trans. question
 

just got my 914 running after 2 year rebuild (recieved car in many pieces) decided to change trans fluid.

removed fill plug and expected a little to come out so i thought it was mabey a little low. stuck my finger in as far down as i could and couldnt feel any fluid.

then removed the drian and a little came out mabey half a quart but had a lot of metal in it and the drain plug which has a magnet in it had a lot of metal particle stuck to it

i did drive it a little like this a couple miles and it did shift but had to shift very slow or it would grind

my question is how screwed am i with having so much metal shavings? am i looking at having to do a rebuild of syncros or gears? or is this "normal"

Austin

not normal. there should be trans fluid level with the fill plug. i'd say top it up and drive 'cause it's only going to get worse but you might get some miles out of it before the $3000 rebuild

The metal particles may be normal. Look at the tranny fluid. Is there a metal sheen to it? If so, a bearing has let loose.

Low fluid kills the bearings much worse than it hurts the shifting mechanism.

James

I got my car that way, drove it home 800 miles and
then drained only a half a quart. It's been fine since,
but you have to find and fix the reason it's low.

In my case, the front trans seal was bad and some
of the fluid landed on the clutch and ruined the disc.

Mark S.
'70 914-6

$3000 rebuild! Just buy another running 914 for the working trans instead. I have stockpiled 5 914 transmissions for my 3.0 six just in case I brake it. But no problems so far. I just like having all these spare parts around.

You can use your trans until it won't shift into 1st, after that it may just be parts, low gear oil is usually the worst thing for these transmissions.

A spare transmission is not "good" unless you have either driven with it or have gone through the transmission.

James