Hi everyone! I just obtained a 1987 subaru brat 4 speed manual tranny. I found where the dipstick is and checked it...it looks kind of gross...so I took her to a lube place and they said they weren't gonna touch her because she has a "fixed pan" and so they couldn't do a basic drain and fill. My question is: can I add fresh fluid, if so where if not do I even need to fool with the fluid? She has 158,000 miles

If you need to add some, just get a funnel and fill it through the dipstick. 

Just be careful not to add too much. I just use any gear oil, 80w90 iirc

Hi everyone! I just obtained a 1987 subaru brat 4 speed manual tranny. I found where the dipstick is and checked it...it looks kind of gross...so I took her to a lube place and they said they weren't gonna touch her because she has a "fixed pan" and so they couldn't do a basic drain and fill. My question is: can I add fresh fluid, if so where if not do I even need to fool with the fluid? She has 158,000 miles

 

there is no pan, but there is a Drain plug.

 

Typically Manual transmissions don't have "pans"

 

Even brand new Subarus with manual trans would be the same way.

 

Run from that lube shop.  Morons.

+1 what Gloyale wrote.

+100 to what Gloyale said.

Also, full it through the dipstick tube.

Oh Lord baby Jesus.

 

Not the op, but what the shop said. I've never heard that one before.

 

I still see one or two ej era cars that went to a quick lube place and it quit moving shortly after the oil change. Trans is empty and the engine has 8 quarts of oil in it.

Edited March 7, 20188 yr by impostor

Congrats on being the new owner of a brat, by the way. Did you know that the subaru brat is #1 on the Auto trader.com scarcity index? That is, number of searches vs. number or cars for sale. #3 Is the subaru xt, #8 is the bmw 325ix (I have one of each) :-)

The Ford festiva and dodge omni turbo of all cars are top ten, and the ferrari f40 is part of that list as well. 

Sounds like a cracked brain pan to me 

 

+1 on the drain plug

 

There should be a check plug as well not quite halfway up the side of the case. I've never seen any manual gearbox, on any vehicle, without a check/fill plug, but no, I haven't seen everything. Fill either through the dipstick tube or check/fill plug hole.

 

If the oil looks gross and it was my car, I would just change it because this gets the front diff too, and then do the rear diff too while you've got the drain pan under the car. Fresh gearbox oil in maybe 30 minutes.

 

I found a gear oil bottle filler tube for like $5. Works great; screws onto the bottle, opens and closes, long enough tube to bend over the spare tire holder and into the dipstick tube while still keeping the bottle upright AND closed. Should work great for rear diffs too, but I don't have one, just a 2wd 3AT.

 

Cheers!

To summarize what everyone else has said:

 

#1 Never go back to that shop again... If they dont know how to change the tranny lube on an 80s subaru, they are incredibly incompetent. These cars are literally the easiest thing in the world to do routine maintenance on (or just about any maintenance for that matter).

 

#2 There is a 21mm drain bolt on the bottom of the transmission case. Remove it, drain the fluid. Reinstall plug and snug (torque spec is 33 ft-lbs if you care). Then add fluid thru dipstick hole using a long funnel. the fluid type is GL-4 75W-90 or GL-4 80W-90. it takes around 2.5 to 3 quarts. 

Edited March 12, 20188 yr by Sapper 157

It's actually GL-4 80w90 and it does make a difference whether you use GL-5 or GL-4. GL-5 will eat your brass synchros.

The local Schaeffer's oil rep had good success putting Harley primary gear oil into NV-4500 transmissions (which call for GL-4 as well), which handle far more power and torque than our little boxes will ever see.

Also, primary gear oil is a lot cheaper than sourcing proper GL-4.

Check with your local Schaeffer's oil guy, Amsoil, or whatever specialty gear oil company you like to get it. Your synchros will thank you.

 

Twitch

 

PS: I did the GL-5 route and was rev matching to prevent grind in less than 20k miles.

Edited March 12, 20188 yr by Twitch de la Brat

It's actually GL-4 80w90 and it does make a difference whether you use GL-5 or GL-4. GL-5 will eat your brass synchros.

The local Schaeffer's oil rep had good success putting Harley primary gear oil into NV-4500 transmissions (which call for GL-4 as well), which handle far more power and torque than our little boxes will ever see.

Also, primary gear oil is a lot cheaper than sourcing proper GL-4.

Check with your local Schaeffer's oil guy, Amsoil, or whatever specialty gear oil company you like to get it. Your synchros will thank you.

 

Twitch

 

PS: I did the GL-5 route and was rev matching to prevent grind in less than 20k miles.

Sorry for the misinformation. Thank you for the correction. I was just quoting the specs from the Hanyes manual.