Working tonight so had the day to my self , well some of it SWMBO left me a to do list !
Any way after a long discussion / arguement with the parts Waller at the local stealers ( he was Adament that these boxes don't need servicing and I was wasting my money !! I'll be the judge of that !! ) I bought 2ltrs of transmission fluid and set about changing it
Below is a small how too for anyone that would like to do it but feels it's beyond them , trust me it's a doddle
So what you need ,
Now I just drive the front wheels onto a pair of engineering bricks but get the car up in the air however you choose ( PLEASE not just a jack )
Next you need to identify the fill and drain plugs , the fill is on the front of the box by the end of the starter motor pictured here ,
The drain is on the bottom of the box just next to the small end of the dog bone ,
You will note it is a 17mm Allen key required to undo both , while on the subject of undoing , make sure you can undo the fill plug first DO NOT just drain the oil out then try to remove the fill plug or you may find you have a gearbox devoid of any oil and no means of filling it back up again !!!!!!
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !!!
Right this stinky brown mess came out !!!!
Not nice and definatly wasn't 2 Ltrs of it as there should be , still at this sort of mileage it's probably leaked a bit and could explain why it was so brown and smelly
I was lucky with my bungs as they came out a doddle and even cleaned up well
Refitted the drain plug , filled with the oil using the pictured syringe until it just started to dribble out of the fill hole , plugged it up and went for a road test
No leaks and the gear change does seem smoother but could be psychological ?
Either way it certainly can't do any harm and is cheap to , even from the dealer