I'm trying to top up the gearbox oil. I've read all the other posts about it and after a bit of figuring out I've found the speedo cable going into the gearbox, removed the 9mm bolt next to it and slid out the little plate thing (whatever it's for). That didn't exactly reveal much and now I'm trying to figure out what to do next, most of the instructions don't go into much detail and I've never topped up gearbox oil before. I'm assuming I'm supposed to unscrew the thumb bolt thing on the end of the speedo so I can get into the casing and pour the oil in.

The problem is that it's completely stuck but I can't find anyone else on the entire internet that seems to be having the same problem. I don't know whether I'm supposed to be pulling, unscrewing, or ignoring this thing entirely, if someone can tell me that I'm on the right track it might be easier because then I can give it some proper welly without worrying about breaking anything.

Appreciate an help I can get here. Thanks.

Pull directly upwards with the cable still screwed on. Just be careful that the drive gear inside does not end up falling into the gearbox. It should come out easy once you have got it to start to come out. Do not top up to the top of the opening though. I believe you need the level to be about a few mm off the bottom of the drivegear (used as a dipstick).

Thanks but should I be pulling the cable or the thumb bolt kinda thing that the cable goes into? I tried pulling both of the things but it all seems to be stuck together pretty tightly. Is that thumb bolt thing threaded or not? If it's not I can try and get a bit of leverage in the space left after pulling out that plate.

The thumb is threaded. However, the plate you removed prevents the bit it screws on from turning around. It is possible giving it a bit of a twist will help it come out.

Okay, that makes sense to me. So if I did want to give it a bit of leverage or at least get something underneath it I would have to do it on the front and back sides of it?

if its tight put the plate back on without the 9mm bolt and use a screwdriver or lever to twist the plate so it loosens speedo drive, jus a way of getting more leverage on it

Great, sounds like I've got a game plan. Thanks.

Hi Twinnie

Did you get this done? I'm thinking of doing mine. Had no luck dislodging it on my old 1.3 so it never got done. Want to do the diesel now but so many scare stories about dropping the drive gear in the box...

Any advice?

Thanks

Mitch

So I finally got this done today. I had to put the plate back on in the end and use a screwdriver on the front side of the plate with some leverage from a rounded part of the gearbox in front of the speedo cable to twist the cable and free it enough for me to work it out. Now I've got it out and I'm confused again. I've got the cream drive gear thing but by saying that should be used as a dipstick does that mean half way up the short plastic stub bit on the bottom of it? I'm unsure as to how effective that would be as a dipstick tough, or should I just judge it by looking in? Right now it looks like the oil is just below that small hole (5mm?) I can see looking into the gearbox, about 1 - 2mm below. If it's supposed to be a somewhere in between the top and bottom of the stub part on the cream drive gear bit then would that make it about 5mm lower than it's supposed to be?

Thanks.

as long as its actually higher than the level the gear sits on it will be fine mate