when i drained the gear oil i was half sorry i bothered. she's a one six oct with 84000 miles.i've never changed the gear oil since new and could'nt believe how clean the oil was. i drained it into a clean washing up basin (dont tell herself) for a bit of CSI and found the oil to be spotless.it looked,smelled and felt just like the new oil,well, peace of mind suppose.

Doesnt hurt to change it, job well done.

Looking at it won't tell you how the long chain molecules have been broken up, the viscosity has change, the acidity has changed and overall the EP protection level has dropped.

So you did the right thing changing it, 1.9 litres back in and good to go.

Greg.

when i drained the gear oil i was half sorry i bothered. she's a one six oct with 84000 miles.i've never changed the gear oil since new and could'nt believe how clean the oil was. i drained it into a clean washing up basin (dont tell herself) for a bit of CSI and found the oil to be spotless.it looked,smelled and felt just like the new oil,well, peace of mind suppose.

Looking at it won't tell you how the long chain molecules have been broken up, the viscosity has change, the acidity has changed and overall the EP protection level has dropped.

So you did the right thing changing it, 1.9 litres back in and good to go.

Greg.

:iagree:

I would add that if you didn't have the car from new, you may have no real idea of its previous life. It could have been driven by grandma on the motorway for 50 miles at a time OR it could have had its nuts ragged off from cold by some hooligan doing a couple of miles at a time.

Last time I changed the gearbox oil (1.9 110 TDi, no hooligans, 90k) I put a cap full of new and old in the fridge (4degC) and the oven (70degC). The difference in viscosity was significantly lower in the old sample at both temperatures. (SWMBO not impressed by scientific endeavour. Say fridge/oven for food and I run risk of being fed anything she finds:()

For £10 for VAG gearbox oil, why take a chance.

The reason engine oil "looks old and black" is that it's holding soot particles in suspension. Obviously this doesn't normally happen with gear oil!

As Greg says, the colour doesn't tell you anything about the oil viscosity.

Still not got mine done

I have noticed it feels more notchy to get into gear on these very cold mornings :thumbdwn:

I recently done mine at 104k and the old oil looked very clean but the subsequent improvement in the smoothness of the gear change since tell me it was not doing it's job well