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T3 gearbox oil
kombi kountry - July 24th, 2006 at 01:54 PM

This topic may be better suited to the Tech section, but for now:

The T3 owners manual says the gearbox oil (i'm refering to the manual) doesn't need replacing.....what do you guys think?

MickH - July 24th, 2006 at 02:37 PM

Leave it....unless you are a rubber coated octopus with a hell of a lot of spare time and the correct replacement oil..dont bother.:cussing

[ Edited on 24-7-06 by Mick H ]

kombi kountry - September 27th, 2006 at 12:01 PM

You talking from experience? :)

Quote:
Originally posted by Menangler
Don't believe the manual,
It also says the coolant is to stay in for the life of the engine, and we all know the consequences of that!!
Also says not change the gear oil.



Seems as though there are some differing views. Don't want to start a fight or anything.

Would people be more inclined to change the oil if they didn't have to do it themselves (i.e. let the mechanic do it)? Suppose i'll ask the local VW bloke how much he charges.

A friend that had a T3 said something about replacing the gearbox oil with the kind used in the syncro's (something to do with better quality). Anyone heard similar?

68AutoBug - September 27th, 2006 at 01:24 PM

Hi,
I presume you are talking about a T3 kombi and Not a type 3 Volkswagen squareback/notch or fastback??

Lee

http://community.webshots.com/user/vw68autobug 

kombi kountry - September 27th, 2006 at 03:45 PM

yeah T3 kombi's. had any experience with them?

Menangler - September 27th, 2006 at 06:21 PM

Personally I would change it, the manual also says you never have to change the coolant!!!

I use Valvoline 80-90 gear oil, although some people use a full synthetic gear oil, $$$$

greedy53 - September 27th, 2006 at 07:09 PM

oil in aqnything is like girlfriends should be changed regulary

kombi kountry - September 28th, 2006 at 08:57 AM

haha...good point greedy.

Thanks for the info Menangler

kombi kountry - January 2nd, 2007 at 08:05 AM

As mentioned in another post, took my t3 to the mechanic for a look over/major service and he was quick to check and subsequently change the gearbox oil. Very glad he did so and only took him a couple of minutes with the car already on the hoist.

I don't think the previous owner had changed the oil (which i think is a shame), and not sure whether the one before that (the original owner) had, but it definitely needed it (the oil had gone very ghosty).

So here's hoping not too much damage had been done to the gearbox over the last couple of years due to a lack of oil changing!

So in summing up i agree with the above 2 comments that the t3's gearbox oil (just like any other gearbox i presume) should be changed regularly despite what the owners manual says. From reading the intro to the manual and other marketing material from the era it seems as though one of vw's selling points of the t3 was the fact that it would require (well at least from their viewpoint) very little servicing (i.e. coolant and gearbox oil) and thus excluded these from the routine service manual.