Gearbox - also a replacement!
Car owners usually know (or at least should know) the mileage after which the engine oil should be changed. The situation is completely different with transmission oils in automatic transmissions. Some manufacturers of the latter offer one fill for the entire period of operation, while in other cases the oil has to be changed quite often, even after 45 miles. km.
Not only lubricant
To realize the importance of the problem of providing the transmission with the correct lubrication, one figure is enough: 400 degrees C is the operating temperature of individual components in the automatic transmission. The latter are also subjected to very high compression and friction forces causing wear. The gear oil therefore must not only ensure their proper lubrication, but also effectively cool the gears and, as not all owners of automatic machines know, transmit energy and control the switching elements. In this case, it is a special oil for automatic transmissions - the so-called ATF (automatic transmission fluid). Not surprisingly, the loss of gear oil properties has a direct impact on the performance of the machine. In this case, it is hardly necessary to convince anyone that this is a negative influence.
80 to 125 in airless
Mercedes recommends changing the oil in its seven and nine speed hydrodynamic transmissions every 5 years or after 125 6 miles. km. On the other hand, BMW (ZF hydrodynamic gearboxes) and Audi (ZF and Aisin hydrodynamic gearboxes) do not provide for its replacement after a single factory filling. It is interesting, however, that experts are not enthusiastic about the factory “filling” with automatic transmission oil, arguing that transmission oil wears out and ages, like other consumables. According to their recommendations, it should be replaced every 8-80 years or after 120 miles. km depending on the type of transmission.
60-100 in dual clutch engines
The case of changing transmission oil in the so-called. dual-clutch transmissions found in both higher-end cars and, increasingly, popular small cars. And therefore Volkswagen recommends replacing it after a mileage of about 60 thousand. km, and Mercedes (class A and B) - every 100 thousand km. On the other hand, Audi does not provide any transmission oil changes throughout its service life. A separate issue is CVT boxes, i.e. stepless. For example, Audi has set an oil change date of every 60 for its Multitronic transmissions. km.
How do youchange?
However, regularly replacing used gear oil with new one is not so easy. In the case of automatics, it cannot be completely drained, as in the case of engine oil, because some part of it will always remain inside the box. Thus, it would be unwise to fill in new oil, the parameters of which would deteriorate immediately after mixing with the remnants of the already used one. So what to do? Briefly, the procedure for replacing used gear oil is as follows. After a partial drain of the oil, the oil return pipe is unscrewed from the oil cooler towards the gearbox, after which a special adapter with a tap is installed, which allows for the current adjustment of the amount of oil flowing out. In turn, a fixture is attached to the oil filler neck, which also has a tap. Its task is to dose the amount of oil flowing from the oil return line from the oil cooler. When filling the device with oil, start the engine, and then move the gear lever to all possible positions. This operation is repeated until clean oil flows from the radiator hose. When you notice a clean oil leak, stop the engine. The next step is to reconnect the return from the oil cooler to the gearbox and disconnect the filler. The engine is then restarted to check the oil level.
