Adding transmission fluid, and good tricks? Options

[Ferg]

Just wondering if anybody found a neat device that makes it easier to get that swepco in there. I made a mess last time, and ended up adding little by little and it took forever.
Ferg.

ps, i did a seach but came up with nothing.

[mike_the_man]

I don't know what type of a bottle Swepco comes in, but the tranny oil that I bought (Castrol Synthetic), had a squirt nozzle on the end. I just stuck it in the hole and squeezed. Some sort of pump would work well too. I'm pretty sure you can buy a pump fo filling trannys. Try your FLAPS.

[brians914]

I pumped it in with a hand pump that screwed on a bottle. Got it at walmart I think. Its use was for filling outboard boat motors with fluid. Worked good under the car to.

[Dave_Darling]

Get over to your FLAPS, and look for a hand-pump by "Sta-Lube". They make it for their own 1-gallon bottles of gear oil, but it fits perfectly onto the Swepco gallon bottle. You just hook the tabs on the hose outlet to the fill hole, and start pushing on the pump's plunger. Takes a while, but not nearly as messy as the long-long funnel approach. And I like it better than the "great big syringe" approach.

If you are using quart bottles (I don't think Swepco comes in quarts, but other stuff does), there is a "marine flush kit" that is a similar hand pump for 1-quart bottles. Works like a charm!! It does take a while, though, too.

--DD

[lapuwali]

Hmmm. I just did this, and found it very easy. Remove plug, tilt up bottle, hold with a rag under the hole, until the oil dribbled out the hole. The bottle had a tapered tip that fit in the hole nicely, and most gear oils I've seen are sold in such a bottle. Is Swepco not available in this kind of bottle?

The 914 is one of the easier cars I've done this on, since there's so much empty space near (and esp above) the filler hole. All too many cars have the filler hole surrounded by floor or beams and force you to use a hand pump, which can be somewhat messy when switching bottles.

[Ferg]

swepco comes in a pretty big jug. I used the wife's turkey squirter thingy last time, took forever. I'll go to flaps for the pump.
tank you. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[seanery]

when Brad was here and we were playing with my tranny he had me go to Pepboys and get a hand pump. They have a nice one for about 11 bucks or so. It worked great.

[Mueller]

i hate the hand pumps......maybe due to me being a 98lb weakling (okay, a 200lb weakling)....it also depends on how much room you have under the car for leverage.........

[brant]

ferg,

you can use the 2$ bottle from regular fluid if you want too...

I have both (extra empty bottles... and a pump swepco) in lamar if you want to borrow and can wait a week or two.

brant

[Gint]

Get over to your FLAPS, and look for a hand-pump by "Sta-Lube".

I have this exact same pump. As well as a fluid transfer pump from H.F. that would leak all over. Brant has the right idea. Transfer the Swepco from the big jug to an empty bottle and buy the cheap pump from FLAPS. You can also borrow mine if you want. for that matter, bring your Swepco over to the house tomorrow afternoon or Sunday morning and we can put it on the lift and get it taken care of.

[Sammy]

Here's a good way to do it that few folks know of.
It takes a little time to set up but you can save a lot of effort and can also fill the transaxle when it is stitting level instead of jacked up.
(please ignore the simplistic whay I wrote it, my feeble attempt at humor).

Get yourself about 4 to 6 feet of clear plastic tubing, 1/2" diameter.

Stick one end of it in the hole in the tranny. Safety wire or zip ties do a good job of making sure it doesn't accidentally fall out and dump your incredibly expensive stuff on the garage floor. Duct tape isn't anywhere near as good for this particular job.

Stick a funnel in the other end of the hose and fashion a hook for the funnel out of coat hanger or whatever you have handy.

Hang the funnel on something, like a door window, etc. doesn't matter as long as it's above the tranny.
If the tubing is too long, now would be a good time to trim it. You don't want a bunch of excess tubing laying on the ground, just enough to get from the funnel hanging place to the tranny.

Place a drip pan under the transaxle so that any fluid that drips out doesn't make a mess. This is also handy to catch any excess oil in the tubing after you are done.

Here's the tricky part: pour the slippery stuff in the funnel. Don't go too fast or it will make a mess. You don't want to spill the oil inside or on your car. I prefer to hang the funnel on something other than the car like a floor jack, your choice.
Stop when you get about 3/4 of a gallon poured in and check to see if the tranny is full.

Keep going until it is full.
Stop pouring the oil in the funnel when the oil stops going in the tranny and starts going in the drip pan.

Wait for a few minutes and pull the hose out of the tranny, put the plug in, wipe the side of the tranny off, slide the drip pan out without spilling it (easier said than done).
Remove the funnle and hose, making sure not to dribble it all over the garage.

go for a drive or have a beer. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Mueller]

ahhhhh, a beer bong for the transmission (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer3.gif)

[Sammy]

BTW, That report was written by a guy who pumped 3/4 of a gallon of swepco into his 915 day before yesterday using a POS handpump while wedged under the car, bumped his head on something hard and raised a knot, and made a mess when he spilled the old gear oil. he did all this because he couldn't find his funnel and was too lazy to keep looking for it or to go buy another one. I knew better and did it anyway.
Sometimes it sux being me (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)