Have you checked for large Yetis under the bonnet?

[pierremcalpine]

Wow, the set-up on the 1.9D (I think that is the model referred to in the guide, right?) is very different than the procedure for mine (petrol T4). 1) there is no filler plug on mine - you have to refill via the dipstick and 2) the volume of oil drained/filled is very different - for mine it's more like 3.5l (roughly). I like the location of the drain plug on the 1.9D much better as there is a subframe assy in the way for the T4 which requires you to divert the draining oil with something to make sure you don't get it all over the car (and so that you can properly measure the fluid).

Nice guide and excellent (clear) pics.

Were you planning on doing this a few more times or were you happy with the resulting colour after one dump and fill (just curious)?

[v40alex]

Yes, this is a 1.9D, I assumed they were all the same, sorry! Is yours an auto?

Not planning on changing it immediately, but considering how black the stuff that came out was, probably do it again in a few months.

[pierremcalpine]

Yep - mine's an auto - is the auto the reason for the different set-up and not the D vs petrol?

I've now done 2x dump and fill on mine and it's still pretty brown. I'll probably wait another couple of months and do it once more. I've also been debating whether to bring it in to Volvo to ask them to put the transmission into adaptive mode via VIDA but haven't done too much research on this. Apparently, doing this will allow the transmission to re-learn and calibrate based on the newer transmission oil. Again, this is probably for auto's only.

One of these days I may need to bit the bullet and get dice for my vida set up...

[v40alex]

Yes, the auto box is a different setup - get your camera out next time you change yours

It probably wouldn't cost too much to get Volvo to do that - notwithstanding the usual eye-watering labour cost but it would only be a quick plug in and switch job. A decent indy should be able to do it too.

[v40p2]

I have seen other post pointing to the filler plug being on the same side as the drain plug even the haynes manual. Im refering to the one you can see in the picture above the drain plug. Are we sure the filler plug is on the opposite side and not on the same side???