Saturday, January 3, 2015

T5 Transmission Installation - Part 6

There were very few things left to take care of today in order to test the transmission.  


I installed the painted driveshaft which was the easiest part of the process.  I then wired up the reverse lights using the stock wiring and some new connectors to match the T5 switch.  The last task to handle was to fill the transmission with fluid which as normal was a pain in the ass.


Going back a few days, someone on a forum suggested I fill the transmission before installing it.  I knew I could not fill it much or it would all just run out the tail housing.  I put about a quart in it and over the last several days installing the transmission I've watched most of it slowly drip out of the tail housing.  This happens despite using a tailshaft plug which is suppose to minimize it.


In the past, I've rigged up something in order to get fluid in the transmission after it is installed.  This time, I purchased a pump to fill the transmission.  The pump has two hoses with one going in the transmission and the other being placed in the bottle of fluid.  In theory, this was going to work out great.


As I started pumping, I was surprised at how quickly it pumped fluid.  I was more watching the transmission then the pump.  When I did look down at the pump, I found it was leaking from the bottom hose.  Now I had a big puddle in front of me where I crouched down at the side of the car.  I figured I'd just keep pumping and clean it up in a moment.


Then, the hose came out of the transmission and all the fluid in the line started pouring all over the floor under the transmission.  To get the hose, I'd end up laying in all the fluid which came out of the bottom of the pump.  I rolled around on the floor and finally got the hose back in the transmission without getting too much of the spilled fluid on me.


Back to pumping....  You would think the problems were over but you would be wrong.  I saw it start to run out the fill hole and thought I must be full and pulled out the hose.  I suppose the size of the hose and pressure it was putting out delayed fluid coming out the fill hole.  When I pulled the hose out, an incredible amount of fluid started coming out.  I let it just run out a little defeated and the put in the fill plug.  At least the job was done.


Not everything goes the way you want but I can at least say it is done.  I rebuilt the transmission and installed it all myself.  Now to test it to see if it works.

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