Originally Posted by ghas

You didn't state your year and transmission model. For my 2003, 5 speed, Red Line MTL 75W80 is the recommended fluid. There are 5-speed and 6-speed manual transmissions and CVT and standard automatic transmission available for Mini's depending on year. You might get more help here: http://www.redlineoil.com/application.aspx

Originally Posted by PelicanParts.com

As stated above, MTL 75W80 GL-4 is the correct trans fluid for your MINI. Mark/Pelican Parts

Originally Posted by MINIdave

Thanks for posting this, and it's very well done too!

I'd love to see more "grrls" doing their own work on their cars....I taught my daughter how to work on her car one summer when she was in college. We bought her a VW bug and spent all summer doing all sorts of stuff including a new engine, redoing the seats and a whole bunch of other maint, like brake adjustment, trans lube, tightening the steering box and so on. We then took a 4,000 mile trip in it across country to her school! it was a fantastic summer, a great learning experience for her and she's used the skills she's learned ever since.

I think the most important thing she learned tho was the confidence to tackle mechanical things on her own, without needing a "guy" to help her. She's married with 5 kids now and she's still the go-to guy in their household when things don't work.

A lot of times the excuse I hear has to do with not being strong enough - however I find it's usually down to not knowing how to use the tools and how to apply leverage - something that seems to be inate knowledge for guys but not so much for grrls. So guys, get the women in your lives involved with their cars, don't do it for them, teach them how to do it themselves, everyone will benefit if you do, including them!

Originally Posted by Gerldoc

I thought I had done most of the 50K maintenance on my 2005 MCSc (I'm actually at 52K) - but I neglected one thing - a transmission fluid change!

I think I fell for the "never needs changing" line that I had heard from the dealer... After reading some posts on it, I though hmmmmm...maybe I should just do it - what if it really could use fresh oil?

Well, in a nutshell, I am darned glad I did. After seeing the photo of the used fluid below at the bottom of this post, I think you'll agree!

This is NOT hard to do at all - just a bit messy!

So here's another guide for the other grrrls out there on how to do this...



THINGS YOU WILL NEED:

1) Ick clothes - wear ones that you wouldn't be upset if some oil got on
them (just in case!)

2) A car jack and 2 stands.

3) 2 quart bottles of manual transmission gear oil. Like many of the
others on this forum, I bought Redline MTL 70W80. Redline is not sold
at all auto parts stores. If you want to find out where to get it near
you, go here: http://www.redlineoil.com/ and type in your zipcode.

I paid $13.99 a quart (it's good stuff).



4) A shallow (and preferably somewhat wide) catch pan. I bought a
square plastic basin at a hardware store (the kind you would put in
the sink to wash dishes in).

5) One 8 mm. hex bit (socket drive) and socket wrench (or breaker bar)
Don't make the mistake I did! Without looking first to see what the
drain and fill plugs actually looked like, I had read about needing an "8
mm. hex socket" and bought that
What you want is a 8 mm. hex BIT with a socket drive. The drive is
going to be 3/8 inch (or possibly 1/2 inch) size. You will want to be
sure that the socket wrench drive is the appropriate size. If you have
a wrench with a 1/2 inch drive and the bit uses a 3/8 inch drive, you
can buy a 1/2" to 3/8" adapter for about 3-4 dollars.
A breaker bar is just a long (usually 18 - 24 inch) heavy metal socket
wrench, with either a 1/2" or 3/8" drive. it is used for the express
purpose of loosening bolts (like off of your wheels) and is a darned
handy tool to own. Auto parts stores will have them.


The 8 mm. hex bit was $3.99 at the autoparts store, and this is what it looked like:






6) A torque wrench (warning - despite temptation, DON'T use this as your breaker bar - it will ruin the calibration of the wrench!)

7) A plastic funnel and clear vinyl tubing, with 1/2" o.d. (outer diameter)
and 3/8" inner diameter. I got a 20 ft. coil of it at Home Depot for
about 6 - 7 dollars. You will only need about 3 to 4 feet of it.

8) A short piece of wood dowel, or - I used this - one of those skinny
bamboo garden stakes (the ones about 1/4 inch in diameter).

9) Some nitrile gloves and some shop towels are handy, since it IS
oil, and things WILL get messy, despite how careful you try and be!

10) Your favorite after-the job-is-done vice!



