Aisin Tf-80 / AM6 Oil Change Questions (Mini-Guide Page 4)

[EDC5]

I bought the same funnel for mine.

It looks OK, they were a bit stingy with the pipe though, an extra foot or so wouldn't have killed them!

[EDC5]

Well lads... it's done, but had a couple of challenges and red herrings on the way.

I'll get some pics up later when I have the strength

Suffice it to say that the 'Sealed for life' myth is exactly that and a change is highly recommended.

Not that there was anything wrong before, it now feels 'better' and the changes are quicker too.

[milleplod]

Well done that man! I'm envious beyond reason!

Pete

[jgra1]

good work.. will do mine very soon

[NewcastleFalcon]

Well lads... it's done, but had a couple of challenges and red herrings on the way.......

Well done. When I see pics like yours above , I do like to go back to this which you may not have seen before just for balance

Working in a muddy puddle


Regards Neil

[EDC5]

Thanks , It wasn't too difficult overall, I was just lead astray midway.. and that made it 10x worse. I'll upload some more pics a bit later and explain.

Yeah!, It was raining heavily today, couldn't imagine doing it outdoors lying in a ditch

[EDC5]

Right, here's how it went.

First off, took car for a run to get the gearbox oil hot, checked with Diagbox. 67 degrees is plenty hot enough.



Removed air filter. Easy, filter housing lifts straight up after releasing clip between filter housing and battery tray:



Located filling nut, on right near earth strap. Was done up quite tight, (T55 Bit)



Jacked the car up, enough to get underneath.... Had to remove a crossmember that Citroen decided to fix right in the way of the drain plug
Crossmember is difficult to see here, but it has 2x18mm bolts each side, I managed to loosen it enough to push out of the way.



Let the drain begin!



As you can see, it's pretty black, just like that other pic of the oil at 60k miles. Mine has just turned over 58k.
About 3 litres of oil came out.

Next step was changing the crush washer and O-ring (Thanks Vauxhall)



Then back with the outer drain plug



Next comes the filling, using the handy draper funnel.




So far so good

Here was the problem that I wasted a lot of time on: after putting only 2 litres of fresh fluid into the box it began to overflow.... not good... I was still a litre short of what drained out and I thought that a cold box would take a lot more fluid than a hot one so this was very unexpected.

Que about an hour of pissing about with the car lift trying to get it dead level.... and failing.
This was a red herring, I don't think the horizontality... is crucial and sensitive to plus or minus 0.5 degrees

I then decided to sod it and jack up each corner of the car and put a concrete block under each wheel.. sorry, no pics of that.

After running the engine and cycling through the gears I added a touch more oil and still it came straight out of the gearbox... not happy.

I consulted the notes and decided to just follow them and not think too much, I fitted the inner level plug, added 500ml of oil and ran the engine until the gearbox got to 60 degrees.

I then got under and took the level plug out again and to my surprise not a drop came out... Excellent!

So, following the instructions I am told to add another 500ml, heat up the box again and check the level.

This time a thin stream of oil poured out for about 5 seconds then it slowed to a "drip-drip"... Bingo!

This is what I'm looking for, I sealed up the level plug and stopped the engine.

Then it was time to reset the Oil wear counter on Diagbox



Then it was just a case of putting the fill plug back in and putting the filter and housing back.



So, one test drive later and it seems better, smoother and faster to change gears.

The most important thing that I realised was that the oil level must be checked with the engine running as with the engine off the capacity of the box is a lot lower and it overflows after only 2 litres of new fluid.... I'll know for next time

[daviemck2006]

This is good for me to read up, as I'm intendung changing the gearbox fluid on the 407. Although its connected to a v6 hdi, I presume the gearbox is the exact same. I havent got a diagbox or lexia, is it essential to reset it? Im intending changing the fluid twice or possibly 3 times in quick succession. Would I wait until I'm finished befoer getting it reset, or would it be ok not resetting it at all?

[EDC5]

I'm no expert but I'm only guessing that when you reset the oil counter the gearbox can make it's gear changes quicker or behave in a way consistent with fresh oil.. maybe it slowly detunes itself over time as not to aggravate wear with old oil... I’m not sure.

I'm sure It would still do the box good if the oil were to be replaced even if the counter could not be reset. I was going to do multiple changes but as I have no faults currently and have quite a low mileage I've decided to do it annually for the next few years instead.

BTW, I would have loved a 407 coupe V6 diesel.... if it wasn’t for the £500 a year tax! absolutely mental!

[daviemck2006]

Its a lovely motor. The £500 road tax does not bother me. One advantage of being registered disabled is, because I dont take a motability car, I get one annual road tax for free. Its obvious which car I nominated for that this year.

[Gibbo2286]

Nice clear pictures there so much better than the usual diy photos and your under-bonnet looks a hell of a lot cleaner than the one I'm doing.

After years off the road it has ally corrosion growth and cobwebs everywhere.

Your workshop is the height of luxury, I'm working on the paving slabs out on the drive, keep getting rained off, but I'm pacing myself.

[bobins]

Your workshop is the height of luxury, I'm working on the paving slabs out on the drive, keep getting rained off, but I'm pacing myself.

I thought his workshop was somewhat disfunctional - there's still clearly loads of storage space left on the floor and you can move around it freely without tripping over things. That's just plain wrong

[EDC5]

Your workshop is the height of luxury, I'm working on the paving slabs out on the drive, keep getting rained off, but I'm pacing myself.

I thought his workshop was somewhat disfunctional - there's still clearly loads of storage space left on the floor and you can move around it freely without tripping over things. That's just plain wrong

Haha, it is uncharacteristically clean on account of moving the car lift around.

One of the perks of living on a farm is needing a big workshop I hate doing anything to the car when I'm at Uni and have no tools and have to park on the street

Just a thought, all I have done with the Lexia / diagbox is reset the oil use counter. I'm wondering if there are any other resets I need to do?

[milleplod]

I really, really, really want to get mine done! The mate I mentioned earlier who's pretty clued-up is, understandably, worried about trashing the gearbox if he was to get something wrong - he's concerned about the oil temp requirement, and the counter reset. I suppose a good old drive around immediately prior to doing it would get it hot enough, as you did, then doing the preliminary stuff a bit sharpish so it doesn't cool off, and hopefully we'll be ok. Its nerve-wracking just thinking about it, I don't like having the word 'hopefully' in the equation, but at approaching 80k miles, I'm going to have to bite the bullet I think!

Pet

[EDC5]

I really, really, really want to get mine done! The mate I mentioned earlier who's pretty clued-up is, understandably, worried about trashing the gearbox if he was to get something wrong - he's concerned about the oil temp requirement, and the counter reset. I suppose a good old drive around immediately prior to doing it would get it hot enough, as you did, then doing the preliminary stuff a bit sharpish so it doesn't cool off, and hopefully we'll be ok. Its nerve-wracking just thinking about it, I don't like having the word 'hopefully' in the equation, but at approaching 80k miles, I'm going to have to bite the bullet I think!

Pet

I can understand the worry as the AM6 seems to be shrouded in mystery and contradictory info. If I'd have filled the new oil with the drain level plug in and only measured the level with the engine running the first time it would have been a breeze! But once I got confused it was a bit worrying, never mind, next time will be a lot easier

I'd say if my oil was black at ~60k then at 80k it would be definitely due a change in my view.

To be honest, it might be worth you buying a Diagbox/Lexia as it will come in handy, I got mine for about £120, definitely worth it. I wouldn't chance it myself by guessing the temperature as it takes a while to warm up before you check the level.