How to change the gearbox oil in a VW Beetle
Why?
Your gearbox (transmission) does plenty of work, changing up and down many, many times every time you drive anywhere. it needs lubricating just like the engine, just less often. The recommended time is every 30,000 miles. That's a lot of miles, but considering how old your Beetle is, there's a good chance it needs doing and the previous owner never did it. The toughest part of this job is getting your bug in the air and making sure you're safe when you're undoing the bolts on the gearbox, so it's worth doing if you have no idea when it was last done.
You will also need to do this if you've had the rear brakes completely apart. The gearbox oil also lubricates the rear axle, so when you have the brakes completely apart, e.g. when replacing a rear backplate, the oil will leak out and need replacing.
You will need
- Jack and axle stands or ramps
- Spanner (wrench) for wheel nuts
- Torch or lamp of some kind
- 17mm Allen-head spanner or socket (male-type)
- Gearbox oil
- Short bucket / tub
- Cloth for cleaning up spills
- Blanket to lie on
How to change the gearbox oil
The gearbox is just in front of the engine. To get at it you need to crawl around under the car and to undo the bolt to get the oil out you need plenty of leverage, so you have to get the car up in the air a bit so you can get right underneath it. So, jack up the back of the car and put it on axle stands, or drive it up on to a set of ramps.
Once the car is safe on two axle stands, lie down underneath it. Never, ever get under a car which is only held up by a jack, no matter how good that jack might be. Plenty of mechanics have been crushed under cars just because a jack has collapsed, or let itself down gradually, trapping someone underneath.
Take the left hand side rear wheel off (that's the left hand side as you're sitting in the drivers seat, looking out the windscreen.) You'll need access to a bolt on the side of the gearbox, and it's a lot easier with the wheel off.
On the side of the gearbox is the filling hole, and it is quite awkward to get at. You need a 17mm Allen head socket or spanner (wrench) to undo the bolt. if you only have a spanner, this might be easier to do from underneath the car, but that is very awkward. Take out the filler bolt, which means you know you'll be able to get new oil in to the gearbox once it's drained.
Next, put your blanket under the car and crawl on to it, take the torch. You're looking for a hole for the 17mm Allen spanner to fit in to. In front of the engine is a bulbous block, that's the gearbox, on the bottom will be the hole, you might need to poke about a bit if it's dirty and clean up the hole so the Allen spanner will fit in. The bolt fits right in to the gearbox, so it will be flush or almost flush to the bottom.
When you take out the bolt, the oil is going to start pouring out, so you don't want to be underneath it. However, the bolt might not have moved for a few years, so you'll need to get it loose before getting out of the way. Put the Allen headed spanner or socket in the hole and get it a half or full turn loose, this might take a little while as it's tight under the car.
Once the bolt is loose, get the bucket or whatever's going to catch the oil and put it underneath the bolt. You'll now need to stretch out to undo the bolt the rest of the way. Try to catch it before it drops in the bucket, but if you don't it doesn't matter as you can clean it off later.
Now you have to wait for the oil to drain out of the gearbox.
When the oil has stopped dripping out of the gearbox, you can replace the draining bolt and do it back up.
Some oil is going to spill on the floor when the gearbox gets re-filled, so put something down that you don't mind getting ruined. Use some 80W-90 Gear Oil.
The new gearbox oil now needs to go in to the filling awkward hole. Fortunately, the bottles the oil comes in have a pull-out spout. The idea is you pull the spout out until it stretches a couple of inches (or however long it'll go) and stick the end in the hole. Unless the bottle is on it's side squeeze the bottle to pump oil in to the gearbox.
Keep doing this until the gearbox is full up to the hole. Once it is that full the oil will start leaking back out of the hole. Let it leak out, when the oil is level with the bottom of the hole it has the right amount in and you can screw the bolt back in. Don't put the plugging bolt back in before the oil has levelled out or you can cause too much pressure in the gearbox and damage it.
Squeezing new oil in to the gearbox filler hole from below. (Click to enlarge.)
Excess gearbox oil leaking out as it levels out to the right amount (click to enlarge)
Wipe away any oil that dripped out, put the wheel back on and get the car back on it's feet. Job's done for another 30,000 miles.
How to change the generator brushes on an aircooled VW engine
How to change the generator brushes on an aircooled VW engine
What are they?
Generator brushes help transfer electrical power from the engine back to the battery, recharging it as you drive along. They are two small rectangles of metal with a wire attached to one side.
Why replace them?
Generator brushes wear down. They rub against contacts on the main generator in order to make electricity and this gradually wears them away. They're designed to dot his and are made to be replaced, which is pretty easy, but a bit of a fiddly job.
New generator brushes
You will need:
- New generator brushes
- Screwdriver, probably Philips-head (cross-head)
- Pliers, preferably needle-nosed
- Cloth to wipe things clean
- Wire wool or wire brush
- Potentially: sandpaper and thin stick, electrical contact cleaner spray
How to replace the generator brushes
There are two generator brushes, one at the top of the generator and the other underneath. If you look / feel down in the gaps in the generator housing, you should see the top one, quite close to the rear of the car.
