No oil in transfer box

[Roberto]

As the title suggests.

I have been having strange noices from my drive train lately.
Went to Mitsu, who said they cannot locate it, so wait till it gets a bit worse.

So decided myself to change all the transmission fluids as they had not been done before.

Did the engine oil as normal, no worries there.
Gearbox was straight forward, after finally getting the fill plug open.

But today I had a look at the transfer box.........no oil came out, just some black sludge ( not much at all ) , and it would not allow me to fill it with the new stuff.

So off to Mitsu on Monday with me for a drain, flush and re-fill with the good Amsoil stuff. For the transfer box and rear diff and AYC clutch.

But the real worry is, is the transfer box knackered now???

[Nick Mann]

...and it would not allow me to fill it with the new stuff.

What does that mean?

[bradc]

yeah I don't quite get that line either.

I think that at this stage there isn't much you can do apart from fill it up with oil and hope that it is ok.

[Kieran]

If it's all bunged up, try forcing some through with both the fill and drain plugs out - maybe even just use some cheap motor oil to do this, rather than gear oil - the thinner oil might be more able to get around and chase out whatever gunk is in there.

Doesn't sound good though...

[Roberto]

The problem with filling is not that it won't go in, its just running past the crud and not taking it with it.


Its going to be a case of seeing what happens on Monday.

Really hoping a good flush will do the trick, was advised my a work mate that petrol should do the trick as it should remove all the crud.

Any ideas?

[bernmc]

Would have thought you could glug in a whole lot of degreaser/white spirit etc, leave for a few hours, repeat etc? Then flush several times with good oil before refilling.... Petrol will shift almost anything out, so its an option too. My only concern is that it will eat vertain plastics and rubber, so it might damage the seals... try the degreaser first - you should be able to pick some up from any motor dealer. (5l tins)

Not sure how healthy this is, but if you're on the brink of losing the transfer box, you've got nothing to loose...

[richy rich]

When i first serviced my transfer box i also had no oil in it.

Filled it with amsoil and so far had no prob.

[Kieran]

Would diesel be a safer alternative to petrol? The reason being I wonder what extra damage petrol could do if it finds its way into a bearing race (if there are any in the xfer box)?

[amsoil]

Put in some Amsoil or other top real synthetic. Run for 200miles and drain The cleaning agents in a top syhthetic will shift gum slidge varnish etc The trnasfer box takes very little oil so its got to be worth doing a couple of times at least. Another fingers crossed job.

[Roberto]

After the Major noise issue on Saturday night, (en-route to work, so turned back, phoned work and did not move till Monday) the car was left to Mitsu on Monday morning, after a 30mile journey done at 15/20mph.

Which ended up being the drive shaft... and not the transfer box.

So Mitsu were given specific instructions to drain, FLUSH CLEAN, the transfer box, rear diff and AYC clutch housing, before refilling with the supplied Amsoil, thanks again to Don.

They say they have done all this, not sure what way they did it, but I do trust them.

All I have to do now is get the drive shaft fitted and find out was it all worth it.

[Kieran]

Fingers Crossed!

[Roberto]

There seems to be a whole lot of that going on for a lot of people lately.

I think we should all have ritual prayer to the Car Gods once a day for the next 3 years.