Have I overfilled my gearbox?

[VeraPedroMariaWang]

Hi,
Yesterday I changed my gearbox oil, i read the wiki which says a manual gearbox takes 4.5 litres of oil. After draining I put the oil into an empty 5ltr can, I got approx 4 litres out so stuck 4 litres in. (Never spilled a drop...I still seemed to get covered in it somehow!) Today I was looking for something on brickwerks web site and noticed on there tech support page that my gearbox takes 3 litres of oil? Which is right? The previous owner had obviously changed the oil and possibly went off the wiki? Am I worrying over nothing and should just forget about it and get on with life or should I take some out? FWIW it changes nice and smooth.
Also I found jacking up the same side of the van as the fill plug really helped getting the oil in.

[mrhutch]

with the van LEVEL you fill till the oil just weeps from the fill hole surely?

I do it by an old piece of hose, with a funnel on the end, stuffed in the fill hole and then behind the wheel and up to the middle of the van, then just carefully and slowly filling the funnel, allowing for burps.

[R0B]

As Hutch says the van really needs to be level when doing an oil change. If i was you for peace of mind I would get it level and remove the drain bung, if you have overfilled it the oil will drain out.

[VeraPedroMariaWang]

It was starting to weep out of the fill hole. Van was almost level just raised slightly on the fill side. Thanks for the reply. Think I’m worrying over nothing.

[mrhutch]

you are

have fun and drive the beast

[VeraPedroMariaWang]

Thanks for the replies. Understood! Tbh driving the beast is what made me fall in love with these vehicles in the first place! Off for a drive in a bit! Hope everyone has a good Easter break, weather looks promising.

[Aidan]

As Hutch says the van really needs to be level when doing an oil change. If i was you for peace of mind I would get it level and remove the drain bung, if you have overfilled it the oil will drain out.

if you remove the drain plug all the oil will drain out Rob


a bit overfull will do no harm, if you park nose down you may get a weep from the breather hole so the front of the box will get oily
VW reduced the fill level of the petrol 2wd box for a smoother shift but that exposes the crown and pinion imho so I'd rather have 4 litres in a 2wd box and 4.5 litres in a syncro box, but the only way you can have exactly that volume is to put in measured amount when box is completely empty which will only happen when box is out and has been fully drained or rebuilt, in the van fill to the point when it runs out of the fill hole when it's level, especially important with a Syncro box as there's a 1 way valve in there so if nose up that is closed and it will likely overflow with only 3.5-4 litres in it, I have seen many Syncro boxes with insufficient oil in them either because of that or because garages mistake the published info for 2wd boxes with the less published info for Syncro

[bat]

a bit overfull will do no harm, if you park nose down you may get a weep from the breather hole so the front of the box will get oily
VW reduced the fill level of the petrol 2wd box for a smoother shift but that exposes the crown and pinion imho so I'd rather have 4 litres in a 2wd box and 4.5 litres in a syncro box, but the only way you can have exactly that volume is to put in measured amount when box is completely empty which will only happen when box is out and has been fully drained or rebuilt, in the van fill to the point when it runs out of the fill hole when it's level, especially important with a Syncro box as there's a 1 way valve in there so if nose up that is closed and it will likely overflow with only 3.5-4 litres in it, I have seen many Syncro boxes with insufficient oil in them either because of that or because garages mistake the published info for 2wd boxes with the less published info for Syncro

Thanks, Aidan
Have squirrelled that info away for future reference.
Regards Gary

[VeraPedroMariaWang]

Thanks for the info handy to know. I got it level and opened the fill plug,was a bit of weeping but soon stopped. All cleaned up now and still nice and smooth.

[R0B]

Bugger. i meant the filler plug.

[jebiga41]

As Hutch says the van really needs to be level when doing an oil change. If i was you for peace of mind I would get it level and remove the drain bung, if you have overfilled it the oil will drain out.

if you remove the drain plug all the oil will drain out Rob


a bit overfull will do no harm, if you park nose down you may get a weep from the breather hole so the front of the box will get oily
VW reduced the fill level of the petrol 2wd box for a smoother shift but that exposes the crown and pinion imho so I'd rather have 4 litres in a 2wd box and 4.5 litres in a syncro box, but the only way you can have exactly that volume is to put in measured amount when box is completely empty which will only happen when box is out and has been fully drained or rebuilt, in the van fill to the point when it runs out of the fill hole when it's level, especially important with a Syncro box as there's a 1 way valve in there so if nose up that is closed and it will likely overflow with only 3.5-4 litres in it, I have seen many Syncro boxes with insufficient oil in them either because of that or because garages mistake the published info for 2wd boxes with the less published info for Syncro

WHS

[jebiga41]

As Hutch says the van really needs to be level when doing an oil change. If i was you for peace of mind I would get it level and remove the drain bung, if you have overfilled it the oil will drain out.

if you remove the drain plug all the oil will drain out Rob


a bit overfull will do no harm, if you park nose down you may get a weep from the breather hole so the front of the box will get oily
VW reduced the fill level of the petrol 2wd box for a smoother shift but that exposes the crown and pinion imho so I'd rather have 4 litres in a 2wd box and 4.5 litres in a syncro box, but the only way you can have exactly that volume is to put in measured amount when box is completely empty which will only happen when box is out and has been fully drained or rebuilt, in the van fill to the point when it runs out of the fill hole when it's level, especially important with a Syncro box as there's a 1 way valve in there so if nose up that is closed and it will likely overflow with only 3.5-4 litres in it, I have seen many Syncro boxes with insufficient oil in them either because of that or because garages mistake the published info for 2wd boxes with the less published info for Syncro

WHS