I beleive the best method for draining and refilling is simply the jack up each side of the car trick.

Jack up the passenger side to drain all you can. Then if you jack up the driver side so the pinch weld is 22" from the ground on a level surface, the plug is at the correct point to fill the T-case to the correct level.

The first time I did mine, I tried the valve trick, its a pain. I overfilled it then too, and the car stunk like burning oil for months - until I jacked up the side to let out the excess as above.

Plus, someone made the point that the only filtering the T-case oil gets is the magnet on the plug pulling out contaminants. with the plumbing elbows, adapters and valves, the magnetic plug can't do it's job.

 

Andy, lifting one side of the car 2 feet in the air seems like a lot. Is that pretty much the maximum extent of the jack travel, and were you able to put any safety stands under it? Does the car feel stable at that point, and were you able to get a full 600ml of fluid back in with it sitting that high?

I'd love to use this approach if it works. It would be awesome to be able to reuse the magnetic factory plug and avoid having plumbing extensions protruding out of the transfer case.

 

Plus, someone made the point that the only filtering the T-case oil gets is the magnet on the plug pulling out contaminants. with the plumbing elbows, adapters and valves, the magnetic plug can't do it's job.[/quote]




Very true. Which im doin mine when the engine is out so i will actually reuse the magnetic plug.

 

I agree with Matt, 24 inches is very high. I was only able to manage 16 inches (yes I got out the tape measure!) with my floor jack and jack stands extended as far as they would safely go.

Between the 16 inch tilt and the pipe elbow in my previous picture I was able to get about 500ml of Royal Purple 75w140. I lost about 100ml of that when I switched the pipe elbow out for the original drain plug, but I know I got it right because only a very small amount came out of the vent and onto the exhaust on the way to work this morning.

 

I beleive I read this technique on here from one of the Jaguar techs.

When I did it I used two floor jacks, one at the rear, and one at the front, and yes I absolutely put two jack stands under it as well before I got under it. I don't remember exactly, but I may have had to jack it up part way, but the stands under to hold it, then use a couple of blocks of wood to extend the floor jacks reach.

I've only done it once so far, and I didn't measure how much went in. I had actually filled it with the tube and valve method, but overfilled it and it was leaking onto the exhaust. I did the jack method and simply opened the plug up and let the excess flow out to get it back to the correct level, as well as to replace the valve setup with the magnetic plug.

 

That method is a a crock of poop from a science standpoint. The tech that started that method never measured the precise amount of oil in or out. And for sure it is not a JAG accepted method. I will believe it when I see the results in a measuring cup.

anyway, non-leaking, non-smoking, non-smelling results DO NOT prove that the amount is correct. It says the amount is less than or equal to overfilling.

Good luck all you guys. remember the golden rule of quality control : " you cant control what you cant measure"

 

How do you suggest we do it Jimmy.

 

All my finding are there.
I have had my transfer case out of my car a couple of times, replaced all the bearings, then new seals. Also I got a less used one than mine, and swapped out a chipped gear, and the Viscous coupling.

I have not had more than a year window to do routine TC oil changes, but one is due now.
I have a leak now on the splines on the rear output flange. So I have to pull the rear housing to fix that. Will be doing a 600 ml fill this time. This is beacause removing the rear housing will drain most of the oil - unlike the drain plug.

 

B Good to have you back again. You were a strong contributor to this board when I first joined. Now, I wish we could get D back - it would add a lot to the quality of the community and feel like the good old days.

Hey, building on the ideas proposed so far, what do you guys think of this alternate design? Basically, my idea is to build a 90 degree street elbow using two parts:

- 1/2 inch male to 1/2 inch female 90 degree elbow http://www.jerzeecustoms.com/images/...ting%20012.jpg
- 1/2 inch male to 1/2 inch female adapter http://www.lba-direct.com/site_images/HC9560.JPG

You'd end up with a finished 90 degree street elbow, but might be able to avoid clearance issues during assembly. You'd screw the first part in, and then screw the adapter into it facing up. Ideally, the finished assembly would allow you to get the fill neck high enough to gravity fill 650ml of fluid with one side of the car raised. As a bonus, you could screw the factory magnetic drain plug into the finished assembly to seal it.

I like this approach in theory for several reasons:

- it doesn't stick out as much and present as big a shear target as Thermos' radiator drain **** mechanism
- it could get the fill neck high enough to permit a full 650 ml of fluid to flow in
- I'd feel more comfortable screwing the factory drain plug to seal the assembly vertically, rather than relying on a radiator drain **** tightened horizontally. The magnet wouldn't likely be as effective (since it's further away from the gears), but it's better than nothing.

What do you guys think?

