Manual Transaxle Fluid Change
 

I'm coming up on 60K, and would like to change my transaxle fluid. While doing an oil change this weekend, I noticed the nice, big, convenient drain plug -- it looks like about a 1" socket will work. My problem is, where do you put fluid in? I couldn't find any bolts on the top of the transaxle that seemed like they would work.

98 LX 5spd

Same size plug on front of transmission is for filling.

i thought there was somewhere in the engine you had to do that.... the manual i have says someting about a speedometer wire or something you have to remove and poor it in there

you really don't have to change the fluid in there .. it's supposedly sealed for life
Bruce

1st gen had the speedo gear fill .

there is a big bolt in the middle of the tranny. the bottom bolt is the drain. it's a messy, slimy, stinky job... but it does shift smoother. i did mine when i bought it. it had about 120k miles. no one i know does the job but i say why not? it ain't expencive and hey it's fresh fluid. no speedo cable removal nessisary if i remember correctly.

When I checked my tranny fluid I had to remove the battery, battery tray and look under the intake area towards the firewall. You will see a cable going into the tranny take that off and with a 10mm I think you undo the plug and check the level. I don't know if you can fill there.

My conclusion of tranny oil level was inconclusive therefore I don't know if I have oil/grease in my tranny. Ain't that nice?

don't use a 1" socket, look to see if it is 19mm or 24mm, maybe. Use a metric 6 point socket!!

its a 23 mm for the fill and either a 23 or some had 24 mm for the drain. Don't remove the smaller bolts next to the fill hole they are for the shift forks and reverse idler shaft.

is a manual transaxal fluid change the same as a manual transmission change just a different name for it? cause it almost sounds like two different things but both are being discussed

Yeah, it's the same thing--technically the car has a transaxle, as it is front-wheel-drive, but most people call it transmission anyway.

thanks for clarifying... i had no idea about that... still learning

No worries, still learning stuff everyday myself ;)

i haven't changed the fluid on my protege with 88k myself. last manual trans i change fluid on was my old pos 90 accord. if anyone's ever driven one of these, u know how crapy the shifter is linked to the trans (with a cable, not a rod...) so it was hard to notice any difference in shift quality as it continued to shift like shit :)

i might change mine this summer, but i was always told, if you don't change your fluid on time, don't change it at all, ever... but i think that applies to automatics only.

Manual Tranny Fluid Refill
 

I've a '95 ES with 1.8, and the tranny drain was located on the bottom, 23 millimeter, as I recall. The fill was about 8-10 inches away, and on the drivers side of the transmission facing forward. Real easy to get at with a wrench. the bolts held pretty hard, but broke away abrubtly. Be careful, I cut my finger when the wrench moved suddenly. Both the drain and the fill are the same size and look alike. I'd recommend cracking the fill before the drain in order to let the fluid (75W-90) drain more easily.

Filling is a little difficult, but I have a funnel with a short (2 foot) piece of plastic tubing attached(old beer bong!), made the job a lot easier, just snake the tube down by the battery and stick it in the fill hole. The transmission takes 2.8 quarts, when it starts to come out the fill hole, you're done. Just tighten back up and drive off.


I just did this last weekend, only took about a half hour.

so is the 75w-90 just a really think motor oil or is it the special auto tranny fluid?

Manual Tranny Fluid
 

This stuff is MANUAL transmission fluid, AKA Gear Oil. 75W-90 is the kind called for in my owner's manual. It is rated by viscosity the same as motor oil, but comes in a different container, and is more expensive. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT put it in an automatic transmission, you wil F*** it up. Check your owner's manual for the ATF you use, there's a number of different formulas. The procedure for an Auto is different, as well, most don't have a drain plug, so you have to drop the pan to drain it, and you will have to fill the tranny through the dipstick. Not impossible, but messy and a real PITA.

Oh yeah...
 

Oh yeah, and whatever you do, don't put any kind of ATF in a manual transmission, you will kill it quickly.

At least on first gens, there is an auto tranny drainplug...but you basically gotta drop the engine crossmember to get the pan out of the way too... d'oh :o

damn i totally misread the subject of this tread and thought it was for auto tranny's. Anyhow. My auto has a drain plug but as far as i can tell you have to fill the thing from the dip stick.

In an auto yes fill through the dipstick tube.

pretty sure in mine, i have to fill it from the speedo cable.

Re: Manual Tranny Fluid
 

THIS IS 100% CORRECT......
make sure you use GEAR OIL --- with the above stated weight...
Bruce

according the the haynes manual you have to drain through the bottom plug and refill through the speedometer driven gear case hole (not sure where that exactly is) and yeah its 2.8 quarts... well 2.83 but i'm sure i can measure out that .03 part the 1.8 L tranny takes 3.55 almost a full quart more... i'm hoping to change my fluid this weekend or early next week...

1 gens fill through the speedo ,2 gens have a fill plug on the frt. This for manual only ,auto will drain on bottom and remove pan if you want and fill through dipstick tube.

so is this a pretty quick thing to do? or will this take a while? and do i need a new bolt and washer when i'm done?

It wouldn't hurt to put a new washer on but it is usually not needed.If you have any question about the washers (fill and drain) replace them, they are just copper washers and you should be able to get them anywhere, and open the fill plug when you drain ,it will drain alot faster.

The fill hole is the one that's angled down slightly, right? It's the only one I see on the front, and the drain is located way back on the bottom close to where the shift fork enters or so? It's the only 23mm bolts I found on the Tranny so far, didn't want to go ahead and mess my car up, so I'm making sure.

