tranny over filled???

[1976BMW]

Hi guys, I'm new to the site (registered) but have been following discussions for some time. I have a simple 1976 2002 that I drive every day. I decided it was time to get the tranny serviced and Jiffy Lube does all of my other cars. 30 min later I was off and running down the road with much less noise from my 4-speed gear box. I just noticed a lot of drips now on my garage floor. WOW! I thought, this thing has never dripped a drop as long as I have owned this rocket! I looked in my Haynes book for fuild amounts and it says that she holds 2.64 US pints. These guys put "2 quarts" in there upon service. That is 3/4 of a quart more that what she should hold. I assume it blew out the rear output shaft seal judging by all of the oil on the under-belly; it is all from the shaft back. I'm no mechanical whiz but this is my best assumption as she only holds basically 1 quart and they over filled it by 50%.!!!!!

What are your thoughts????? I'm going to call them up and I would like some feedback here in case this gets ugly. Feel free to call me directly if you would like, but post the reply either way. Thanks guys, and what a great site!!

Are there any 2002 clubs here in the Albuquerque, NM area????

Jim ~

Albuquerque, NM

505-220-3460

[SteveJ]

As I recall (without looking at my chart), the manual trans holds about 1 and 1/2 quarts or less. I know when I buy RedLine I always have to buy two quarts and only use a little of the second bottle.

The easiest way to get the correct amount is to jack the car up at all four corners, or park over the curb so one wheel is up and the other is down. The main thing is that the car should be level. Using a 17mm allen socket, remove the fill plug from up on the SIDE of the tranny. Do not remove the drain plug on the BOTTOM of the tranny. Properly filled, the fluid should be even with the fill hole. Just a few drips should come out. If a half a quart comes out, then it WAS overfilled.

There is a vent hole at the top of the tranny. I suspect if it was overfilled, as the fluid heated up, it was forced out the vent hole.

[AlanM]

Maybe the reason for the now quiet box in your car is that the oil had leaked out before you bought the car, and was low, and will leak out again through the worn out seal.

As above, with the car level, undo the fill plug on the side of the box. Unless the car was tilted massively on one side, it would be very difficult to overfill by the amount mentioned. With car on a hoist, it would be difficult to overfill it by more than a cupfull.

[Biscuit3]

Hey don't feel so bad. Before I fell in love with my Karl, I took him to Midas to get the headgasket checked. That was November last year. Firstly, they said I didn't have a blown head gasket, but they kept Karl at the garage for three days to do other little jobs in which I hadn't authorized, but still I couldn't get my car back.

When I went to pick him up, I had a $300 bill, no gas whatsoever in the tank, and Karl would not run at all. And when I say "would not run", I don't mean he wouldn't start, I mean that I would be driving and all the sudden, the engine would cut out.

So we took him back and told them to fix it or we would find someone else who would and then send Midas the bill. One week later, I got Karl back but he has never been the same since. Oh yeah, I did have a blown head gasket, and I did have that same blown head gasket, which was blown in three places, still on the car all the way up until last month. No indications either to tell me it was blown (no water in oil, no blue smoke, but the occasional coolant was present on the engine block). Alas, Karl is ruined because I took him to a mainstream mechanic. My advice to all of you, learn from my mistake!