This may seem like a basic/daft question,but I want to change the gearbox oil on my 83 900GLS,I can see the drain plug but not the filler,do I take it that it is filled via the dipstick [expletive deleted],which would match the way the engine oil is filled on this model as there is no filler cap on the rocker cover. Many Thanks

Dave,

That's correct.

Remy

As Remy says you are correct, use the dipstick tube via suitable funnel. The drain plug is magnatised so there will be an accumulation of ferrous metallics covered in a thick oil. Make sure you use the correct oil specification, using the wrong oil can destroy things.

Hi Guys,

New to the forum and a complete novice. I have a saab 900 s J reg 1991 model. I cant locate the gearbox oil dipstick. Wonder if you kind ppl can point me in the right direction and also what grade of gear oil should i use ??

Many thanks

The normal spec oil to use in the gearbox is 10W30 or 10W40 engine oil, but on my old 1982 900 that caused problems with selecting reverse in particular. It took a long time (up to 10 seconds when it was hot) for the gears to spin down (you could hear it if you listened carefully - mainly the noisy chain-drive from clutch to gearbox input shaft), and as there's no synchro on reverse all you could do was wait. I changed the oil to gearbox oil (a fair bit thicker than the engine oil) and the problem disappeared almost completely.

As others have already said, the oil is poured in via the dipstick. Make sure you're on level ground and wait for the oil to settle before measuring.

On the later models they did away with a gearbox filler tube and dipstick. As far as I'm aware the dipstick is in the plug on the side of the gearbox. Can be seen from the right hand side under the exhaust manifold. I can take a picture and post it if needed.

Hi Superswede66,

A picture would be extremely helpful to show the location of the gearbox oil point. I have exhausted myself trying to locate it but just cant seem to see it. Probably looking straight at it and not realizing its there :confused: Any way a pic would be great.

many thanks

Hi.

If you look down into the bottom of engine on the driver's side, dipstick is on the side of the transmission, an inch or two above the axle, close to the exhaust manifold as stated.

It doesnt stick out much, mine is about the size of a 10p and you have to push down on a lever beneath the lid of it to retrieve it.

Hi Superswede66,

A picture would be extremely helpful to show the location of the gearbox oil point. I have exhausted myself trying to locate it but just cant seem to see it. Probably looking straight at it and not realizing its there :confused: Any way a pic would be great.

many thanks[/b]
Can't get saabphotos.com to play ball so used imagevenue instead. Hopefully it'll work.

http://img148.imagevenue.com/loc808/th_97815_SAAB_900_gearbox_filler_plug_1992_122_808 lo.jpg

As I was taking it (getting cold out there now), I just thought about something. It's normally partially obscured by the exhaust manifold on non-turbo models. Ours is the lpt so the manifold heads forward to the turbo whereas on the normally aspirated engine the manifold goes straight down.

Make sure you're on level ground when checking and that you clean around the plug before removing. The plug does incorporate a dipstick (I wasn't 100% sure until I checked) and sits at a slight angle on the side of the gearbox.

Hope this helps.

[edit] Had to redo the photo as it got downsized too much and you couldn't see the arrow (sorry, first time I've used imagevenue). Hopefully you can see enough for it to be useful. If needed I'll try saabphotos again when it works.

Ah ha, I can get a bigger picture.

http://img148.imagevenue.com/aAfkjfp01fo1i-19582/loc808/97815_SAAB_900_gearbox_filler_plug_1992_122_808lo. jpg

Thank you all for your help and especially SuperSwede for bearing the extreme weather to take the pic. The pic was a great help as it got me to look in the right place, However i still need your help to make sure it is the opening that im after. I see a 10 pence sized hexagonal nut recessed in an arch. Is that the thing i have to loosen. I ask this as no one mentioned loosening hexagonal nuts in their replies. If all else fails i will just have to take it to someone who can show me visually.

Thanks to everyone for your help, truly appreciated. By the way Superswede the larger pic doesnt seem to have loaded.

This the the one you're after:

http://www.markje.co.uk/car/pics/c900/c900boxfiller.jpg

Thank you all for your help and especially SuperSwede for bearing the extreme weather to take the pic. The pic was a great help as it got me to look in the right place, However i still need your help to make sure it is the opening that im after. I see a 10 pence sized hexagonal nut recessed in an arch. Is that the thing i have to loosen. I ask this as no one mentioned loosening hexagonal nuts in their replies. If all else fails i will just have to take it to someone who can show me visually.

Thanks to everyone for your help, truly appreciated. By the way Superswede the larger pic doesnt seem to have loaded.[/b]
No problem. The bigger picture did work just fine last night (once I'd worked out the proper link on imagevenue). Not sure why it doesn't this morning (nothing's perfect).

Bubbles' picture above shows it a bit better than mine for non-turbos.

Thanks bubbles thats just the thing that i was seeing, although slightly in different place. But that is because as SuperSwede has indicated is a pic for the non turbo version. But now thanks to all you guys i can now attempt to loosen the nut and add the gearbox oil to see if that helps my situation.

Thank you again. :thumbsup: