Help!! Trying to loosen trans fluid fill

[no911]

plug. ITs stuck, any thoughts. Have hex key and socket. Even tried the vice grips. Wd 40 . Its real stuck. Help.

[ischmitz]

I would try heat. A MAP torch. Another trick is to first tighten it a couple of degrees. Just make sure you don't strip the hex hole. That means you need to drill out the old plug.

The threads on those fill and drain plugs are tapered if I remember correctly. Some people torque them like there is no tomorrow. Not good. The WSM recomends some pretty low torque for a reason here.

Good luck,
Ingo

[no911]

Thanks. I cant get it to budge the other way either. May try to find some heat for it.

[EdT82SC]

Try to loosen it up with a 2 foot long breaker bar. I tried with an 18" breaker bar from Sears. I could not budge it at all. With a 25" breaker bar ($10 from the local Harbor Freight) it came out easily.

[vash]

so, are you trying a hex socket? i think it is a 17mm right? are you in one of those screwy positions where the drain plug came out easy and now you are stuck with an empty tranny? heat will get that sucker out of there. i helped a buddy, and we applied heat at the same time we put a load on the bigass socket. slowly but surely, that bastard moved. change to a standard nut plug. and dont tighten it so much.

[no911]

I may go get a breaker bar, but i dont think I have room to operate it. I dont have a lift. Fortunately I am not the dumbass who tightened it, that would make it worse. Moreover, I wasnt dumb enough to drain it first either.

[no911]

i have a hex socket, too.

[ischmitz]

Seems like you are in good shape. If you are getting enough force on it that you are close to stripping the hex I would consider driving over to a local garage and let them get it out. It's much cheaper than having someone to drill it out once the damage is done.

[vash]

no911, where are you located? and i am glad your tranny isnt drained! i almost made that mistake, but i found that tip here on the bbs. fill plug first! good luck, buddy.

[no911]

im in the atl. Thanks for thegood wishes. Ishmitz. I am about to give up. its like this:

[no911]

three stops one hour and $10 for a hex key, one $50 bottle of swepco and two hours to get, one hour in atl traffic for the $15 socket, $10 for deperation vice grips, six hours under the fu(*34er, and proobably one priceless trip to automobile atlanta, had to vent

['89cab]

I cut a short piece of pipe to use as a cheater on my breaker bar. then placed scissors jack under it and lifted it -- bingo.

[DavidI]

I just did this. I used a 17mm socket on a ratchet. I gave the ratchet a few sharp hits with a hammer and it finally loosened. You have to make sure that the socket is secure and flush in the plug to avoid rounding it.

Good luck, David

[yelcab1]

Some of these are real tight for unknown reason. I had my transmission out of the car so it was an easy job with a 2 foot cheater pipe. For you, I would recommend the hydraulic jack trick.

[no911]

update. got it off by using a speed wrench on outside. demolished the plug, but i had a new one ready i picked up at automobile atlanta. got new swepco fluid in. wondering if anyone else notices much difference in their 915 trans while using the swepco gear oil. it still grinds some into reverse if i forget to wait. Thanks for all your support.

[HarryD]

Heres my story:

915 Transmission Shifting Improvements

[vash]

congrats! effen plug!
my swepco filled tranny will still occasionally grind when going into reverse. everytime i shift, it is more like the car is giving me permission to change gears. i sometimes think i am not the one running the show. good job no911

[Eric Coffey]

Might want to put a little anti-seize on the new plug before replacing it.

[Larry Harris]

no911,
I used swepco about 6 months ago. I didn't notice an immediate difference, but after about a month I discovered the trans was shifting smoother.

[ischmitz]

Originally posted by unfixed
congrats! effen plug!
my swepco filled tranny will still occasionally grind when going into reverse. everytime i shift, it is more like the car is giving me permission to change gears. i sometimes think i am not the one running the show. good job no911

Grinding from shifting into reverse is due to the 915 not having synchros for reverse. You simply have to wait until the input shaft stops spinning after you depress the clutch. No oil can help here. You would have to put syrup into the tranny to slow down the shaft.

As a matter of fact the workshop manual procedure to check clutch adjustment is to depress the clutch while idling and wait 10 seconds. Then put it into reverse. If it still grinds your clutch is not disengaging fully and the input shaft is still spinning. In other words the factory manual allows as much as 10 seconds for the shaft to spin down.

If a 915 grinds shifting into any forward gear the synchros simply did not have enough time to equalize the rotational speed of the free-running input shaft with the speed of the output shaft that is locked to the differential and the wheels. First gear is the toughest on the synchros since the output shaft does not spin while the car is stationary and the input shaft spins with engine idle speed when you depress the clutch. The first gear synchro has to brake the input shaft to a full stop.

Swepco seems to allow the synchros to do a better job. It might be not as slippery as synthetic gear oil.

ingo