Manual transmission fluid change questions
 

OK, I did a bunch of reading on the forum as well as the how to transaxle fluid change article on Paragon. I've got my 3 quarts of fluid.

1. I put the rear on ramps and for the life of me could not figure out how to jack up the front of the car. Did some reading on how to jack up the car and some recommended jacking up the front via the crossmember first and then put jack stands under the front side jack points. I don't see a crossmember. Is it hidden underneath the engine cover? Do I have to absolutely jack it up on all 4 sides? I figure as long as I get 2 qts in there I should be fine.

2. Looking at the transaxle, I noticed that the allen bolt size is 10mm? I thought it was supposed to be 17mm? Just to confirm, the transaxle is located at the rear, correct? And the drain and fill plugs are located on the drivers side rear with the fill plug facing the muffler? There are some rust marks on the insides of the bolts so I assume it has been taken off before but why it's 10mm I have no idea unless it was originally a 10mm from the factory, or the previous guy who changed it used a 10mm. I'm thinking about ordering new 17mm just in case.

3. The fill plug is on there very tight so I put some PB blaster on it and have'nt tried removing it yet. I guess I should try to hit the allen bolt with a hammer?

4. With the muffler in the way, I guess the only way to fill would be via a pump?

All I want is a smoother transmission. I was thinking I could knock this out in an hour and now it looks like it might be an ordeal.

OK got the fill plug off but the drain plug is on there impossibly tight. PB wont get into the threads because gravity won't allow it. Tried the break bar on it and it won't budge. I don't want to push it to hard as I don't want to strip anything. Any recommendations on how to get this drain plug undone? I've heard a heat torch might do the trick.

Did you try to "wake" the bolt up? Essentially, you put your socket into the drain nut and hit the socket with a hammer on its head. If this doesnt work, your next choice might be to heat up the area around the nut.

You could apply heat to the body of the transaxle (not the nut). PB sometimes takes overnight to work, so give it some time. Capillary action will get it into the threads, even against gravity. If you decide to try to "wake up" the bolt, hit the bolt or socket straight on, don't try to hit a socket wrench or allen wrench in the direction you would turn it to loosen the bolt, as bad things can happen.

I got the plug off. I guess I was being too conservative with the torque.

As for jacking up on all 4 sides I have got the back on ramps and bought a bottle jack for the front. I dont trust to work under any type of jack so i placed a jackstand under the engine just case. The fluid looked ok so I'm thinking my shifting issues are something else. When cold I'm having a tough time getting into reverse and 1st. When I depress the clutch and try to engage you can feel the grinding and it's really difficult to put into gear. If I put it into third gear first it then stops the rotation and I'm able to put it into first or reverse. Also sometimes I hear and feel a slight clunk when I slap the shifter to the side before putting it into gear. The car has 104k miles and the clutch was replaced about 20k miles ago. The clutch pressure feels great and there's no leaking and the engagement is good with no slipping.

Any ideas?

Yes the 968 is 10mm. My 924S had a 17mm plug as I believe all 944s did.
Jon

Maybe you should try Red Line 75W90 NS all-synthetic formula A in there,personally this is what I've been running with for over a year now without issues, and shifting is very very smooth.Mine is a 93.

Well I just got the transaxle fluid change completed. Bought a bottle jack but it would not fit under the front jack points so I ended up just doing everything with the rear end up on ramps. I measured how much had come out (about 2.5 quarts), so I just filled it up with about 2.65 or so quarts of Coastal 75w-90 that I bought from Autozone. Guess what? An amazing transformation! This thing shifts great now and instead of that clunky dull feeling, everything shifts great with a nice snickety snick feeling. Not as feathery as an old 88 MR2 that I had 15 years ago, but still it's so much better than before. I can only imagine what a really good gear oil will feel like and I plan on doing that soon. After driving this thing for a couple of months I was starting to not enjoy driving it because the shift action was so bad.

I noticed that the gear oil that I had changed was clean, but it was thick as glue. Literally it had the consistency of of probably one level below molasses. The new gear oil I put in was so much thinner. I think that's why this thing would not shift when cold. It would shift ok when warmed up but it still would not engage cleanly and had a dull feeling to it. The old gear oil must have been an extremely heavy weight oil. I don't know what the hell the previous guy put in the car but lesson learned: Change your oil if you don't know what's in it and do it yourself, especially the simple DIY stuff. Don't trust some idiot to do it.

Now, can someone please explain to me how they jack this damn thing up on all 4 jack points?:banghead:

It literally took me all day to complete this procedure (of course, this includes taking the wife shopping and dropping her off while I went to Autozone and Pep Boys) but it was a day well spent. Now I could finish it in 15 minutes. And let me repeat, change your oil regularly!

Nothing better than a nice running 968!

As far as jacking on all 4 point, use the rear jacking point right behind the door and jack one side of the car. Place flr jack on the front jacking point and for the rear, use the aluminum arm section of the torque tube. Release jack, move to other side and do the same. Your car will be up on all fours.

The PO might have added some goop to quiet a noisy tranny, so the next long run you get just keep your ears open. That's assuming that kind of stuff works, anyway.

I'm hesitant to give lifting advice, but I use the "safety points" just forward of the rear wheels (the round cups welded to the bottom of the car) and I use the front rails where they stick out by the driver's and passenger's feet, just ahead of the footwells. On the passenger side you have to be careful as the brake lines run right along the rail.

I bought a scissor lift and I use the rubber mount pads that came with it, because I was in the same place as you regarding lifting the car onto all fours, and it sounded frightening how it was done, basically jack up one side of the car, put in the jack stands, and then jack up the other side - with that other side already in the air - it just seemed hazardous to me.

If you Google for "968 jacking points" you'll find plenty of topics on it, including at least two with a picture like this - http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1115779696.jpg.

Wbat brand and weight fluid did you use?
Did you know the power steering uses Dextron ATF instead of power steering fluid?

I used Coastal 75W-90 from Autozone at $5.99/Qt. It was the only one they had in that weight and non LS.

Here we go,my car being very low I kind of improvise on the lifting technic.#1 & 2-low profil 2.5 tns Big Red floor jack with modify nylon/aluminum top plate.#3 Instead of rubber jack puck I use old speakers magnets which will stick to the lifting points & stay there.#4 In front I usually use wooden blocks + 2 tns jacks stand for safety mesures. #5 Rear I use the aluminum arm section but sometime will also use wooden bloc under the shocks.#6 & 7 Also since the car is so low I had to modify my ramps by adding double sanswich corrugared aluminum plates so it could get up on the ramps without messing my front end.End of the movie.

I have that same clunking issue just before I put the car in gear from a stop, and it's very hard sometimes to get into gear when cold. Time for some new fluid me thinks!