Gearbox oil and headlights to mess with or not

[Youngsod]

I need some shiters advice, and probably a bit of encouragement. Last time you all managed to convince me to change the door mirror by myself, which to this date remains the greatest ever piece of practical work I have ever carried out

Anyway, I’ll cut to the chase. I have a 2006 Corolla, bought 6 ½ years ago as a trustworthy steed that would never let me down, and so far it never has. However, it’s now hitting 135k and there are a couple of things that need sorted. The headlamps have turned the traditional ‘hint of fog’ and recently the gearbox is a little notchy when cold.

 

Now  I have the mechanical ability of a confused aardvark, but I thought that even I could manage this, but first I thought I’d better run it past the hive mind. Is the gearbox oil change as simple as it looks? Remove the drain plug until it’s empty, then fill it up through the filler plug until it dribbles out? Do I need new crush gaskets?

The headlights are more complex, I hear that it’s possible to clean them with toothpaste as an abrasive. Is this the best thing to do? Does this not remove the UV coating?

 

Your thoughts please ladies and gentlemen.

 

 

[Asimo]

The headlights have gone brown because the UV coating has had it. I havn't had success with toothpaste but have with Silvo metal polish. There really is nothing to loose trying this. Do a small area at a time and you will be able to monitor your progress.

Gearbox oil - unless you can fill from above, you will have to have some way of pushing the oil upwards to get it into the fill hole, not always easy. Always undo the fill plug first because if you can't get it out and you have already drained the box, you will be in a bit of a pickle.

[Youngsod]

 Always undo the fill plug first because if you can't get it out and you have already drained the box, you will be in a bit of a pickle.

 

Bugger me, that's a good idea!

[fatharris]

What Asimo said.

[Matt]

 

 Does this not remove the UV coating?

 

What's left of it aye. There's plenty of kits out there that come with sanding pads and polish, just search 'headlight restoration kit' on Ebay or Halfords sell a Meguiars one which comes with a wool polishing pad that you stick in a drill. A UV protectant lacquer over the polished headlights should see them good (although I don't know how long for). Mask the paintwork off so you don't accidentally drag the sanding blocks over it.

[stripped fred]

With the gearbox oil just make sure the car is supported properly with axle stands and you jack it up in the right place. Also, that you have tools ready for all eventualities. Put some cardboard or a few sheets on the ground and have a large enough container ready for the inevitable spills. These are all pretty obvious but worth noting.

[Partridge]

See how much new/as new headlights cost first. I was going to spend about £50 on sanding bollocks for my Accord, until I saw a pair of nice clear ones on Scumtree for £35 the pair.

 

In the end I decided to save £35 and have cloudy headlights. But that's not really relevant.

[Parky]

Tip with the box - remove the filler first!

 

Nothing as annoying as a stuck filler plug while your gearboxes blood slowly drains away. Basically though what you say is accurate.

 

Check the Comma oil finder to double check what spec you need, probably a 75/90 synthetic at a guess

[Youngsod]

That really is a a top tip to open the filler plug first. Just the kind of common sense that has eluded me all these years.

Seems like a doable job even for me, that and the headlights. It's not exactly welding up a rotten Maserati, but first steps and all that!.

[SiC]

Synthetic change should make a world of difference I've found on high mileage motors.

[dollywobbler]

I've only tried a posh Autoglym kit, which worked a treat on my Honda. Nowt particularly fancy in it, just different grades of sanding disc, and attachment to allow you to use an electric drill, and some polishing compound for the final coat. By the looks of it, someone had 'had a go' at the headlamps before. They were considerably more than just a bit faded, and the discs took a lot of material off. The scary bit is that things tend to look much worse until you get to the finer compounds. 

 

Which reminds me. Must find some way to re-seal the headlamps now that coating has gone, or they'll just cloud up again I guess...

