bw35 autobox dipstick/filler

T

tedlit

Member
Can someone please convince me I'm not going mad? I can't find the gearbox filler on my P6...

I can find the looped breather hose (just behind the air cleaner, on the right at the back) but there's no oil filler or dipstick to be seen. So I put the car up and looked at the gearbox from underneath.. it looks like a BW35 to me.. but I can't even see where the dipstick tube exits the gearbox itself. At the very back of the gearbox sump - facing rearwards - there's an L-shaped pipe that's capped at the top - about 3" in total - but I thought the dipstick tube exited the gearbox on the right at the front...?

The workshop manual doesn't have any useful pictures.. neither does Google, sadly...!
 
The dip stick / filler tube does indeed exit the transmission at the front on the R/H side. If you stand and face the front of the car, it is on your left hand side, clipped to the rear of the aircleaner elbow on that side. The breather tube for the transmission is also on that side, and will loop up just in front of and filler tube. The breather is retained by a clip which is affixed to the rear of the cylinder head.

However,....there is an option which was available to the NADA 3500S. The dip stick / filler tube is removed and a flexible oil filler complete with sighting tube is used instead. That may well be the short "L" shaped tube that you can see at the rear. Can you see if it has a glass window in it?

Ron.
 
Interesting.. I didn't know about that as an option.. maybe that is it. I've never seen one, and it isn't mentioned in the workshop manual.. it exits from the rear of the sump on the right-hand side.. there's no sight glass in it that I can see, it just looks like an L-shaped piece of brass pipe to me!

I can definitely find the breather.. it's looped exactly where it should be. I'll have to get it up on the ramps properly.. I have a decent idea of where the filler should exit the 'box now.. I wonder what I'll find up there. :)
 
The US cars (at least the early ones) did not have a dipstick/filler - only a sight glass thing under the car.

You were supposed to put the car up on a lift with the car in park & the engine running. The cover on the filler has a bayonet type fitting. You have to push it down and rotate it to the right. It can then be raised - revealing the sight level. You are then supposed to add fluid with a watering can type thing with a curved spout. Any wonder there were so many transmission failures. :roll:

The dipstick/filler is a retro fit - there was a kit available. It can be done in situ, but it's not much fun....

James
 
I wonder whose idea that was - that sounds exceptionally stupid/inconvenient/annoying. Did they assume people weren't capable of checking more than one dipstick - or were they afraid of claims from people who'd cleverly filled their gearboxes up with 10/40?

I'd imagine the chances of finding one of those "kits" now is pretty close to zero.. but can you just fit the tube+dipstick from a "normal" car?
 
Providing the gearbox casing has the hole for the dipstick (which it should have) I'd fit the later type dipstick and tube, and dispense with what you've got. If that sight tube bolts to the sump pan I'd change that as well.

Hopefully you can find one your side of the pond, shipping from the UK would be a bit pricey I would think.
 
The dipstick/filler tube threads into the boss where the breather attaches & replaces the breather tube. This involves swinging some rather large wrenches in a rather confined space. The "nut" on the bottom of the filler tube is ~1 1/16 IIRC. The nut on the base that you have to hold against is even larger.

James
 
IIRC the larger fitting that actually screws into the main casing was 3/4"whit. which is 1&3/4"A/F.

Incidently I have the late type dipstick and tube, the fittings and a sump pan.
 
Havent' managed to dig one up yet.. the filler boss on mine just has the breather, no filler pipe.. and no sign there was ever one there.

Does the 2000/2200 autobox use the same filler? They're a lot easier to come by for "spares" over here...!
 
tedlit said:
Does the 2000/2200 autobox use the same filler? They're a lot easier to come by for "spares" over here...!
Click to expand...

The 2000/2200 uses a different tube that screws into the front of the sump.

As a last resort by changing the sump and bending the tube to suit I'm sure it could be made to fit, but they suffer with the sump cracking and leaking around the fitting, so the proper V8 one is best.
 
Finally got hold of the correct filler tube + dipstick to do this job last week. Discovered a minor problem.. my filler tube is on the *rear* of the gearbox sump, not the front...!

So.. is the sump reversible - has someone just put mine on backwards?

Incidentally.. the filler tube mine had installed was made from 3/4" copper piping, with a 1" cap (badly) soldered to the top where the sight glass should've been. So there was no way of filling the gearbox up anyway!
 
Are you saying you have the 2000 type sump where the dipsticktube threads into it, or the NADA type sight glass which should be on the rear of the sump? The V8 dipstick tube is fitted into the RHS of the main casing.

From what I understand from what you've posted, to do this properly you need the Dipstick and tube and fittings, and the sump from a V8. (All of which I have got if shipping isn't prohibitive)

Pictures would help to clarify things.
 
harveyp6 said:
Are you saying you have the 2000 type sump where the dipsticktube threads into it, or the NADA type sight glass which should be on the rear of the sump? The V8 dipstick tube is fitted into the RHS of the main casing.
Click to expand...

I'll have a go at taking some pictures.. but from what you've said and what I've read.. I've got a "correct" NADA sump, with one threaded filler hole at the rear. Mine has a hack job made up of various plumbing fittings to get it to stay sealed, which is where my problem came from in the first place.

What I've *got* is a filler tube and dipstick from a UK 3500s.. with a giant nut on the end (1 1/16?). It's the non-flexible type, which is (supposedly) the right one. Based on all that being true.. what I need is a sump with the filler exit on the right hand side...?

(Incidentally, I drained the gearbox yesterday.. notwithstanding whatever was left in the torque convertor, I only got about half a litre of fluid out of it!)
 
That dipstick you have is the early solid type, but neither that or the later (better) flexible type screw into the sump, they screw into a larger fitting ( about 3/4" whit. IIRC) which itself is screwed into the main casing on the RHS (Drivers side RHD)

The solid tube isn't very easy to fit in-situ.

I think the first thing you need to do is see what provision (if any) you have in the gearbox casing. (In other words, is there a big threaded hole there with a blanking plug in it?)
 
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