Progress and what to do next?

[Justin51982]

So tonight I had planned to just put the car up on jack stands and get the tires off with hopes of of getting to flushing the brake system this weekend. Well once I got the tires off, I inspected the brakes and they all look like they had all been done before the car was parked. Everything looks brand new with a little patina on them (but not much). So I decided to just see what would happen if I went ahead and flushed the brake system. well now it has fresh DOT4 and is running clear. The same statement is true about the clutch (and that was a PITA to bleed)

I also went ahead and adjusted the e-brake so it works now too.

It looks like a lot of work was done on to the car before it was parked. I noticed the coolant hoses under the car look new, the fuel pumped looked new, etc, etc. It was like someone replaced all this stuff then parked the car for 14 years.

Anyway, the next thing I'm thinking about doing, is draining and changing the gear oil in the transmission. I'd rather do the fuel system, but I am going to wait until this weekend for that.

With that said, what type of gear oil do I need/what is recommended? and how much do I need to get? Other than the fuel and cooling system after I drain the gearbox, what else should I do?

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[John U]

I used redline MT90. I had a second gear crunch issue for nearly five years until I switched to the redline. Make sure to open the fill port before the drain.

John

[Justin51982]

John, I read somewhere about needing a special adapter for the drain and fill plug plugs...Is that accurate?

[dn010]

Is this a manual or auto? I can tell you on a manual that you don't need any special adapters. Pull the drain plug, let it drain for a while, and when you go to refill it, put a small hose on the nipple of the gear oil bottle-run it into the fill plug port, turn the bottle upside down and above the hole and squeeze the oil in. It is kind of tedious as far as getting the bottle above the fill plug hole and all that, but it works.

[Justin51982]

Is this a manual or auto? I can tell you on a manual that you don't need any special adapters. Pull the drain plug, let it drain for a while, and when you go to refill it, put a small hose on the nipple of the gear oil bottle-run it into the fill plug port, turn the bottle upside down and above the hole and squeeze the oil in. It is kind of tedious as far as getting the bottle above the fill plug hole and all that, but it works.

It's a manual so that's what I'll do I guess. Thank you!

[Patrick C]

It's a manual so that's what I'll do I guess. Thank you!

Before you pull the drain plug, make sure you can remove the fill plug. Sometimes they seize, and you don't want to drain the oil and then find out you can't refill it.

[DMCMW Dave]

I can tell you on a manual that you don't need any special adapters..

Not an adapter, but this tool is pretty handy. It's a 10MM square socket. It looks for all the world like a double-female 3/8 socket, but one of the sides is 10MM.

You can use a 10mm open end wrench or crescent wrench, but they both run a bit of a risk of rounding off the drain plug if it hasn't been out for a long time.

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[John U]

And just incase you missed it...remove the fill plug before the drain plug...just sayin

[Justin51982]

I will make sure to remove it

[Jonathan]

Not an adapter, but this tool is pretty handy. It's a 10MM square socket. It looks for all the world like a double-female 3/8 socket, but one of the sides is 10MM.

You can use a 10mm open end wrench or crescent wrench, but they both run a bit of a risk of rounding off the drain plug if it hasn't been out for a long time.

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Dave,

You mentioned one day that all six "plugs" use the same copper sealing washer (http://store.delorean.com/p-6092-sealing-washer.aspx).

Those six plugs being the engine oil pan drain, auto trans (ATF) pan drain, rear differential/final drive drain AND fill ports, and the two engine coolant drains.

Do all six of those "plugs" use the same specialized tool for removal as well? This one I believe? http://store.delorean.com/p-9097-drain-plug-socket.aspx

I saw mention of using the female end of a wrench or tool and wasn't sure what that meant. Is this for any of the oil drain plugs that have been changed out from original?

~~~

EDIT: Justin, for what to do next, have you looked at any of the electrical yet? You could begin to think about hooking up a battery and testing functions of the car that are supplied always on power or ignition key to accessories power but stop short of starting the engine until you're done with the fluids and fuel system work.

[DMCMW Dave]

Dave,

Those six plugs being the engine oil pan drain, auto trans (ATF) pan drain, rear differential/final drive drain AND fill ports, and the two engine coolant drains.

Do all six of those "plugs" use the same specialized tool for removal as well? This one I believe? http://store.delorean.com/p-9097-drain-plug-socket.aspx

I saw mention of using the female end of a wrench or tool and wasn't sure what that meant. Is this for any of the oil drain plugs that have been changed out from original?

.

Yes, that is the 6 (only 3 if you have a manual trans). The correct Snap-on tool shown is a 8mm male socket (5/16" will work). Looks like a 1/4" adapter but that is slightly larger. Many folks ground down another tool or make something from 5/16" square stock.

The manual trans uses 2 10mm Square plugs that need the 10mm female socket that I posted above. It also uses no sealing washers, rather it's a pipe thread.

[Jonathan]

Yes, that is the 6 (only 3 if you have a manual trans). The correct Snap-on tool shown is a 8mm male socket (5/16" will work). Looks like a 1/4" adapter but that is slightly larger. Many folks ground down another tool or make something from 5/16" square stock.

The manual trans uses 2 10mm Square plugs that need the 10mm female socket that I posted above. It also uses no sealing washers, rather it's a pipe thread.

Beauty, Dave. Thanks. Learn a new thing every day, eh? Me and my silly auto trans :)

Happy new year to you Mr Swingle. May 2015 be full of health and happiness for you and your family.

[John U]

I ended up using a small amount of teflon tape on the trans drain threads due to a small leak

[Justin51982]

EDIT: Justin, for what to do next, have you looked at any of the electrical yet? You could begin to think about hooking up a battery and testing functions of the car that are supplied always on power or ignition key to accessories power but stop short of starting the engine until you're done with the fluids and fuel system work.


I got the gearbox drained and refilled last night. I used and adjustable wrench and everything moved just fine, so at least that's done.

Jonathan,

I've played a little with some of the electrical system, I can tell for starters I have a couple fried and broken wires, one black one in the fuse box, one that goes to a sending unit on the motor and a couple other breaks here and there. I have a laminated colored wiring diagram and the colored break out schematics of each system.

After I get the oil drained) tonight hopefully. My goal is to start doing what I can on the wiring, system by system and hopefully figure out the source of the problems and what's is/was causing the wires to short.

The only reason I haven't started wiring already is because some needed shelves in my garage are filled with boxes for the Christmas stuff. I hope to get all that down and back in the attic tomorrow....Then I'm going to pull the carpet and seats (all needing to be redone anyway) and the bulkhead panel and just dig in....Not looking forward to it....Wiring can be tedious

[TTait]

I'm guessing if you had any leaks at the final drive seals for the axle shafts, you would have seen it and noted it.

I will point out that if you replace those its worth considering ordering a set of sleeves from Dave along with the seals themselves, they do a good job together of solving the leak whatever the issue was.