CHANGING YOUR GEARBOX/TRANSFER CASE OIL

FRONTERA ‘B’ LWB

Once again this is a relatively easy job to do providing you have the right equipment available for the job and as this was my first time changing this on a Frontera it took me about 90 minutes at a slow pace.

First of all you should assemble your equipment. This includes:

1. 4.5 litres of Gearbox Oil. (I used Redline MTL, pretty much the best Gearbox oil on the market at the time of writing this. See www.redlineoil.co.uk for further details)

2. Axle Stands

3. Medium size socket set (something that holds 12 – 24mm sockets)

4. Oil tray

5. An old blanket (or something similar to lie on)

6. A pump with approx 2 feet of tubing.

7. Spanner Set (holds a 24mm spanner) (not shown)

Once you have your equipment, carry out the following:

1. Using the Jack, raise the front wheels and suspend the vehicle on the Axle Stands.

2. Going underneath from both sides, remove the rear-most chassis protector, this should be 6 bolts, which may be a little awkward to remove if they’ve never been removed over the life of your vehicle.

3. You should now have a reasonable view of your Gearbox and transfer case and it will look something like this. (View from the drivers side).

4. Positioning the oil tray under the Transfer Case and using the socket set, remove the Transfer Case drain plug, then the fill plug. The Transfer Case holds 1.45 litres of oil, mine was as black as used engine oil when it drained. Leave the plugs off for a few minutes to ensure the last drops of oil are out.

5. Replace the drain plug and using your pump (I got mine from Machine Mart for £6.99) and 2ft of hose, add your new oil in through the fill hole until the oil freely flows out of the hole. Once it does you know you have enough oil in there, simply replace the fill plug and you’re done.

6. Now the awkward part, Vauxhall thought at the time when the Frontera was made that the Gearbox Oil need never be changed, so they didn’t bother adding a drain plug to the Gearbox, nice. So here’s what you do.

7. Remove the gearbox fill plug (which is a bit awkward itself, you may find a 24mm spanner more useful here), and using your pump and 2 ft of hose (the length comes in handy now) insert the hose into the fill plug and start to withdraw the oil from there, this can take a while, and I used a couple of empty 2 litre pepsi plastic bottles to gauge how much oil I had withdrawn. Once you’re content you’ve withdrawn all the oil you can simply refill with your new oil until again the oil flows freely from the fill hole. Replace the plug.

8. That’s it, wipe away the oil you’ve spilt so the immediate area is clean, replace the chassis protector, use the jack and recover your axle stands, and you’re finished.