oil drag !?

[steve200]

having recently changed my gearbox oil the car now feel much slower!

I looked up the amount and the internet told me it is 2.4 litres for the felicia, so just to be safe I put in 2.5 litres.

Now the car struggles to get up to speed and lurches more on gear changes. to stay at 75mph you can deff feel much more drag.

Checked tyre pressures -- all are at full load pressures (maby a bit more )

no excess weight in the car either ....

• back seats are out -30kg
• fuel tank only 1/4 full - a 25kg saving
• driver not too fat either only 80'ish kg
• no passenger

Could slightly overfilling the gearbox cause all this to happen

[steve200]

forgot to mention i used the correct oil too 75-90w semi synthetic GL5 as per the internet.

[anewman]

Best to measure on the speedo drive gear using it as a dip stick as described in Haynes. As you have to fill it up through that hole anyway it's not too difficult to do.

I also remember reading something somewhere about synthetic gear oils not being great in high mileage gearboxes.

[rigsby]

Originally Posted by steve200

having recently changed my gearbox oil the car now feel much slower!

Could slightly overfilling the gearbox cause all this to happen

Unless you didnt drain out all the oil, an extra .1 of a litre will not put sufficient drag on the gearbox to slow it down. Even with an extra litre i would very much doubt if you would feel anything.
Personally i would jack up the wheels and check that non of the brakes are binding

[Call me Ishmael]

Interesting one Steve!
Can you estimate how much old oil you drained from the gearbox? Could the level have been quite low originally? Maybe by adding the correct amount of new oil, some of it is now getting past the oil seal on the gearbox input shaft and finding its way on to the clutch plate. If so, the clutch would slip under acceleration allowing the engine to rev without much torque at the wheels. Does it sound like the clutch is slipping to you?

I could well be wrong, but it's about the only thing I can think of that would produce the symptoms you describe.

[rigsby]

Is it deffinately slower or just quieter? If the oil is getting to the clutch , when driving at about 50 in 4th gear, if you floor the throttle the revs will rise very quickly, without much rise in speed

[steve200]

Just been out for a test drive and the cluth is biting fine ... the bit point is quite high, which i think means its quite worn!?

I think maby the engine is showing the effects of wear - (due for a service + new spark plugs), it never was ment to be a 'quick' car

How do I check the level of oil where is the dipstick ?

[anewman]

The speedo drive gear is the dipstick - where the speedo drive cable goes to is a bolt which needs a 9mm spanner, then a u shaped piece of metal slides out and the speedo drive gear can be removed (this should be where the oil was filled). You measure the level from the bottom with a ruler - Haynes states the measurements. I think the measurements are between 3 and 11mm from bottom.