transmission fluid replacement - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Viper5 · 02-15-2009, 01:04 PM

I am about to flush my transmission fluid and I wasn't sure how much to put in there. The manual says over 3 qts, but other guides say 2.25 L (2.4 qts). It's a 2000 boxster s.

CJ_Boxster · 02-15-2009, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Viper5

I am about to flush my transmission fluid and I wasn't sure how much to put in there. The manual says over 3 qts, but other guides say 2.25 L (2.4 qts). It's a 2000 boxster s.

just buy 4 quarts and fill the gearbox till gear oil drips out the fill hole. If it takes less then return then return the unopened containers of gear oil, if any.

Paul · 02-15-2009, 02:54 PM

For the 5 speed, 2.25 liters at 11 mm below the bottom of the filler hole.

Viper5 · 02-15-2009, 03:15 PM

Thats odd. I thought I deleted this post because I found out it's 3 qts shortly after posting. But I do have another question about this. I have two ramps (one for each tire in the back) and wanted to know if it would be ok to drain it out that way. I don't want the fluid leaning on one side and not coming out. Would it be recommended to use two standard jacks like the one that come with cars to get the front sides so it levels out or is this not a good idea since they are not the best ones?

roadracer311 · 02-15-2009, 03:37 PM

if you're taking the plate off of the bottom. I do not recommend using ramps. I did this and screwed up my alignment and almost couldn't get the plate back on. In my case, I was doing tires and aligment the next week anyway, but would have been really upset if I had to get an alignment just because I changed my tranny oil early (did mine at 20k miles, just to get out any crud that fell in while they were manufacuring it.)

Paul · 02-15-2009, 03:40 PM

The six speed uses 3 qts.

The car should be level when draining and filling the tranny.

Viper5 · 02-15-2009, 05:24 PM

What do you mean by the plate? I'm just going to be using the guide specified here: http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=7060

If you don't put it on a ramp, how are you supposed to get to everything? And I don't understand what you mean when you said you messed up your alignment.

Paul · 02-15-2009, 05:38 PM

Don't use ramps, use 4 jack stands and keep the car level.

There's a large metal plate underneath the tranny that has to be removed to access the oil drain plug. The rennlist post has 5 pictures of it.

Some of us have drilled a hole in it so that we never have to take it off again.

Viper5 · 02-16-2009, 05:20 AM

I will go out and get some jack stands. Is there another place to put the transmission fluid other than the oil fill plug because I don't see how to replace the fluid in the hole from underneath. Usually you put stuff on the top.

ppbon · 02-16-2009, 05:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Viper5

I will go out and get some jack stands. Is there another place to put the transmission fluid other than the oil fill plug because I don't see how to replace the fluid in the hole from underneath. Usually you put stuff on the top.

I use a small manual pump to fill the tranny.
To get the exact amount I made a mark with a hacksaw on an allen wrench 11mm below the bend. This way I insert the small end and rotate it inside he tranny and like a dipstick it will show you the fluid level.
As it's been said, don't use ramps for this procedure, use 4 jackstands instead.
The reason is that if you remove the diagonal braces and the aluminum skidplate fro the car while it sits on the suspension (loading the suspension) the alignment will be out of speck and you may not even be able to re-install the parts.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Viper5 · 02-16-2009, 08:28 AM

I just picked up two sets of two jack stands. Where is the optimum place to put them so that they aren't loading the suspension?
Update:
I have the car on the 4 jack stands but now I've come into another problem. I've been trying to unscrew the **************** out of those nuts, but they won't budge. Am I supposed to use an electric gun for this?

Lucky · 02-16-2009, 01:35 PM

Viper,

The fill plug is near the rear end of the tranny on the driver's side. And if memory serves, an S tranny is supposed to take 3L of fluid (so 3 quarts will be a bit low).

As far as getting the plugs out goes, they shouldn't be so tight that you need to use an impact wrench. Just use your longest ratchet and make sure you are turning the correct direction!

