gearbox

[billythefish]

As every one knows (excluding myself) the gearbox on my 1971 R4 has two drainage oil plugs underneath one on the front, which I was unaware of and one in the middle.
Can any one tell me if inside the gearbox is as one, with the oil or is it in fact in two separate sections, because I can't get the front drainage plug undone even after spraying it with WD40 or heating it, the plug will just not move and I have even broke an open ended spanner trying to undo it.
I do not want to force it to the extent that I do irreversible damage and then be unable to find a replacement drainage plug.
The idea I had in mind was to some how lift the car up at the front to enable the oil in the front compartment to seep through but I don't know if this is possible.
billy

 

[Steve Hennessey]

You could buy a heavy duty tool for undoing these plugs and it needs to be a snug fit. I think they are 10mm square. The gearbox does not have two separate compartments as such because there is only one filler plug on the side of the gearbox. In theory you could just undo the middle one and lift the car as high as possible to get as much of the old oil out as you can.

 

[benchseat]

Presumably this is the Type 334 gearbox with the gear positions the "wrong way round". There is only one filler plug but two drain plugs are needed because in the front section (4th gear) a certain amount of the casing is below shaft level and if the middle drain plug (only) is opened there will remain a residue of old oil at the bottom in the 4th gear section. If the front drain plug cannot be removed I would have thought that the most effective way to deal with this residue would be to drain via the middle plug, refill (possibly slightly overfill), run for a short period of time (during which you actually drive it in fourth gear) then drain again and refill to the correct level.

 

[mr-reno-139]

think ive typed this before when somebody else couldnt undo filler plug
use (williams) renault brake adjusting tool 10mm sq end or if that fails find old 3/8 drive 11mm bi hex socket hammer square end onto plug (tight fit) use 3/8 ratchet in 11mm bi hex
maybe camping gaz stove under neath to warm it up first ?

 

[angel]

In practice, the quantity of oil remaining up front is not too much...maybe 250 ml or so.

 

[billythefish]

Thanks guys I will try all your recommendations and find out which one works best for me, my friend reckons I should use an extractor pump like they have on the smart cars but I prefer just to drop the oil.
billy

 

[beagle]

think ive typed this before when somebody else couldnt undo filler plug
use (williams) renault brake adjusting tool 10mm sq end or if that fails find old 3/8 drive 11mm bi hex socket hammer square end onto plug (tight fit) use 3/8 ratchet in 11mm bi hex
maybe camping gaz stove under neath to warm it up first ?

I think that was me!
I had a nightmare removing filler and drain plug. It's tricky to get to. After many scraped knuckles and chewed spanners I brought this: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LASER-BRAKE-S...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_3?hash=item4ceadb04fd it's not the finest quality but did the job straight away.

 

[Steve Hennessey]

......or buy from Halfords a lot cheaper than ebay http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_172419_langId_-1_categoryId_165469

 

[billythefish]

I don't know if it would take the this 10mm laser spanner, I had a monkey wrench on the nut and it still wouldn't move and was scared that I would end up doing more damage than need be.
If as Angel states there is only 250ml left in that part of the gearbox then I don't think it's worth taking the risk of shearing the nut off.
thanks
billy

 

[Azazello]

I cannot drain the oil cause the drain plug was removed, by the precedent owners or their mechanics, with unappropriate tools so it is quite destroyed and I was not able to find a tool to use... I broke a 10 mm spanner, and the 3/8 spanner (I think that was the original size) does not fit...
Now I will let the work to my garage, where someone will (I think) weld a nut on the plug to unscrew it...

Andrea scripsit.