STEP ONE:

Before you actually get started...thers have suggested first placing the quarts of oil in a sink partially filled with warm water, so that when you go to pour it, it will come out faster. (It has the consistency of maple syrup!) I just placed mine is the warm sun, and it worked out fine.

Jack up the car, and place the jackstands under the squarish jack points at the front of the car (you can see the if you look under the edge of the door sills). You want to try and have the car end up as level as possible - so having the car initially positioned so the back end is a bit higher than the front should be perfect. (I was stuck doing this is my driveway, and due to the way it is, there was NO way to get my car as level as I wanted, but it was close.)

LEAVE THE JACK UNDER THE CAR - always a good idea in case one of the
stands should fail!!


STEP TWO:

Place yourself front and center of the car, and look under the front of the car towards the driver's side. About an arm's length away, you will see the transmission casing, and two black plugs:




Place your drain pan under this area, and a bit more towards the passenger side of the car (when the oil comes out the bottom hole, it will arc out towards the passenger side and you don't want it to miss the pan!)

[This is (physically speaking) the hardest part of the job. MINI factory apparently likes to torque the plugs in really tightly, and they can be hard to remove - I had read this over and over. However, at 5'6" and 135#, I was able to loosen both plugs with just my El Cheapo 10 inch socket wrench - it just took some muscle and leverage.]

Using your socket wrench/breaker bar and the 8 mm. hex bit, LOOSEN THE TOP (FILL) PLUG.

I repeat - LOOSEN THE TOP PLUG FIRST!!

Reason being, if you loosen the drain hole first and all the oil drains out, and then you find that you can't get the top plug out, you are now stuck with a car that will need to be towed to a mechanic!!!

Once the top plug is just loosened, go to the bottom (drain) plug and JUST LOOSEN it - once budged this little bit, you will be able to unscrew both plugs by hand.


STEP FOUR:

Remove the loosened bottom (drain) plug by unscrewing it with your hand. Be sure that the catch pan is situated right, because at first, the oil will come arcing out - then it will drip. Let the oil all drain out (about 10 minutes or so.)

After all the oil has drained out, replace the drain plug, and tighten it firmly with your hand.






STEP FIVE:

Take your 3 to 4 foot vinyl tubing, and insert the dowel (or piece of tomato stake, as I did!) into one end. This will stiffen the tubing so that you can easily feed it down through the engine bay to the fill plug below.

Here is a handy area through which the tubing can go, practically straight down, to the drain pan:





Remove the piece of dowel/stake, and insert that end into the top (fill) hole - it only goes in about 3/4 of an inch or so - not far.

Back in the engine bay above, place the funnel into the other end of the tubing. Keep the drain pan in position under the plugs.




Now, retrieve the oil from the sink (or the sun) and pour it into the funnel.
Pour until the oil starts to come back out of the fill hole. You will use about 1 3/4 quarts of the oil.





STEP SIX:

Once you have filled the transmission case, torque both plugs -

For the MCS, torque both plugs to 32 ft.-lbs.

For the MC, torque the top (fill) plug to 22 ft.-lbs. and the bottom (drain) plug to 30 ft.-lbs.


STEP SEVEN:

Remove the jack stands and jack. Take the car for a spin - you will probably notice that the shifting seems smoother!
Dispose of the used oil as you would any other oil - NOT by pouring into a storm sewer or drain! Take it to a local auto parts store that will dispose of it for you, or to the hazardous waste removal area for your county.


Here is a photo of the used oil:

As you can see, it has a blackish-maroon color:






AND HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN'T SEE!!!

Originally Posted by ewgoforth

Hi,


Should one replace the drain plugs when changing the oil? I don't see any mention of a drain plug gasket either. Is there one? None of the sites I've visited seem to list one.


-Eric

Originally Posted by PelicanParts.com

The drain plug is designed to be used only once as it has a small rubber seal built into the plug itself. You can choose to re-use the old drain plug, but it may leak when you re-tighten it. The plug itself is cheap, so it's added insurance against oil leaks. Torque the drain plug to 25 Nm (18 ft-lbs). We have drain plugs HERE.

Originally Posted by Racingguy04

I think he was referring to the plugs for the transmission, not the engine oil.

Originally Posted by ewgoforth

Hi,


Should one replace the drain plugs when changing the oil? I don't see any mention of a drain plug gasket either. Is there one? None of the sites I've visited seem to list one.


-Eric

Originally Posted by Racingguy04

I think he was referring to the plugs for the transmission, not the engine oil.