Transferring Oils

May 30, 2009 5 Replies

I'm killing time while outside ATF is slowly syphoning into the dipstick filler of an autobox. You would imagine some nice person would be marketing a handy tool that would speed the process up beyond that of Brian the Snail on mogadon. I've tried the handy dandy one size fits all bellows on a syphon tube which though the tube is the right diameter to fit are basically crap and cannot cope with the viscosity I've got a Draper metal body syringe which is great but tends to spray everywhere rather than into t'ole (ok for ep into the swivels and diff tho) . Does anybody have a decent bit of kit that isn't stunningly expensive but does a good job?



Derek W (upto his ears in Subaru Transmissions)


Could you not heat the oil up in the oven first? I'm told that's the very kind of thing ovens were made for. Not sure how hot you would have to make it before it got a bit runny.

On or around Sat, 30 May 2009 16:09:58 +0100, "DerekW" enlightened us thusly:

ATF is mostly pretty runny anyway in this weather

On LRs, I had a funnel with a bit of 15mm copper pipe on the spout end, this wedges nicely into the filler tube.

It's that big... I was expecting something 5mm in dia with the tale of woe from the OP. B-) Makes one wonder if there is a problem with the air getting out to let the oil in. Does the box have a breather, is it clear?

Heat up smelly ATF2 in the oven? I take it you haven't been through a divorce Ian I have and last time cost me my beloved Range Rover and 6 years of debt , trust me contaminate the inside of the cooker with that smell and that is the likely outcome or if you are lucky just a new cooker :-) . Plus you still have a tiny pipe to get the stuff down when its hot.( its about 7-8 mm)

Derek (upto his ears in Subaru Transmissions)

There's no need to heat it to high temperatures, just immersing the container in a bath of hot water will be enough. At low temperatures the viscosity of oil approximately doubles for every 5°C drop in temperature.

See, for example, the table at the bottom of this page:

Thanks for reminding me that when I get to work tomorrow I need to start commissioning a Cold Cranking Simulator.

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