Each brush is held in by a clip which presses it down against the copper contacts on the generator. The wire tail on the brush is screwed in to a contact which transfers the generated electricity to the voltage regulator and then to the battery.
It's easiest to tackle the top brush first as you can see what you're doing without getting too twisted up.
First, undo the screw holding the wire of the brush to the contact. Try not to drop the screw, if you do hopefully it will drop through the generator and bounce out of the engine rather than disappear somewhere awkward.
Now use the pliers to pull back the clip holding the brush down. Try not to be too harsh with the clip as you don't want to break it - a firm pressure will be enough to pull it up. Use your other hand to tug the old brush free, you can probably pull it up by the attached cable if the brush is loose. Let the clip back down gently in to the gap left by the brush.
For the bottom brush it's the same procedure, just a lot more awkward as it's difficult to get your hands in the right place, but at least the screw falls down in to your hand rather than in to the generator.
Old and new brushes, the older one is worn, but could have done a lot longer before needing replacement.
Top brush out of slot and hanging(click to enlarge)
Once the two brushes are out, wipe away any dust and grime they have left behind and have a look at the copper contacts on the generator the brushes rub against. The contacts should be clean and shiny. If they're not you need to clean them.
You'll need to clean the contacts by pressing some sandpaper against them with a piece of wood and turning the engine over - causing the generator to spin. You can turned the generator by moving the pulley by hand and gradually clean the whole way around. finish the cleaning by giving it a good spray with some electrical contact cleaner, then leave it a few minutes to dry.
Fitting the new brush goes like this: make sure the part where the wire contact comes out is pointing towards where it needs to screw in. Lever back the clip using the pliers, you might find the screwdriver helpful for holding the clip levered back. Slot the brush down in to it's holder and ease the clip down on to it. Screw the loose end of the wire down on to the contact using the screw you took out earlier.
This is straightforward for the top brush because you can see what you're doing. The bottom brush is much harder as you can't see what you need to most of the time. You might want to make sure anyone who is easily offended is out of earshot while you do the bottom one so you can swear as much as you like.
Replacing the bottom brush (click to enlarge)
Top brush fitted (click to enlarge)
Once the brushes are in you can start the car, knowing you won't need to do this job again for another several thousand miles.
oil Change
Oil change on an old Volkswagen Beetle
Exactly when to do an oil change on Beetle, Bus or any aircooled VW, depends on how obsessional you are and how many miles you do regularly. The best advice I've had is every 3,000 miles if you want to keep your car in tip-top condition, especially if you do lots of short journeys. If you've just bought your car or have had it a while and have no idea when the engine oil was last changed, it's definitely time to do it.
You will need:
- New oil filter
- Oil filter fitting kit
- 19 mm socket
- 10mm socket
- Tray / old oil container / low bucket / cardboard box with bin bag lining it to catch oil
- Newspaper or sheet of something to catch oil that the bucket misses
- Rag of some kind to mop up spilt oil
- Blanket / cardboard to lie on
- Gloves to stop your hands getting dirty
- Big flat-head screwdriver / mole grips / levering equipment
- Engine oil, at least 2.5 litres / 2.6 US quarts, e.g. Halfords 20W/50 Basic Mineral Motor Oil
- Potentially needed: allen key set or improvisational skills and blue air
How to do it:
Have the car on the flat when draining the oil out, which makes the whole process more awkward. If you have a way of doing this with the car raised up, but everything level, go for that as it'll give you more room to move. If your car is lowered you're definitely going to need to raise it up somehow because it's very awkward doing this when the car is stock height, so you'll have no chance.
First, you need the right oil filter and fitting kit for your year/type of car. You'll need both as the bits of cardboard that act as washers in the fitting kit get wrecked when you take the old one out. Here's a picture of the new oil filter and fitting kit:
It helps if the oil is slightly warm when you do this, so a couple of runs around the block wouldn't hurt, but you don't want to burn yourself on the exhaust pipes while you're messing around.
Find the plate that holds the oil filter in place. It's a round plate with six bolts around the outside, and a larger bolt in the middle (can be different on sone old models) Now spread some old newspaper or cardboard around on the floor beneath the plate, this is for later when we have oil falling out of it.
The middle bolt in the plate is the one we're interested in right now, when that's released it will let all the old oil out of the system. Get your 19 mm and put it on the nut, and loosen it just slightly, you don't want to do it all the way and have oil dripping out yet, but it's easier to get it a bit loose now before the oil tray is in the way. If you don't have a central bolt in the plate, then I'm afraid the only way you're going to get the oil out is to unbolt the other bolts, and you're going to get messy.
Once you've got the centre bolt loose, get something to catch the oil when it comes out. What you need is something low enough to fit under the car and big enough to catch about 2.6 US quarts (two and a half litres) of oil.
OK, so you've got your oil catcher underneath the car. Make sure the rag is handy, and finish to loosen the centre nut all the way out. It might drop in to the oil, don't worry about it, you can fish it out later - that's where gloves come in handy. Use the rag to clean the end of the spanner that's now got oil on it, and the bolt that came out if you managed to catch it.
