blaven said:

My van is 2003 and has never had a gearbox oil change. It's only done 50K. but the oil's 13 years old and I'm changing it prior to a 6 week tour of Scandinavia to North Cape and back. So, I've been doing my head in reading about all the different opinions on different specs posted on here and other places.
In conclusion, after-market parts people will spin you any old yarn about G5 being acceptable, backwards compatible etc. etc. Lots of opinions but VERY few hard facts.
For the sake of a few quid extra which luckily I can afford, I'm going with Fiat Dealer supplied TUTELA TECHNYX 75W-85 GL4+ (part no. 0014741616).
(The oil recommended in my 13 year old handbook is TUTELA CAR ZC 75 Synth) which has been superseded but still available.
And I'm putting 2.7 litres in as opposed to the 2 litres recommended in my 2003 handbook.
Some on here think the drain plug is loosened with an Allen key. In fact its an 8mm. square recess 3/8th. drive, keys for which are readily available online.
My local motor factors (excellent in most instances) said their database recommended a Comma oil. I contacted Comma technical who told me they have no oil meeting Fiat's spec. Just shows you how much misinformation and incorrect information there is out there!

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cjmackie007 said:

Really good thread this, can anyone tell me how the breather is removed for filling ?
Does it just twist off or are tools needed ?

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blaven said:

My gearbox oil was successfully changed yesterday using Tutela Technyx 2.7 Litres.
I was initially apprehensive before locating the black plastic oil breather and easily removing the cap. To locate the black breather you have to tie out of the way the large hose between the bottom of the air filter box and the turbo intake. I used an elastic luggage bungee. Important to do this first before getting carried away by your enthusiasm and dropping the gearbox oil!
I was also worried that the gearbox filler plug would prove difficult to remove after hearing of other people's struggles. It was no problem using the 8mm. square drain plug key on a smallish 3/8" drive ratchet.
Not much swarf on the magnetic area, so cleaned it up and re-used the undamaged copper washer. Oil drained for about 3 hours,-(the van had been given a run to warm it up prior to all this). Torqued up to 30Nm. which seems right.
The new oil bottles had been standing near a heat source for 2 hours so were pretty warm when I poured the contents into a 12mm. plastic pipe fed into the breather hole via a small plastic funnel.
The old oil wasn't too bad, with no visible contamination, and more than 2 litres was present. Still, I know its been done now, and to my own satisfaction.
People wonder why we do it ourselves. The knowledge learnt is satisfying in its own right, plus the more time spent under the bonnet gives you a chance to troubleshoot any other potential problems. Hope this helps others out there.

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