Viper5 · 02-17-2009, 06:32 AM

The manual says 2.8L for the S model which is approx 3 qts. I also have the service manual and it says just to fill it up as much as it goes and the 11mm guide is only for the 5 speed. I'm definitely turning them the right way but they still won't budge. It's got a lot of miles and maybe they've never been released before.

tholyoak · 02-17-2009, 10:43 AM

I'll offer my $0.02 here. Use only the Porsche lubricant, which is a shell product, or this Mobil 1 product

http://www.lufteknic.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=Mobil75-90delvac&Category_Code=lubricants

Anything else, and you will have issues with synchros. This is especially noticeable with the 6 speed. As stated above, these are transaxles, not transmissions, and the inclusion of the trans + the dif in the same housing requires some unique properties for the lubricant. Swepco was great for the old air cooled boxes, but I don't think it works well with the newer cone type synchros in the latest cars. I may be wrong, but I've had great results with either of the above two lubricants.

-Todd

Viper5 · 02-17-2009, 03:01 PM

I sorta already bought the 75w90ns so I will stick with that. Many people said it fixed their grinding problem, but like I mentioned before it's probably the synchros anyway. Just seeing if this will work.

I unscrewed the cover and have acess to everything now. There seems to be a discrepancy, however. I have attached some pictures for reference.

In the service manual, it shows a picture of the fill hole. In the tutorial, it shows a different hole for this. Which one do I use?

The service manual matches with the second one.
The tutorial matches with the first one.

I don't want to use the wrong one. Although it said that they mix (differential and transmission) but I need to use the right one so I know how high it needs to be.

I also am still unclear as to how I'm expected to get the fluid into one of those tiny holes. I went out and bought a pump, but I don't think I can get the fluid in the hole still. This is what I bought.

Lucky · 02-17-2009, 05:52 PM

Viper,

Your pic #1 shows the fill plug. Pic #3 is the drain plug. Both are 10mm allen, I believe.

The manual you have shows pics of a 5 speed tranny, which is part of the confusion.

When filling slip the hose from your pump into the fill hole and use a piece of tape around that squared-off support bracket you see in your pic to hold the hose in. Pump away until a bit of fluid drips back out... when that happens it's full.

Viper5 · 02-17-2009, 06:25 PM

Then which plug is pic #2 displaying?

chitowndad · 02-17-2009, 06:49 PM

Hey I never heard of that Delvac product... Is that really the best fluid for the 986 6 speed? I was going to replace mine with Redline 75W90... My car has only 12,000 miles on it but it's a 2001 so I think I should replace it. Thoughts?

Also, I made my own pump when I replaced the fluid on my Z.

I took the cap on one of the quart bottles and cut 2 small holes in it. I inserted 2 tubes into the cap, one longer than the other. The one that is shorter you connect to your compressor and set it to 5 PSI. the other tube goes into the trans fill hole. Then push some air into the one line and it will push the fluid out of the bottle. IT works nice and you can reuse the cap on the other bottles.

-Steve

Viper5 · 02-17-2009, 07:02 PM

I spoke with redline today and they even told me to get the 75w90 ns without even telling them thats what I had already purchased. Make sure you get the ns version as was already mentioned previously.

I also meant to ask if there is a transmission fluid filter, and if so how much more fluid do I need for that and is it recommended I replace my old one.

Lucky · 02-20-2009, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Viper5

I spoke with redline today and they even told me to get the 75w90 ns without even telling them thats what I had already purchased. Make sure you get the ns version as was already mentioned previously.

I also meant to ask if there is a transmission fluid filter, and if so how much more fluid do I need for that and is it recommended I replace my old one.

I've never seen a filter in a manual tranny...

As far as the "plug" in pic #2... I don't think it is a plug. Looks like an allen-head bolt to me.

Just use the plugs in pics #3 & #1 to drain and refill, respectively.