Advice On Brake And Gearbox Fluid Change Astra G

evocarlos

hey guys as i have never really done a brake or gear oil change in my car just wondered if there's any thing i should watch out for with ether tasks

i picked up a vacuum tester to help with bleeding the brakes and clutch

and some 5.1 brake fluid
and from what i've read 2.35l of oil for the F23 gearbox
i have bought 3L of Morris fully synthetic 75/90
this stuff -->here<--

i have also been suffering with the cold box syndrome where i cant get 1st 2nd when the temps are lower than 2c for the last 3-4 years

is there pdfs for oil change on the box and where are the plugs ?

evocarlos

my advice would be dont buy the kit above its shit get the ezbleed kit its much better
for the clutch you need to pump the pedal to get the oil thru

the gear box oil is a pain in the ass to you need to cut an allen key to fit the lower plug then once drained refit the plug
best to measure 2.3l oil in a jug then put a funnel in some 1/2 tube about a foot long then put this into the fill port the rest is common sense 🙂

Daz

Personally i wudnt use a bleeder of any kind unless u run into issue and cant get the fluid thru, i utilise another person and get them to manually pump the pedal whilst you undo the nipples at each corner, dont forget to keepthe fluid topped up at all times aswell

evocarlos

i tried the 2nd person some time ago when i fitted the SS lines and had shocking poor brake performance after ended up having to take it to vx and pay £30 for a bleed thru

but having to work on the car on my own the ezbleed was a wonder 🙂

Matt

evocarlos said:
the gear box oil is a pain in the ass to you need to cut an allen key to fit the lower plug then once drained refit the plug

Same on the MK5. Although, the Halfords allan key set fits between the subframe and the gear box drain plug

evocarlos

yeah thanks for the info before hand matt it helped 🙂

Matt

evocarlos said:
yeah thanks for the info before hand matt it helped 🙂

https://z22se.co.uk/threads/m32-gearbox-oil-change.19538/ (y)

corsaZ22se

thats the wrong oil for an f23! its very good oil more than double what the genuine gm stuff is in price to. f23's use a thin oil almost like atf fluid, same as in the powersteering on vauxhalls with hydraulic powersteering. as for bleeding the brakes i use a vacuum bleeder but push all brake pistons right in and wedge them in before i start bleeding the brakes to push as much old oil out as possible, also suck the oil from the resivior before adding the new oil.

evocarlos

its a compatible oil of my gearbox

Matt

corsaZ22se said:
thats the wrong oil for an f23! its very good oil more than double what the genuine gm stuff is in price to. f23's use a thin oil almost like atf fluid, same as in the powersteering on vauxhalls with hydraulic powersteering

That's the same on most Vauxhall gearboxes. It's red in color. The problem is, it's crap! It's one of the reasons why the M32 is having so many problems, as it's breaking down at the temperatures the gearbox runs at. As long as the new stuff is API GL3/4/5, it's fine is almost any Vauxhall gearbox.

corsaZ22se

ive never had any problems using vauxhall oil in there gearboxes. my f23 has done over 150,000 miles now and is still nice and smooth. the morris oil is very good but its ep and will cause stiff gear change and premature wear of the syncro's. the m32 box can fail at low milage its more down to the box than the oil in it.

Matt

corsaZ22se said:
the m32 box can fail at low milage its more down to the box than the oil in it.

Oh yeah, I know the M32 is a pretty shitty box anyway, but the oil it's filled with from factory doesn't help matters.

evocarlos

corsaZ22se said:
the morris oil is very good but its ep and will cause stiff gear change and premature wear of the syncro's.

thats 100% impossible with my gearbox

Sjdickso

evocarlos said:
its a compatible oil of my gearbox

I am sure that's what Opie oil recommended for our box, I have just put some Millers Oils EP 75w-80 GL5 I'm my box as I used the Fuchs TITAN SINTOFLUID SAE 75W-80 that i bought for the F23 in the Ibiza.

evocarlos

i say its 100% impossible because my box already had stiff gear change and premature ware on the syncros thats from using the vx standard oil
the oil i bought was what is recommended for the f23 in the morris book at my local motor factors with it being ap 1-2-3-4-5 universal its never going to do any harm in fact it has helped with the cold box gear changes and has given me a smother change while driving 40-80mph

Matt

evocarlos said:
i say its 100% impossible because my box already had stiff gear change and premature ware on the syncros thats from using the vx standard oil
the oil i bought was what is recommended for the f23 in the morris book at my local motor factors with it being ap 1-2-3-4-5 universal its never going to do any harm in fact it has helped with the cold box gear changes and has given me a smother change while driving 40-80mph

Anything that replaces the shitty stuff already in the gearbox is going to help things.

PowR_Remap

Just to help me as I am on the same dilemma on what Gearbox oil to use, as its currently running 75w-90... Car has only moved 7 miles though just incase its not right.

Opie Oils says 2L of oil - Millers EP 75w-80 GL5, Motul 75w-80 Synth, Fuchs Titan 75w-80 and Redline Synth 70w-80 GL4.

Autodata says 1.75L of oil, and a few other websites said 75w-90!! And also sometimes 2.35L if its been into Vaux for a recall.

Before the oil was red from what I remember! Gears are nasty now TBH and the selector does not return to middle on its own, but that could just be the linkage.

evocarlos

i used the Morris Lodexol FS 75W/90 Fully Synthetic Gear Oil 2.35l as per the recall as i had trouble with cold gear change and sloppy shifts
no problems with using the new oil
the gear box still shows signs but is an improvement from the 50k old oil that was in there and gives better cold shifting due to being fully synthetic
i actually saw an improvement in mph to rpm after the change
edit- also wanted to say if your going to change it again i would go with a fully synthetic oil
still personal choice tho 🙂

guy_27

I'm running 3L of nulon fully synthetic 75 90 in mine but also running a catch can. Been using this setup for 2 years with track use and no issues at all. Catch can is required as far as I'm concerned on all f23s that see hard driving.

As for brake fluid any quality dot 4 is fine. I've only boiled my fluid once which was the last time I was on the track as I was a bit more abusive on the brakes compared to usual.

PowR_Remap

Does anyone have anymore ideas before I go buy some Fuchs Titan 75w-80?

Thanks for all the help so far. 😉