2002 Protege 5 Speed Manual Refill ?

[Brcobrem]

Hi,

My 2002 (2/2002) Mazda Protege has reached 60,000 and it's time to get a little grease under the nails again. This is my first post to Mazda Forums and I appreciate the opportunity to be here. So here goes . . .

I need to drain and refill the 5 speed manual transmission (gear box). The manual says 2.9 US Quarts of 75w90 (any temperature) or 80w90 (only above 10 degrees centigrade/50 degrees Fahrenheit). Under the car, I can see a 12mm bolt head that is on the housing (the actual transmission gearbox?) closest to the driver's side wheel. Then on the bottom of the differential(?) (ie. between the above mentioned housing and the engine block) there's a black slotted screw head about 1/2" in diameter. Then close to that screw, there's a bolt head that's bigger than 7/8 inch, but less than 1 inch.

So I'm also not sure of two things: (1) what is the actual drain plug and (2) where I would refill the gear oil.

Any guidance that you care to provide will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Brcobrem

 

[FunkRider]

Look harder and you'll find two 23mm bolts. The one on the bottom is the drain and the top(actually its on the front of trans) is the fill.

When you fill the transmission make sure the car is level and fill untill it spills out the fill hole. To fill the transmission you'll need about a foot of 3/8 rubber hose, cut the end of the cone shaped lid and slide the cone into the rubber hose to fill.

 

[Brcobrem]

Hi FunkRider,

Thanks so much for the reply. The 23mm bottom bolt head you mention must be the one that I mentioned "that's bigger than 7/8 inch, but less than 1 inch" (that's where 23mm would be).

Also copy you on the 23mm fill plug.

Again, I greatly appreciate you sharing your expertise and technique on this.

Reagrds,
Bret

 

[Maxx Mazda]

Ya it's easy, but once again make sure the car is level and fill it until it comes out the fill plug, then you're done.

I reccomend Redline MT-90 it's 75w90 high performance oil, worth the price.

 

[Brcobrem]

Hi again FunkRider & Maxx Rider,

"Better late than never" they say . . .

Did the job this morning. No one in the 'hood had a 23mm socket this weekend, so I now own one. Only $5 US.

I have a driveway that slopes down about 10 degrees, so I backed it in, put some ramps in front, put a little Craftsman level on the door jam bottom, and pulled up on the ramps until it it was level.

Had to get a neighbor to block the back of the back wheels while I kept on the breaks so it wouldn't roll back off the sloped part of the ramps. Even with parking brake set and in 2nd gear it wanted to roll back off the ramps. Had lots of room under the front end to work then.

It drained into a typical oil catch pan in about 2 minutes. I filled from on top of the engine with a funnel shoved onto a piece ~1/2" plastic hose (about 2 and 1/2 feet long). It took about an hour to fill it up (and it's ~ 75 degrees F here). Took a little under a gallon (US).

Thanks again for your guidance
Brcobrem

 

[ghettoracingkid]

wait.

I got to take a better look at mine. I heard that the reverse light switch was the filler hole

 

[Brcobrem]

Hi Ghettoracingkid,

Yes, I read that on another post as well. I know on my 2002 Protg, that there is a wired screw-in switch about an inch below the 23mm fill hole. Guess that's the reverse switch; not certain though. Perhaps someone knowledgeable will set this straight.

I actually wrapped a clean cloth around that switch before I poured the gear oil in via the tube. Didn't want to saturate the switch with oil when it overflowed. However, the oil did not run down directly onto the switch after all when it became full.

I'm picky about the oil filter like that too: always pad the block with a cloth below the oil filter and on top of the axle to keep it nice and new looking down under before removing the oil filter. Btw - I can think of something else that I like fresh and clean down under before tooling around with it, but I won't go there with this thread :->

Regards,
Brcobrem

 

[Maxx Mazda]

The reverse light switch is NOT the fill hole. There is an identical plug to the drain plug on the front of the trans, about halfway up. If you use the reverse switch plug you will not put enough fluid in.

 

[ghettoracingkid]

so when I change my revoerse ligth switch im going to have some massive fluid coming out.

good to know.

I still have to get under there and by the part.