[D Spares & Tyres]

Sanding with fine paper ( initially 1000 then 1500 - 2000 ) then mopping with G3 or similar will restore the clarity of your headlights

 

I did try sanding a headlamp on a Nissan with 1000 grit then laquering and it initially looked great but it went crazed when it dried. Hard to describe exactly what I mean but it kind of looked like crazy paving.  I used 1K laquer but maybe 2K would be better but I have no wish to try that again!

 

I had to fetch the laquer coat off with thinners which made a mess of the surface of the headlamp. I had to sand it all back smooth then mop it shiny and it looked alright.

[jonathan_dyane]

Maybe they could make them out of a more suitable material. Glass for instance.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Bugger me, that's a good idea!

 

A lesson many of us learn the hard way while using a metal file to whittle an extension bar into a tool which may eventually remove one of these fill plugs:

 

[jon928se]

I won't repeat the remove the fill plug first advice, oops I have.

 

For refilling the gearbox buy a pump up type 5L garden sprayer cheap from Aldi/Lidl/Poundshop/ B&Q. undo the connection from the flexi hose to the trigger/nozzle. Fill with your preferred manual transmission oil. (NB check if your car needs GL4 or GL5 grade as putting GL4 in a GL5 box will rapidly lead to tears.) Remove fill plug, remove drain plug, drain old oil preferably into a container not your sleeve/ears/nose etc. IMPORTANT Replace drain plug.  Insert hose of garden sprayer into fill hole, pump up sprayer, grab a beer while you watch new oil magicly going into box without all that hand breaking squeezing of very cold EP90 bottles filled with treacle. Once oil falls out of the fill hole release the pressure on the sprayer by pulling the pressure release valve. Replace fill plug, Job jobbed.

[sierraman]

I'd leave the gearbox oil personally. Top it up if it's low but changing the older thicker oil after all this time for some new thinner oil might cause some noise.

[gordonbennet]

Nine times out of ten a gearbox oil change will produce smoother more pleasant gearchanges, this includes autoboxes, though couldn't comment on automated manuals which are the work of the devil and should never feature on a shiters drive.

 

Peek is a good alternative to Autosol and considerably cheaper, a 1 litre can can be found on the bay for about £12/14 last time i looked, which will last you forever.

[steveo3002]

all id say is make 100% sure you find the correct drain and fill holes , its been known that folk just whip out anything that looks like a filler and stuff falls off inside the box =box apart to fix

 

so spend 10 mins on google to make sure its the right bits youre taking off

[Dirk Diggler]

Is it a 1.4 petrol or diesel? Have a good google before you do anything; the bearings fail on them; I've used Slick 50 with an oil change in a 1.4d box with 150k on it; still had to do the gearbox a few months later

[Youngsod]

A 1.6 petrol, 2006

[steveo3002]

if its going to shit itself then it will , but changing the oil for new stuff can only help it 

[Parky]

75/90 GL4 spec according to Comma. Prices and brands vary but you should be able to pick up 2 litres for £20 or less.

 

Manual boxes usually enjoy a nice fresh batch of oil, older neglected autos can be a problem though. I am sure you will notice the box will be a lot nicer to use after

[steveo3002]

mannol synthetic is cheap enough on ebay

[Stanky]

Headlight restoration is a doddle with some Autosol and drill mounted buffer pads. A bit of shameless self-promotion:

 

http://autoshite.com/topic/22688-stankys-fixerating-of-vehicles-thread-headlight-polishing-extravaganza/page-3?do=findComment&comment=1101508

 

<threadhijack>

Partridge, if you have some spare time then pop over for a brew and we can have a go at restoring the accord lights to their former glory if you fancy it </threadhijack>

 

Gearbox oil change was pretty easy on the late nissan, though the drain and fill plugs were very much happy where they were and took lots of tools and heat to persuade to come out - and we did them with the box off the car - it'd have been a right sod to do in situ I suspect. advice about removing the fill plug first is bang on the money.