Gearbox oil

Bpmull

I've often heard conflicting information on gearbox oil and whether or not to change it. The golf is coming upto 120k km so probably abit early yet to worry about it. But just in general some say you should change gearbox oil that it prolongs the gearbox. Others say there sealed units and don't touch them unless the gear changes are very rough or it's leaking. But that you shouldn't change the gearbox oil if the gear changes are ok.

So what should I go with and if I should change the oil when should I (for a mk5 golf). The reason I'm hesitant to change it is I changed it in my astra and I think it done nothing for the gearbox if not made it worse but then again gearbox trouble was very common in that model astra

joujoujou

It's usually difficult to change oil in autoboxes. But it's usually very easy in manuals. And it's recommended to do so, I'd say.

So don't hesitate.

edburg

What does service book say??

Personally I'd say max 100k km/4 years. Just how I would do it, don't think you feel much difference with oil change. Just good to keep good lubrication in there.

Having said I have said Astra m32 box and do it 40k/2 years. Thing with M32 box's i found there is conflicting info on how much oil is used (between 1.6-2.4 litres).

Interslice

I changed the oil in my old van at 120k. It was semi synth oil so about 8euro/litre of VW. Why wouldn't you. Newer cars use fully sythetic gearbox oil which is alot more expensive. About 90 euro for a can in the motor factor. They were for looking more than VW for the semi synth too. Not sure what your mk V uses. I'm guessing its the semi synth 75w90.

arthur daly

Like any lubricant it has a life span,different boxes have different specs.
The newer the oil the better your box will perform and last longer.
A worthwhile investment is a Haynes manual I have always found them well worth the 30e

corkgsxr

arthur daly wrote: »

Like any lubricant it has a life span,different boxes have different specs.
The newer the oil the better your box will perform and last longer.
A worthwhile investment is a Haynes manual I have always found them well worth the 30e

Yep every thing that uses oil needs a change every once and a while.

I'd do it every 60k klms or when you buy a car

Bpmull

I looked in the service manual and its not mentioned anywhere only thing it mentions is for deg gearbox oil change every 60 k km which I had heard was the case for them before. I thing I will get mine changed early next year as I probably won't get a chance to do it this side of Christmas. What should I be expecting A good independent garage to charge roughly to supply the oil and labour I was thinking Id be looking at around 150 euro would I be roughly right.

edburg

Depends on garage, if you supply oil yourself.

I'd say expect them to charge 2 (+) hours labour.

Dealer probably 120 plus 50 for oil

Independent around 60-80 plus 50 for oil.

Cheap monkey spanner 60 all in :P

Do it yourself priceless lol

Bpmull

edburg wrote: »

Depends on garage, if you supply oil yourself.

I'd say expect them to charge 2 (+) hours labour.

Dealer probably 120 plus 50 for oil

Independent around 60-80 plus 50 for oil.

Cheap monkey spanner 60 all in :P

Do it yourself priceless lol

Somewhere in and around what I was thinking. Iirc I paid around the 50 euro mark for oil for the astra 5 or 6 litres I think the main dealer had to order in the oil and then I got a mechanic I know fairly well to change it. He didn't charge me much at all and I could go back there either buts there normally around a 2 month waiting list.

As for changing it myself id like to think I'm ok at the basics with cars, servicing oil air fuel pollen filter changes, bulbs all that kind of stuff but a gearbox oil change is a bit out of my league plus its the kind of job a lift makes a lot easier to do. Ill ring my usual vw dealer and see what kind of money just the oil costs and take it from there. Thanks for all the advice.

corkgsxr

Some of the modern diesels use a very thin oil. 80/100 Euro just for the oil

George Dalton

Your car uses a 75W gearbox oil.

It is expensive to buy in 1L bottles from VW but we buy it in 20L drums which makes it a lot cheaper, we do the whole job for €50.

Incidentally the gearbox in your car isn't like most manual boxes where you drain the oil out of the drain plug. The drain plug only drains the diff area of the box, to get the rest of the oil out you have to lock the gear selectors in a certain position and then remove a bolt from the bottom of the gearbox. So make sure whoever does the oil change knows what they are at!

joujoujou

George Dalton wrote: »

Your car uses a 75W gearbox oil.