I discovered that my battery cable the positive plug was a little to big for the connector sticking out so it was loose, early loose to the point where it was capable of coming off :eek:. And it was thightened all the way :eek: . Oh well pliers work well in some cases, bent it down to a smaller shape and it fits, maybe that will solve some odd idle problems. We'll find out and see on the drive to work tomorrow.

what size washer do i need? or how do i find out without pulling the plug cause i can't drive my car to the store to buy a washer after i've pulled the drain plug

Re:Washer Size
 

On my 02 DX with 23 mm fill and drain plugs, the washer part no. is: 9956-41-800

02 DX Millenium Red

uhmm where is the part number from? did you get it at the dealer? or just go to the lowes or home depot for a washer?

Re: Part No.
 

Sorry, I should have made it clear. The above part no. is from Mazda.

02 DX Millenium Red

that part number won't help me since i have a 95 but out of curiousity how much was a washer from the dealer? i'd have to wait a week to get mine probably...

i found the transaxle and i saw two large bolts... one facing directly down and one facing down at a 45 degree angle... is the one at an angle the fill bolt? and if so how do i get the fluid in when it is practicly facing down? doens't make a lot of sense to me

Part No. Again
 

I would think that if both our transmissions have the same size fill and drain bolts that the part no. I listed would be right for your car, too. I ordered my washers from www.mazdastuff.com

Since the washers were part of a larger order, I don't remember what they cost but I know they were very inexpensive.

In answer to your other question, the large bolt facing straight down is the drain plug; the same size bolt facing forward and down at an angle is the fill bolt. When I filled my transmission I used a funnel with a long tube placed tightly in the fill hole. I poured the oil in the funnel slowly and had no trouble filling the transmission without any spills or problems. To make it easier to run the tube into the fill hole, I removed the air intake snorkel over the radiator. The downward angle of the fill hole makes it appear that filling is a problem but actually it worked out quite well. I had my car up on the Rhino ramps when i did the job.

After filling my transmission with Red Line MT-90, the stick moves like an eel in oil. Definitely a worthwhile mod.

02 DX Millenium Red

wow was that easy... took me about 20 minutes... the plugs are for sure 23mm and they are easy to remove... glad i did it.. i used mobil 1 synthetic gear fluid and i am noticing a slightly easier shift.. not a big difference but there is a small one... glad i did it

I just finised too, man, pretty easy, except at first I was using a small as hell tube and it was slow as hell to go in, but got a bigger one and no big problem. SHits nice now, mush better then before, but then again I had a shit load of chips come out wiht the old oil, and it was a metelic color, oh well, the transmision still works. :). Used the same mobile synthetic oil. We'll see how long the shift quality lasts, I just had to go out and drive today, the gear shifts actually felt nice, I'd say this feels better then a cable shift system, but then again, I had shit for oil before the change.

The only thing is that oil really stinks, really.

A mean trick to play is have buddy with ya and dab a little behind his ear it will keep the ladies away for a while that smell seems to stick even after you scrub up. I can come home from work and my wife will say " you where at gear oil weren't you" everytime I take a gearbox apart.

Stinky stuff
 

Oh yeah, that gear oil stinks, even just out of the bottle.

I really didn't notice much difference in shift quality, but then again I was just doing it for general purpose. I just bought the car and want all the fluids changed as soon as practical just to know for sure it was done. The best news I got was that the magnets had just the barest hint of fine powder on them. That tranny is in FINE shape. Which was the other reason for changing the fluid. I couldn't find out waht sahpe the tranny was in any other way.

Could some one try to explain this to me rationally.

I poured out the old oil, pourd in 2.8 quarts of the new, after tightening the drain bolt of course, tightened the fill bolt. Car ran amazing last night, it wasn't as sluggish as before, it was more laive, gears changed beautifully and all, same this moring, car had no problems running and going it was like it had a new life and gears changed like a dream. It was nice and cool, 60ish last night and this morning. After work, and the car standing on the lot for like 11 hours in direct daylight when it was ligke 80 at most, driving back from work to see some houses it was going normally far a while, then I was accelerating and the thing had no go, even after pressing the gas harder, I thought it was the up hill, but the same thing down hill afterwards. Holding the gas down slightly to go 50 in 5th gear as usual resaulted in the engin working hard and bearly hitting 40. And now shifitng gears is like major ass. You can feel it snapping in, like there was no lubrication what so ever. It's rough and very unatural, much worst then it has ever been. Right before this I noticed that on one upshift from first to second on the way there I could feel the actualy gear teeth slipping, no noise though, just a jump in gears as if they missed, my dad was driving as a passeneger and when I told him that I felt the gears slipped he said he didn't hear shit. And if you think it's me that says the car slows down, then, my dad who thinks my car is shit and doesn't care much for it, he could care less if it was slow or not (can't blame him he doesn't like sticks any more and doesn't want to admit it's a pretty nice car for the year and price), was the first ot mention how badly the car lost power. I felt it but didn't say anything he just says, did you notice how badly the car lost power?

I'm shocked, how in the world would changing oil mess up my ride so bad. I'm not in the market for a new transmision, that or this oil (mobile 1) is major shit. I doubt it could be my fault, as I onyl changed the oil, and it did run amazing for a short while. Now I have to find a way to get back the money I spent on this shit. considering I throught the bottles and can't find the reciept, damit. Stupid autozone.

BTW, when I filled the car, I noiticed some sediments in two bottles at the bottom, didn't make anything of it, would that have anything to do with it?

Any advice???

what fluid did you use ..
what did the bottle say
Bruce