HI,
I was on my way home tonight when the car just dropped out of 5th gera, put it back in and it popped straight out again.
Tried and tried, but it was no good.
After about 10 minutes I got to a roundabout and after accelerating away, realised I was in 5th gear....but not for long!
Stayed in 4th for a while (5 - 10 mins), then tried it again. Sure enough, it stayed in 5th (for a bit).

Now, at the weekend, I gave my car a basic service (1st time!), I didn't know what the oil capacity was, but read that from low to Full on the dipstick was 0.8 ltr, so I went to put in a couple of litres.
I poured in what I thought was a couple and checked the dipstick - waay over the full mark !!!
I left it alone thinking that nothing much would come of it.
According to the marks on the oil container, I only put 1.75 ltrs in, which doesn't sound like a lot to me.

But......I've got a funny feeling that these two events are connected.
Can someone tell me if they are or not and what I can do in either case to fix it?

thanks

Hi Womble.

Over filling your engine above the 'FULL' mark increases the oil pressure therefore increases the stress on your engine oil seals - so why do we have oil breather pipes...! the stress comes at high revs I guess.

As for jumping out of gear, regardless of the gear you loose or jump out of, the cause is pointing to the gear box fluid level. Gear box oil is designed to last the life of the box. No topping up, No loss etc. Not always the case. - I once had a 1989 two litre sierra sapphire DOHC with a MT75 box (same as the cossies) which ran low on fluid - exactly the same symptoms as you. a mate said to top up the fluid and it took loads. Once full and leaked from the filler hole she ran perfectly.

If it doesnt end up being the fluid level,then im afraid that it prolly is the 5th gear syncro,which will require your box to be taken out of the car and the syncro replaced,which will end up being costly cause the box has to be stripped down to reach it

Hang on.
I thought that transverse engines shared oil with the gearbox.
Are you telling me that the 323 doesn't ?

If so, that would explain a couple of things!
I've probably emptied the gearbox and filled the engine !!!!

That being the case, can someone tell me where the drain plugs are and, more importantly where the gearbox filler plug is.

It only jumped out of 5th a couple of times on the way to work this morning, but I'm getting a whine in 4th now.
So the sooner I get this sorted, the better.

thanks

Nup, gearbox has it's own oil.

[u]Engine[/u] oil drain plug is in the sump, directly below the engine, block etc. Don't know about the gearbox off hand though.


Mark

[quote="wombleuk"]Hang on.
I thought that transverse engines shared oil with the gearbox.
Are you telling me that the 323 doesn't ?

If so, that would explain a couple of things!
I've probably emptied the gearbox and filled the engine !!!!

That being the case, can someone tell me where the drain plugs are and, more importantly where the gearbox filler plug is.

It only jumped out of 5th a couple of times on the way to work this morning, but I'm getting a whine in 4th now.
So the sooner I get this sorted, the better.

thanks[/quote]

You must have been a mini owner i guess to think all transverse engines did that.

The one I undid was a large hexagonal nut facing down at the bottom of the engine at the rear.

Looks like I gotta get underneath tonight (assuming the gearbox makes it home - only another 35 miles).

Anyone got info on these plugs ?

thanks

[quote="Mark.T"]Nup, gearbox has it's own oil.

[u]Engine[/u] oil drain plug is in the sump, directly below the engine, block etc. Don't know about the gearbox off hand though.


Mark[/quote]

At a guess Mark i would say that the gearbox drain plug would be at the bottom of the gearbox

Before anyone says anything further, I'd suggest that Orinoco here walks to the nearest motor spares shop, buys a couple of litres of gearbox oil and puts them in his car before he drives anywhere.

The gearbox drain plug is underneath the gearbox. The fill plug is on the side - it's one of those that's really hard to get at, and you put in oil until it comes out the fill plug again ...

By the way; does this mean you've put gearbox oil in your engine ???

Thanks Smotter.
No, there's no gear oil in the engine!

As Essexlad suggested, I owned minis and 1100's when I last serviced a transverse engine and the oil was shared in those.
I didn't even think about a separate gearbox and sump on the F, found a plug at the back and at the bottom..and off I went.

Apart from 5th gear and now the whine in 4th, it's actually been running OK.

Next time rtfm, I guess

thanks all

The gearbox does indeed have two plugs. 1 - to drain it (which is underneath, and the other to fill it (which is facing you on the side of the gearbox)

See yellow arrow bellow.

[img]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a196/stuart00/View05-555.jpg[/img]

You cant really overfill either as you fill till it comes out of the hole.
TOP TIP - Make sure the engine and gearbox are pretty cold and are on a level surface. Gearbox oil stinks too so wear rubbers gloves and have a rag to catch any overspill.

When I checked mine I remember the nut was a huge size, ended up using an adjustable.... which when the nut undid - my wrist smacked into my air filter sheild, slicing just below my right radial artery and severing a sensory nerve in my thumb. Ace huh....

Cheers for that Stuart.

nice clean engine you got there stuartspel!!! any more pics of your car??

.....thanks for asking about my thumb. Doc says if will feel numb for about a year...! Thats if I ever get feeling back in it at all.

Richyboy - As requested

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a196/ ... w07-77.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a196/ ... w04-44.jpg

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v687/Steve_Zodiac/untitled.jpg[/img]

[color=blue]Capacity for 24valve is 2,7litres, presume other models are same. Easy to do, didn't even have to jack car up, nuts (23mm?) weren't on mega tight neither. Only tricky thing is I had to get a funnel with a long neck so it could be filled. I did have to remove airbox as well so that I could get to filler plug.

Be a good idea to get plug washers, like oil sump washers, but bigger.

Bear in mind though, that even though it has a capacity of more than 2.7litres, I've read you should only put in the recommended amount - 2.7 [/color]

Aaaaaaah!
Happy bunny.
Found a garage round the corner from work that filled my gearbox up for the cost of the lube - nice people.

Stuart - would have asked about your thumb mate, but I didn't realise it had only just happened. Sounds a bit awkward. Hope the doc's right.

Thanks for everyone's help - just goes to prove you're never too old to be a twat !!

cheres for the pics fella, Looking Good!!

[quote="wombleuk"]Aaaaaaah!
Happy bunny.
Found a garage round the corner from work that filled my gearbox up for the cost of the lube - nice people.

Stuart - would have asked about your thumb mate, but I didn't realise it had only just happened. Sounds a bit awkward. Hope the doc's right.

Thanks for everyone's help - just goes to prove you're never too old to be a twat !![/quote]

You didn't mention the garage draining anything, so I take it your gearbox was dry ? If it's any consolation, I once took my 1974 Mazda 1300 Deluxe on a rally, stuffed up a corner and drove over a boulder in the bush ! I hit the bolder with the front cross member; the car bounced up and came back down with the gearbox landing square on top of the boulder ! The result was a hole about 2 inches round in the bottom of the gearbox, out of which all the oil escaped ! I drove the poor thing around for 3000 km's before I was able to afford a replacement gearbox from a scrappy ...

Thanks Smotter, but stuffing up a service doesn't sound as glamorous as a racing accident.

I assume you didn't drive it for 3000kms without oil....

[quote="wombleuk"]Thanks Smotter, but stuffing up a service doesn't sound as glamorous as a racing accident.

I assume you didn't drive it for 3000kms without oil....[/quote]

I'm afraid I did (i.e. no oil in the gearbox !) although I was young and foolish, and too skint to just go out and buy a new gearbox !

Womble,

Hows the gear box doing now? she staying in 5th?

Yep, no problem at all now - thanks again for the heads-up on that.

Great news womble