Transmission oil change woes..

[audicdl]

Hello all, I'm sorry that my first post is one asking for help but here goes..

Whilst I had a little time on my hands this morning I decided to finally change the transmission oil in my 996.2 GT3. Carefully avoiding the schoolboy error of making sure the fill plug was loose before draining, I made a much larger error and removed a plug next to the passenger side drive shaft (US passenger side!). This is a towards the top of the drive shaft just in front of it. The plug has a pin on it and there was a spacer washer in the diff housing and of course it dropped into the working area of the diff never to be seen again.

Has anyone else been silly enough to make this mistake and if so what would be the best way of remedying it please?

From looking at internet pictures I initially hoped that removing the lsd would allow me to find and replace the washer however I don't think it's going to be visible.

Thanks alot

Chris in the sunny UK!

[JFP in PA]

Hello all, I'm sorry that my first post is one asking for help but here goes..

Whilst I had a little time on my hands this morning I decided to finally change the transmission oil in my 996.2 GT3. Carefully avoiding the schoolboy error of making sure the fill plug was loose before draining, I made a much larger error and removed a plug next to the passenger side drive shaft (US passenger side!). This is a towards the top of the drive shaft just in front of it. The plug has a pin on it and there was a spacer washer in the diff housing and of course it dropped into the working area of the diff never to be seen again.

Has anyone else been silly enough to make this mistake and if so what would be the best way of remedying it please?

From looking at internet pictures I initially hoped that removing the lsd would allow me to find and replace the washer however I don't think it's going to be visible.

Thanks alot

Chris in the sunny UK!

 

Yes, but the news is not what you want to hear.  If something has dropped into the gearbox/diff, you need to get it out before it gets in-between moving parts and does significant damage.  This probably is going to require pulling the gear box......

[Silver_TT]

Sorry to hear that.  I agree with JFP, and you definitely need to get that out before driving the car as even something like a small washer could cause very expensive damage to the gearbox.  Maybe goes without saying but I wouldn't have the little European imports garage down the street do the job.  Someone trying to tear down that gearbox even to do something this simple can cause damage if they aren't familiar with it and don't know exactly what they are doing.  Then you could really wind up in a bind.

 

I don't know what it costs in the UK, but to give you a reference something like this would cost you $1,000 USD here in the US using a top-notch shop like G-Box.  $1,000 is the base price they charge to break down a gearbox.  It also wouldn't be a bad time to have them take a look at the internals to make sure everything looks good.  You can get the 2nd gear detent done at the same time.

 

Sorry to hear about this but if it makes you feel any better this wouldn't be the first time even some of the smartest people here have done bone-headed things.  We all have those days.  Cheers

[audicdl]

Good morning, thanks for the above. I totally agree, so yesterday I started by removing the diff to see if the washer could have fallen in there. Short answer, it couldn't!

I then removed the gearbox. I now need to decide whether to be brave/stupid enough to attempt to partially strip it enough to get to the bits I've lost inside it. I don't have access to a repair manual so to be honest I would just have to start undoing bolts and see how it develops.......

Has anyone partially stripped the box and can offer any advice please?

Cheers

Chris

[Silver_TT]

Taken from: http://www.gboxweb.com/rebuild2.html

 

The Porsche transmission rebuild process starts with disassembly. This part of the process is a lot more important than most people would think.

 

An untrained person trying to take apart a gearbox is simply trying to get it apart without breaking or damaging the parts. Often they do not accomplish this.

[audicdl]

Oh dear! Thanks for the wise words Silver TT. Sadly I've already started, update to follow......

Chris

[White987S]

Chris, what gear lube are you going to use? Mobil Delvac 75W90 or OE Porsche 75W90 would be good choices. Good luck with the gearbox repair. U R A brave man!:)