It is expensive to buy in 1L bottles from VW but we buy it in 20L drums which makes it a lot cheaper, we do the whole job for €50.

[...]

I bet it's G 052 512 A2, also known as Fuchs Sintofluid SAE 75W API GL-4.

Same oil meets specs G 060 726 A2, G 070 726 A2 and G 052 171 A2 as well IIRC.

George Dalton

joujoujou wrote: »

I bet it's G 052 512 A2, also known as Fuchs Sintofluid SAE 75W API GL-4.

Same oil meets specs G 060 726 A2, G 070 726 A2 and G 052 171 A2 as well IIRC.

That's the stuff. The 20L drum is cheaper off VW than Fuchs though for some strange reason!

Bpmull

George Dalton wrote: »

Your car uses a 75W gearbox oil.

It is expensive to buy in 1L bottles from VW but we buy it in 20L drums which makes it a lot cheaper, we do the whole job for €50.

Incidentally the gearbox in your car isn't like most manual boxes where you drain the oil out of the drain plug. The drain plug only drains the diff area of the box, to get the rest of the oil out you have to lock the gear selectors in a certain position and then remove a bolt from the bottom of the gearbox. So make sure whoever does the oil change knows what they are at!

I know where Ill be heading so . Ill book it in over christmas or early next year with you. What cost would I be looking at to change brake fluid might get that done too as I've seen it mentioned to change it every two years or so.

Bpmull

Thanks to everyone who posted for all there help. At least I know what to do with it now hopefully a fresh oil change will keep the gearbox nice and happy for another while anyway

obezyana

I always change gearbox and diff fluid in any car i get. My gearbox feels really nice since i changed the fluid a few months ago. I used that Fuchs stuff i find it great.

michael999999

Finding it really difficult to change into 2nd and 3rd lately. Especially when the car is started.

Would the gearbox oil change help this?

03 Laguna 1.9dci

Alanstrainor

michael999999 wrote: »

Finding it really difficult to change into 2nd and 3rd lately. Especially when the car is started.

Would the gearbox oil change help this?

03 Laguna 1.9dci

I would doubt it, I'd wager that it is something else. Any forums I've read report little change in feel when changing gearbox oil.

Interslice

Ye it's prevention rather than a cure really. I change the box oil at the half way mark of the expected life of the engine itself. At 168k miles on the TD in the nissan so it doesn't need it yet! It's normally a piece of pish to do on older VW's, an hours work and 24 euro's worth of oil. Unfortunaltely sound a bit trickier on the MkV's.

obezyana

Alanstrainor wrote: »

I would doubt it, I'd wager that it is something else. Any forums I've read report little change in feel when changing gearbox oil.

I would disagree with that Alan as my gearbox was feeling a bit heavy until i changed the oil and now its as smooth as you could get. I would agree alright about something else being wrong if the box feels really bad when changing gear it definitely would point to something wrong.

ION08

michael999999 wrote: »

Finding it really difficult to change into 2nd and 3rd lately. Especially when the car is started.

Would the gearbox oil change help this?

03 Laguna 1.9dci

I would say thats probably a clutch cylinder and not something an oil change would fix.

obezyana wrote: »

I always change gearbox and diff fluid in any car i get. My gearbox feels really nice since i changed the fluid a few months ago. I used that Fuchs stuff i find it great.

This. I always change gearbox oil in every car i get. It might not neccessarily be crying out for a gearbox oil change but why not, it wont cause any harm.

From personal experience it has always made the gearbox feel that little bit silkier and then also the feeling of self satisfaction of knowing theres fresh oil in there!

michael999999

ION08 wrote: »

I would say thats probably a clutch cylinder and not something an oil change would fix.




This. I always change gearbox oil in every car i get. It might not neccessarily be crying out for a gearbox oil change but why not, it wont cause any harm.

From personal experience it has always made the gearbox feel that little bit silkier and then also the feeling of self satisfaction of knowing theres fresh oil in there!

Is it expensive to do the clutch cylinder?