I drive a 98 Dodge Dakota, w/5speed manual tranny. I've been careful to keep up with oil and coolant changes, but what about the manual transmission? Its starting to make a little noise when the clutch is NOT pushed in. thats when it occured to me that I've never even checked the fluid level in the thing, and have no idea how to do so. Any hints?RE: Manual Transmission fluid maintenence?The oil check on manual trannys are kind of wacky. Manual transmissions NEVER have dipstick or filler tubes.
First you have to jack up your car and get under it. At the transmission (or gearbox as old timers like to call it), there's 2 large bolts that hold nothing. One is placed higher up and one is low to the bottom. One is for filling and the other is for draining. American cars are often square bolts (experience talking not statistics). On my Civic and Audi they are standard 6 sided bolts (17mm Civic and 19mm Audi).
Here's the rub: Your car / truck should be level during the check. So on cars you should jack up ALL four corners. Either way you should remove the top bolt to check. Get ready for some oil to spill out. If the oil does not spill out, then insert a finger (engine off) and the oil should be just below the fill hole.
If you need oil (or want to replace it), then you would need to get a long flexible funnel or get an manual oil pump. Check to make sure you get the proper type of gear oil. In some manual transmissions (like Hondas) they don't use transmission oil but engine oil.
You are suppose to replace them once very 30K to 50K. If you are tempted to let the quicky lube place to do it, check this out:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;
Good Luck.
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FACT: You also get +3 points when you vote for BEST ANSWERRE: Manual Transmission fluid maintenence?Its is usually a small cylinder close to the fire wall.RE: Manual Transmission fluid maintenence?There's got to be a drain plug in the bottom of your standard transmission. Check the handbook in your glove compartment for the capacity. If your lucky you may have a transmission dipstick tube for a refill. If not there's a side access plug on the trans. Know is a great time to drain and re-fill with synthedic gear oil. You may need to buy an inexpensive piston type lube gun with a flex tube to refill the trans if you need to refill it from the side of the transmission.
Either way it's too easy not to do it yourself.RE: Manual Transmission fluid maintenence?On a manual trans, there should be a plug on the side of the transmission, usually a 1/2%26quot; square drive, or a Allen type. Remove that plug, and the fluid should be able to be felt inside the trans by putting your finger in the hole.
If you can't feel fluid, top off with the proper weight oil until the fluid runs from the holeRE: Manual Transmission fluid maintenence?HI, do you still have the maintenance manual? I found a website that is about Dakotas, it says every 40,000 - 50,000 miles which would be 64,000 - 80,000 kms - here is the link
- good luck
