Hey, there is tranny oil in the trans pan and you have to drop the pan, BUT
there is gear oil in the final drive and you can either suck it out or drop
that pan, too.  The fill hole is on the side of the tranny and 17mm allen
wrench is needed. If you refll with a pointy spout container, it is easy to
refill it.  Good luck.
Michael in San Antonio
91GL Weekender AT 2.1L 'Gringo'
73 Beetle

On Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 8:41 AM, Fillmore West <fillmorewst@gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi list,
> As a Complete Newbie at this Vanagon project
> I'm wondering just how to drain the gear oil
> in my 90 Automatic Final Drive?
>
> Can anyone steer me in the right direction?
> I see the filler plug
> but cant find a drain plug.
> Or, do I just take the pan off.
>
> Seems like a lot of extra work
> But with only about 1 quart of gear oil capacity
> I want to make sure it's right!
>
> Thanks
> On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 10:57 PM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > GL-5 is fine. Your molly coated Syncros will not dissolve, you can't
> shift
> > a
> > Vanagon fast enough to feel a difference in shifting speeds and the ring
> > and
> > pinion will appreciate the higher performing oil.
> >
> > Dennis
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
> Of
> > Kurt Grotz
> > Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2010 4:24 PM
> > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> > Subject: Trans Oil ReVisited
> >
> > Never did get a Conclusive answer on the last string.  Can one use GL5 or
> > do we need GL4 in an 86 manual gearbox?   Are the newer GL5's ok?   They
> > are obtainable.  Cannot seem to find GL4's in the stores.  What to do?
> >
> > Kurt Grotz
> >
> > 79,85 Vanagon's Deceased
> > 86 Vanagon GL
> >
>