Gearbox oil, which is also called gear oil or transmission fluid, is an important part of every car. The gears, bearings, shafts, and other parts of the gearbox are kept smooth and safe from damage by lubrication and heat. If you don’t use the right engine oil, your car might not run as well, use more gas, or last as long.
How Often Should You Change Your Gearbox Oil?
A lot of things affect the answer to this question, like the type of gearbox, the type of oil, the driving conditions, and what the maker says. Because they have fewer moving parts and make less heat, manual gearboxes usually need their oil changed less often than automatic gears. But that doesn’t mean you can forget about manual gears. Both types of gears need to have their oil changed regularly to keep the oil from getting dirty and breaking down.
How often you change the oil is also affected by the type of oil. Multiple grades, synthetic, and semi-synthetic are some of the different kinds of engine oil. Monograde oils are made to work in a certain range of temperatures and are better for older cars.
Multigrade oils are better for current cars because they can handle a wider range of temperatures. Synthetic oils are made from man-made chemicals and work better and protect better than regular oils. Semi-synthetic oils are a mix of synthetic and regular oils. They are a good choice because they are cheap and good.
How you drive also affects how often you should change the oil. You might need to change your engine oil more often if you drive on rough terrain, like dusty roads, busy streets, or roads with very high or low temperatures. This is because these situations can make your gearbox wear out faster and get dirty oil more easily.
Lastly, the best way to find out how often you should change your gearbox oil is to look at what the maker says. These tips can be found in the owner’s manual or service instructions for your car.
For manual gearboxes, the oil should be changed every 80,000 to 100,000 kilometers (50,000 to 60,000 miles). For automatic gearboxes, the oil should be changed every 60,000 to 80,000 kilometers (40,000 to 50,000 miles). However, these times may be different for your vehicle based on its model and brand.
How Do You Know If Your Gearbox Oil Needs Changing?
In addition to changing the oil when the maker says to, there are other signs that your gearbox oil needs to be changed. Some of these signs are:
- Problems changing gears: If it’s hard to engage the clutch or there’s resistance when shifting gears, it’s likely because the oil in the gearbox is dirty or worn out.
- Grinding or whining noise: Weird sounds like grinding or whining, especially when changing gears, could mean that the oil is old or broken down and not lubricating properly.
- Leaks or changes in the color of the oil: If you see any leaks under your car or see that the oil in the engine has turned dark or milky, it’s time for a change.
- High mileage or continued use: If you have driven your car for a long time or used it a lot without changing the gearbox oil, you should do so now as a safety step.
If you see any of these signs, you should change the oil in your gearbox right away to keep the damage to your gearbox and other parts from getting worse.
How To Change Your Gearbox Oil?
If you know what you’re doing and have the right tools, changing the oil in your engine is not hard. But you can always take your car to a professional mechanic and have them do it for you if you don’t feel confident or skilled enough to do it yourself.
If you choose to do it yourself, here are the steps you should take:
- Put your car in park on a flat surface and press the parking brake. Make sure the engine is cool and turned off.
- Look for your gearbox’s drain plug and fill plug. Most of the time, they are on the side and bottom of the engine.
- Put a drain pan under the plug and use a wrench to take it out. Let the old oil run all the way into the pan.
- Put the drain plug back in place and make sure it’s tight.
- With the help of a wrench, take out the fill plug. Then, use a funnel to pour the new oil into the gearbox until it hits the hole in the fill plug.
- Put the fill plug back in and make sure it’s tight.
- Follow the rules in your area for how to properly get rid of old oil.
How To Choose The Right Gearbox Oil?
It’s very important to pick the right gearbox oil for your car, since different types of oil have different uses and qualities. If you use the wrong kind of oil in your engine, it will get broken and cost a lot to fix.
You can find the manufacturer’s suggestions for the best gearbox oil in your owner’s manual or repair manual. The company that makes the oil for your engine will tell you about its viscosity, additives, and base oil type.
When you change the temperature of oil, you can see how thick or thin it is and how well it moves. A number, a word W (for winter), and then another number are often used to show the viscosity of gearbox oil. Let’s say the oil is marked 5W-40. This means that its viscosity is 5 at low temperatures and 40 at high temps. For cold places and fast gearboxes, oils with a lower viscosity work better. For hot places and heavy-duty gears, oils with a higher viscosity work better.
Chemicals called additives are added to oil to make it work better and cover more. Anti-wear, anti-foam, anti-corrosion, friction modifiers, and high pressure agents are some of the most common things that are added to gearbox oil. These additives help to lower friction, stop wear, stop foam formation, stop rust, make fuel use more efficient, and stand up to high pressures.
The base oil type is the oil that is used as the main part of the engine oil. Natural, man-made, and semi-man-made base oils are the three main types. Mineral oils are the cheapest and easiest to find type of oil. They are made from crude oil. But they don’t work as well or protect as well as manufactured oils. Mineral oils don’t have the same performance or safety as synthetic oils, which are made from man-made chemicals. They are more expensive, though, and they might not work with all gears. The cost and quality of semi-synthetic oils are about the same. They are a mix of mineral and manufactured oils.
When picking the right engine oil for your car, you should also think about how well it works with your car, how easy it is to find, and how much it costs. If you want to keep your gearbox in good shape, you should only use oil that doesn’t harm it otherwise. You should also use an oil that is easy to find in your area and doesn’t need to be changed very often. Last but not least, you should use an oil that doesn’t break the bank but is still good.
Conclusion
If you want to keep your car in good shape and avoid expensive fixes, you should change the oil in the gearbox. According to the maker, you should change your gearbox oil every so often or whenever you see any signs of trouble. To pick the best gearbox oil for your car, you should look at its viscosity, additives, base oil type, fit, cost, and ease of access.
By using these tips, you can make sure that your gearbox oil protects and lubricates your gearbox and other parts properly. This will make your car run better, use less gas, and last longer.
