Next the axle, but first the handbrake. After reading this month's Miscellany, where there is a feature on a broken handbrake cable - I checked to see if my outer sheath had cracked, and on the offside it has. With rusty stains evident.So it's only a matter of time before the cable either sticks or breaks on that side. So I removed the two fixings.......
And this allows 3 in 1 oil to be dribbled down the inner cables. It won't do much good but might help a bit!
The axle level plug isn't like the S1 Roadster, which is a large bolt head, it's a 10mm Allen Key and access is very very tight up against the tank. The drain plug is the bottom bolt and is 15mm (or 19/32"AF).
The oil looks a funny colour here but it wasn't green or grey.
It wasn't as black as it looks here either!
I had some semi-synthetic gear oil left over from my first Roadster oil change, so I've used this with a slosh of friction modifier. The Roadster handbook was not exactly accurate, and since then I've used fully synthetic (after checking things out). This will do the job.
The usual tried & tested fill method - the rear has to be lowered to get the right level, before replacing the level plug. Again, both plugs were smeared with red Hermatite. I'm not fan of sealers on transmissions, but decided to use blue non setting sealer (was called Hylomar - but not sure if that name is still around).
All done, but ready for a thorough wipe down. It's a very messy job, and consumes vast amounts of rubber gloves and rags, and containers. But well worth doing. thumbs
The final job is to replace the tool tray and then give the inside a thorough clean - lots of oily fingermarks.......
