Miata List Archive

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Mail From: fredthornett (Fred Thornett)

Greetings,

I have my miata sitting on jack stands with the dregs draining from the gear
box. The oil is grey and "sludgy looking" - to use a technical term :). I
am wondering if I should flush the gearbox out before refilling it with the
correct grade oil.

Can anyone tell if flushing out the gearbox is a wise move please? If so
what kind of oil should I use? I assume it should be something of low
viscosity that will absorb any remaining gunk and remove it from the box.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Cheerio,

Fred
Hobart, Tasmania
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Mail From: Larry (Larry Alster)

I would think that the only way to get the gearbox to flush would be to put in new oil and drive it for awhile so the oil gets in and around everything in the box. Just putting oil in and taking it back out isn't likely to gain you much. If it were me I'd put in fresh oil and drive it a few weeks and then drain it again and refill.


Larry

White Knight 1991 Crystal White #99 CSP
Silver Bullet 1992 Silverstone #17 EM FM I+ Turbo
Honey B 1992 Sunburst Yellow J.R. M45
Whooosh 2004 Titanium MazdaSpeed MX5

LowCountry Miata lowcountrymiataclub.net
Masters Miata
RAGS 074

----- Original Message -----
From: Fred Thornett
To: (email redacted)
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 5:51 AM
Subject: [Miata] Gear Box Oil in a 1990 Miata


Greetings,

I have my miata sitting on jack stands with the dregs draining from the gear box. The oil is grey and "sludgy looking" - to use a technical term :). I am wondering if I should flush the gearbox out before refilling it with the correct grade oil.

Can anyone tell if flushing out the gearbox is a wise move please? If so what kind of oil should I use? I assume it should be something of low viscosity that will absorb any remaining gunk and remove it from the box.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Cheerio,

Fred
Hobart, Tasmania





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Mail From: kcmurphy72 (K.C. Murphy)

> Can anyone tell if flushing out the gearbox is a wise move please? If
so what kind of oil should I use? > I assume it should be something of
low viscosity that will absorb any remaining gunk and remove it from >
the box.


Well, you could always do what a friend of mine did on his old Jeep, but
I'm not sure if I recommend it... Sounds kind of stupid to me.

Every fall, he would put the thing up on jackstands and drain both
differentials, transmission, transfer case, and engine oil and refill
each with Kerosene. Then he'd put the thing in 4 wheel drive and second
gear and fire it up and let it run for about 5-10 minutes. He said that
the kerosene splashing around cleaned out all the nooks and crannies,
and without a load it wouldn't hurt anything.

THen he'd drain all the nasty looking stuff and burn it in his garage
heater over the winter, and refill everything with the proper
lubricants.

Now, to me that sounds like a total moron thing to do on MANY levels...
but it's an idea :-)

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Mail From: rmcelwee (Robert McElwee)

My father always used to do that with his engine oil, until he wised up...

----- Original Message -----
From: "KC Murphy" <(email redacted)>
To: <(email redacted)>
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 8:30 PM
Subject: RE: [Miata] Gear Box Oil in a 1990 Miata


>>
> Every fall, he would put the thing up on jackstands and drain both
> differentials, transmission, transfer case, and engine oil and refill
> each with Kerosene. Then he'd put the thing in 4 wheel drive and second
> gear and fire it up and let it run for about 5-10 minutes. He said that
> the kerosene splashing around cleaned out all the nooks and crannies,
> and without a load it wouldn't hurt anything.
>
> THen he'd drain all the nasty looking stuff and burn it in his garage
> heater over the winter, and refill everything with the proper
> lubricants.
>

This read-only message was archived from a public mail list.
Mail From: jmur5 (Jim Murray)

Yes, and I'd use what ever oil you're planning on sticking with. If you
did want something thin that will clean it out, I guess you could use
ATF. I know some of the gear boxes used in Ranger pickups were made by
Mazda, and they recommended ATF for them. They shifted really well, but
I don't think they last quite as long as they should... as one might expect.

Jim

Larry Alster wrote:
> I would think that the only way to get the gearbox to flush would be to put in new oil and drive it for awhile so the oil gets in and around everything in the box. Just putting oil in and taking it back out isn't likely to gain you much. If it were me I'd put in fresh oil and drive it a few weeks and then drain it again and refill.
>
>
> Larry
>
> White Knight 1991 Crystal White #99 CSP
> Silver Bullet 1992 Silverstone #17 EM FM I+ Turbo
> Honey B 1992 Sunburst Yellow J.R. M45
> Whooosh 2004 Titanium MazdaSpeed MX5
>
> LowCountry Miata lowcountrymiataclub.net
> Masters Miata
> RAGS 074
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Fred Thornett
> To: (email redacted)
> Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 5:51 AM
> Subject: [Miata] Gear Box Oil in a 1990 Miata
>
>
> Greetings,
>
> I have my miata sitting on jack stands with the dregs draining from the gear box. The oil is grey and "sludgy looking" - to use a technical term :). I am wondering if I should flush the gearbox out before refilling it with the correct grade oil.
>
> Can anyone tell if flushing out the gearbox is a wise move please? If so what kind of oil should I use? I assume it should be something of low viscosity that will absorb any remaining gunk and remove it from the box.
>
> Any advice would be very much appreciated.
>
> Cheerio,
>
> Fred
> Hobart, Tasmania
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
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> ftl.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/miata
>
>
>
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Mail From: rmcelwee (Robert McElwee)

A friend of mine has a brother who used to be a Mazda stealership mechanic.
He said that they had a tech bulletin (or whatever they call them) to use
ATF for engine oil for a certain period as a cleaner. Personally, I'd just
use gear oil, run it for a while, dump it and refill.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Murray" <(email redacted)>
To: "Fred Thornett" <(email redacted)>
Cc: <(email redacted)>
Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2006 1:54 AM
Subject: Re: [Miata] Gear Box Oil in a 1990 Miata


> Yes, and I'd use what ever oil you're planning on sticking with. If you
> did want something thin that will clean it out, I guess you could use ATF.
> I know some of the gear boxes used in Ranger pickups were made by Mazda,
> and they recommended ATF for them. They shifted really well, but I don't
> think they last quite as long as they should... as one might expect.