A Xmas treat for my D2

[The_Laird]

Took the old girl (my car!) for a little visit to premises on Causewayside Road today (Tollcross, Glasgow) for a little Xmas treat!

Yes, a gearbox service at Mackies!

Even though the gearbox has had no apparent faults, I now get this done regularly and, as we're planning to move south in February, I thought it was a good time to get it done while I'm still quite local.

It's the 3rd gearbox service in my ownership (coming up to 5 years IIRC) and this one with just over 174,000 miles on the clock.

The trip back home wa a dream - you can't really notice a gear change unless you look at the rev counter. And the feedback from Mackies was that all seems to be well and the ATF was clean and particle-free.

[moltuae]

Nice one

It must've felt like deja vu for them after having its twin (ie mine) in recently for a gearbox refurb.

They're a good bunch of blokes. Very helpful and friendly I found. Have you had the tour of the workshop yet?

[The_Laird]

Originally Posted by moltuae

Nice one

It must've felt like deja vu for them after having its twin (ie mine) in recently for a gearbox refurb.

They're a good bunch of blokes. Very helpful and friendly I found. Have you had the tour of the workshop yet?

Yes, we did an official tour a couple of years or so ago. And they are very helpful indeed

[David's8]

Just need to pursuade BrianG to get his (which is due ) done now and they will have had 3 black '8s in within the month. Mine was done only 10k /2.5yrs ago and will have to wait until later the new year.

[tintin]

Originally Posted by David's8

Just need to pursuade BrianG to get his (which is due ) done now and they will have had 3 black '8s in within the month. Mine was done only 10k /2.5yrs ago and will have to wait until later the new year.

I'm next, but I keep forgetting, and bringing my other car when I'm heading over the border..

[YorkshireBloke]

Hi All,

Apologies to Mackies fans but how much better is the way that oil change is done compared to dropping the sump, draining the oil and changing the filter??

Or more to the point is it better to do summat you can afford now or wait for a big cost / big messing about (Glasgow or Chester is a F&*^about for me) sometime in the future?

Thoughts??

Robert

[Adrian E]

Mine had x2 filter and fluid changes in my ownership. The 1st made a massive difference but the 2nd didn't so on that basis I'd say getting the old fluid out is the main priority.

You need a good indy or ZF specialist to do it otherwise you'll have a leaky gearbox sump which is rather sub-optimal when it dumps oil onto the cats!

It's not a cheap job by either method so more a case or what you can get done locally than any significant saving

[MikkiJayne]

The Mackies change is a full flush - it gets all the old oil out via the heat exchanger lines to the radiator and replaces it with new.

The drop the sump method only gets about 5 litres (of 9) out. The remaining 4-odd litres remains in the torque converter, radiator, valve body and hydraulics.

For a car with documented prior changes, the sump method should be fine, as it'll at least keep most of the oil fresh, and the old oil will be diluted. With no history of changes then a full flush is prudent as then you know its all fresh

[HPsauce]

I did mine by the "economy" method as soon as I got it, at around 60,000 miles as there was no evidence of any attention in the previous 10 years.
It was fine both before and after and what came out was clean anyway.

Now it's another 4 years and 40,000 miles on (how did that happen, it's my second car? ) I'll think about doing it again "soonish".

[The_Laird]

I reckon that the Mackie's method is the 'economy' method. For a D2, it's well under £200, including the ATF, and it's done properly - a full flush with warm oil and the very fine mesh filter. They'll also tell you how it looks, which is a good indication of the health of the box. They recommend a change every 30 or 40,000 miles which, IMHO, is a bargain if it extends the life of the gearbox.