 

I disagree. When you consider that most differentials, manual transmissions, and transfer cases in the world use the "fill to level of the plug" method, this is pretty much the same. You simply have to tilt the car to get the plug at the proper level, and having the correct level of fluid is more important than the volume of fluid.

I'm not convinced the volume needs to be THAT exact. If it were I am in trouble anyway. My car, and many others I have read about on here, appear to have ran fine for years with less than half of the correct amount of fluid in them.

I know there is a heck of a lot more fluid in there now than there was when I bought the car. Plus I feel a lot better knowing the plug magnet is there, and I don't have to worry about running over something that will knock some contraption off the transfer case, dumping all of the fluid.

I know what the JAG accepted method probably involes the terms "See your dealer" and "Sealed for life."

 

I removed the rear output housing from my TC today, it really is a fairly quick job. With practice it can be done in just a few minutes.
Anyway I caught all the oil that came out in a measuring cup. it was pretty close to 600ml.

I was able to take the flange off, and clean it up perfectly, then re-seal the splines and nut. This is where my case was leaking. The slow drip was oozing out to the driveshaft and spinning and flying onto the exhaust.

I put everything back together and refilled with 600 ml. I now use a Giant 1/2 litre syringe. and can fill it through my valve from years ago in just a couple of seconds. Then I do a quick remove valve, insert magnetic plug and I dont think I lost more than 3-4ml.

I also spent sometime looking at the center driveshaft bearing. It was just staring to howl on cold mornings at the end of last winter. I was very "surgical, and I am pretty sure I managed to get several shots of grease into the bearing.

Minor problem now is one of the center bearing bolts bust off from being rusted. Gotta go and get the right drill to get it fixed. There is no access to the back side of this fastener, and I dont want to make a mess. Need the right drill if I am going to re-tap that baby.

I think that ANY gearbox has a fill level that is important. you are being naive if you think that the TC will last properly with a random amount of oil.

If I had more time and energy, i would take my spare transfer case, fill it with the proper amount of oil. I could then tilt it sideways and remove that plug. then slowly tilt it back toward flat and see when oil just starts to drip out. then I could measure the angle that the case is sitting at. Now with some trigonometry and knowing the distance between both rocker panels, I could calculate how much higher the driver side rocker needs to be above the passenger side rocker, and finally get an ESTIMATE of how to tilt the car to get the drain plug at the correct level to act like a fill plug.

Until someone does this, I do NOT accept some arbitrary statement like jack the car up 24 inches.

 

I guess you're not interested in running that engineering test on your spare TC?

 

I don't think anyone ever recommended a random amount of oil. I just said that I think the method of jacking the car is faster, easier, cleaner, and just as valid. I believe it's easier to get a consistant level that way rather than assuming how much was left in there, and how much you might spill trying to get the the apparatus off and plug in there. It's not arbitrary at all. If the TC is solidly mounted in the car (it is,) and you can get a consistant measurement to the rocker panel weld (No reason you shouldn't,) the tilt of the TC should be repeatable, and therefore so should the volume of fluid that goes in. As I said before, aside from the tilting of the car a measured amount, this is the way nearly every other gearcase I have seen is filled.

I am not saying this is the ONLY way to properly fill the TC. If you prefer and are comfortable with your method, by all means stick with it. But I see no reason to get belligerent over someone suggesting a different way to do things.

I am not worried about my transfer case. If it fails tomorrow, I won't be terribly upset. It's lived a reasonably long, good life. The car had 109,000 miles on it when I got it. The original transfer case, and it had never been serviced. when I got it I couldn't get a drop of fluid out of it when I went to change the oil. Judging by how dry the underside of the car was, it had been severely low for quite some time and not a recent leak. Since i filled it I have put another 12,000 miles on it without a hint of trouble from it. I'm not advocating that kind of treatment. But if mine has survived over 120,000 miles, with who knows how many of those miles being nearly bone dry, I don't think a transfer case will implode from being off a few mL one way or the other.

If you want to determine the jacking height that is consistant with your measuring cup method, you don't need a spare case, angle gauge, or trigonometry. Anyone could just measure the fluid, and jack up the car accordingly until you can get your volume in, just to the bottom of the hole.

 

When I posted this method in the following post I couldn't find anyone else doing this

http://forums.jag-lovers.org/av.php?973707p36

B since you claim discovery of this method, when did you first post doing it this way?

 

I really have to side with Andy94SC on this one - flushing or putting ANY amount of fluid into a bone dry TC is better than doing nothing, and this tilt one side then other method sounds reasonable to accomplish that. My X-type has 98,500 mi. and I'm getting nervous as to the state of the TC, as I've noticed that much of the parts on the car are still original (makes me thankul that past owners at least took great care of it cosmetically).

Once I'm ready to do it, I'll measure the fluid that goes in with the double-tilt method and report back. As long as the TC takes 400-600 ml, I'll be happy.