If there's still oil dripping out after a quarter of an hour, leave it for a while longer. The more of the old, dirty oil that comes out the better.
Once the oil has stopped dripping, carefully pull the tray out from under the car. Don't do it quick enough so the oil slops over the edge, as you'll only get it all over yourself in a minute when you're unbolting everything. Once the oil is safely out of the way, crawl under the car and start unscrewing the six bolts around the filter plate. Make sure there's still some newspaper under the car as there will be drips, and more spilt oil later.
As usual, the filter plate is still stuck to the car. You need to pull it down off the car, best done by sticking things in the hole in the middle and levering it down. you can use a flat-head screwdriver, then some mole grips on the edge of the hole when it came down a little bit. When it eventually comes loose you will get oil over yourself and the ground.
When the plate comes loose, it might bring the old filter with it. If not, you should be able to pull it out of the big hole the plate has revealed.
Use the screwdriver to scrape (gently !) any old seals off of the car once the filter is out, then also scrape any residual seals off the filter plate. Be careful not to scratch the case with the screwdriver when you're cleaning it, as that gives a way for the oil to escape. Give the plate a general clean-up and open up your new seal kit. There should be two cork or cardboard seals (gaskets) which fit either side of the flange around the base of the filter (i.e. the bit that sticks out with holes for the bolts to go through.) Within the seal pack there is also a new washer for each of the bolts, so clean the bolts up and give them all a washer ready for when you put it all together.
Once you finally have a couple of nuts over the bolt heads, it soon becomes a matter of putting them all on loosely, then gradually tightening them up. Don't tighten one all the way, go around them gradually tightening them all up, it helps keep the seals doing their job. For other bits of the car you're advised to do one bolt, then it's opposite, then another bolt and it's opposite until they're all done and start again, so I did that with the plate. It takes a bit of time, but if it keeps the seal good it's all worth it.
With the plate back in place, re-fit the big bolt in the middle, don't forget the new washer for it from the seal kit. This doesn't have to be as tight as the smaller bolts, but you want it tight enough to both stop the oil coming out, and not to get loose over the next year or so while you're driving around.
Centre bolt back in place you can breathe a sigh of relief and get out from underneath the car. Have a stretch, enjoy it!
Now you need to fill the engine back up with nice, fresh oil. When you buy the oil make sure it's OK for older engines.
Pour the oil in to the oil filler pipe next to the engine. Every now and then check the dipstick to make sure you're not putting too much in. It's not worth starting to check the dipstick until at least two litres (about two quarts) of oil has gone down the tube in to the engine, and even then it could be a while before there is enough oil to register on the dipstick.
The picture above shows where you put the oil in, and the dipstick is pulled up a bit to point out where it is.
Checking the dipstick: To check the dipstick, pull it all of the way out of it's holder, wipe it clean on a bit of rag, put it back in, give it a little twist and pull it back out. On the dipstick are two marks, in my case indentations across the flat side of the dipstick. You want the oil to be somewhere between the two marks - the lower mark is the lowest limit the oil should go to, the highest is, you guessed it, the highest limit. Above or below isn't good for the engine, so try to get in-between.
Once you're happy with the level of oil in the engine, put the cap back on the tube that takes the oil, start your engine and wait a while for the oil to get everywhere it's supposed to in the engine and the rest to get to the sump. Then check the dipstick again and if it's OK, check underneath the car. If there are drips on the newspaper you'll have to decide whether they're just spilt oil from filling the engine, or if they're dripping from the oil plate you may need to tighten up the bolts a little more. Wait for a few mns and check again the dipstick, adjust the oil level. Do not overfill !
It's worth putting some newspaper under the car for a few days to make sure nothing's dripping, but other than that, you're done. One oil change, out of the way.
Replacing the clutch cable on a Karmann Ghia (by Gerico)
Replacing a Karmann Ghia Clutch Cable
After a few very frustrating days with broken and incorrect parts. I'm now pretty expert on replacing clutch cables and know a few of the "tricks".
First trick is to replace the tube that the cable rides in between the back of the tunnel and the bracket on the side of the trans. Costs about $8 and is an extremely worthwhile investment. A few burrs inside this tube will absolutely prevent a new cable from being installed.
The second trick is to make certain that you have the correct length cable. It takes all the fun out of it to install the thing and then find out that it's 5" too long.
The third trick is to use some type of tape or other flexible material to hold the passenger end of the cable onto the hook inside the tunnel.
All told these three items cost me at least 10-12 very frustrating hours over a few days, a couple of scraped up hands, and were responsible for the addition of several brand new swear words to the language.
The Ghia is probably more difficult than many bugs due to the presence of a trans mid mount and an secondary oil cooler over the trans...both of which restrict access the the trans end of the clutch cable. Never the less I can probably do the job in about two hours total time now that I know what to look out for. You could probably cut another 1/2 -3/4 hr off of that time with an overhead lift instead of working underneath the car in the driveway.
Final tip. Clutch cable replacement time may also be a good time to replace the throttle cable tube that's between the tunnel and engine cooling shroud.
Gerry
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