Gearbox oil grade HDI also differential oil grade

[charentejohn]

I am just trying to find out the correct grade of oil for my gearbox, I have an invoice that says it had 3L of 75W80 replaced 9 months ago. This is a 2001 HDI 90 with a BE3/5 gearbox? 110k miles.

Book says gearbox is 1.9L so is 3L inc diff or did he spill some ? I assume gearbox and diff are all one oil supply, my first transverse engine car so no idea.

I read a reply to a problem engaging 1st and to some extent 2nd which was put down to gear oil grade possibly being incorrect.
So... what grade oil should this be ?
If this is the correct grade could it be something else ? Clutch seems ok, not heavy and works well, 1st and 2nd are a bit 'notchy' but usable. They are worse when cold but still not great when hot, I have driven five other Xantias and two were like this the others were very smooth.

The previous owner was a synthetic oil fan and could have ued these in the gearbox ? reciept just says oil, no specifics.
Would this make a difference, if so no problem replacing with new oil just in case.

[DickieG]

Handbook states use Total BV.

[Old-Guy]

The gearbox and diff are all one unit and the correct grade of oil is EP 75W/80 GL5 (for a BE5 box); 1.9L from dry, but you won't get anything like that much in when changing the oil because the drain plug is quite a long way up the diff casing - it helps to jack up the front of the car.

From previous threads:

Jim says “Total BV for choice but Comma 75W/80 is good in my experience..”

VertyVega kindly posted this picture:


The plastic breather plug is 17mm.

[charentejohn]

Thanks, the bill from the garage (previous owner) said 3L of oil used at £8.50/L. Then again it also said 0.25 hour spent changing engine and gearbox oil for which he charged £8.50, so I assume he made it up on added cost to products. If he can change engine and gearbox oil in 15 minutes he is doing well. He also added 'Kent' fuel guard at £20 when usual price seems about £10.

So basically he topped it up with some oil, but as he said 3L (lied) and if that is the case it may not have enough oil in it, perhaps he only put 1L in ? To some extent I hope so as putting correct new oil in should cure the problem.
I will do it again and try to remove ad much as I can beforehand.
If I can't remove all then I can always 'dilute' the remainder by doing two changes, so if 10% left then running for a week and changing again means the 10% is now mixed with the new oil so when removed again leaves just 1% original oil.
Thanks for the warning I will measure the volume of oil I remove.

I think the car has been reasonably well maintained, not very well maintained, I knew this when I bought it. Just little things neglected, dirty air filter for example (very old) and I assume fuel filter which I am about to change. All the things people usually don't bother with.
That said it has had a lot of new parts so no problem.

[myglaren]

I would be rather suspicious in your place. If they can't invoice accurately, what else have they let slide.

15 minute oil change is sort-of doable, I used to service my Xantia in about half an hour, once a month.

Up on high, remove the plug & let it drain. Make tea, remove & replace filters, replace the drain bung and refill with fresh oil.
Deadly simple.
I would do this immediately on coming in from work at the end of the day. Engine/oil were both very hot so the oil drained very quickly.

I suspect though that they have used an oil sucker to remove the old oil, which Citroen advise against for the HDi engines.

If you can it would be far better to do the servicing yourself, it's deadly simple, will save enough for you to do it at half the intervals recommended and you know that all the correct fluids and filters have been used and it has actually been done.

PSV gearboxes are very finnnicky with regard to lubricants, there are a plethora of posts on here that attest to that.
Where it says Total BV 75/80, that's what it means and every effort should be made to use that.
However, if that product is unavailable there is some evidence to suggest that Comma 75/80 is an acceptable substitute.

[charentejohn]

Thanks, I will use the Total BV because it is what is available here, haven't seen Comma products. I looked up the oil here and then it dawned what BV oil is, Boite Vitesse (Gearbox) oil....

The guy charged for Synthetic oil and may well have used it, it was done 9 months ago and oil is black so a good chance some old oil left. Good point on the sucker system to remove oil if it was that fast, the 15 mins was for engine and gearbox oil change.

[DickieG]

Re the above photo unless I'm mistaken there's another drain plug on the underside for draining the differential which I use to drain all of the oil out in one go or is that just for the ML gearbox?

[charentejohn]

Now I know what I am looking for I can make sense of the information in my maintenance book (in french) but the diagrams make sense now. I looked up the ML box an the drain is at the bottom.

Checked my gearbox and when on ramps the drain plug is the low point so no problem draining all old oil I reckon.