Hi,

I was trying to get the reverse lights to work on my '90 Carat, 4-spd manual.  I checked the bulbs and the fuse, and they were ok.  I removed the reverse switch to check it with my meter, and sure enough, it was intermittent.  I used the trusty can of electrical contact cleaner and got it working reliable again -- on the meter.  It still doesn't work on the van.  Could whatever that is in the transmission that hits the plunger switch be broken?  That sounds expensive.

Anway, while I had the reverse light switch removed, I noticed that it looked like an oil plug.  I had been considering adding some gear oil because it always grinds into all of the gears when cold, sometimes 2nd doesn't engage even when you pull it into the gate -- you have to give it an extra tug to get into 2nd, the area where the linkage goes into the case is soaked and dripping with oil.  (All of this on a remanufactured transmission that isn't even 2 years old!).  Anyway, the book said this thing holds 3 quarts.  I bought 2 quarts of Mobil 1 75-90 synthetic gear oil -- and put them both in!!  I assumed that I would top it off with a little bit, but not 2 quarts!  Therefore my questions are:
1:  Is the reverse light switch hole the place to add the oil?
2:  Was I supposed to drain the old and measure the new?  On my other cars, I just top it off until I can't get any more in.  No measuring required.
3:  How bad is it supposed to leak around the linkage gasket?  Could I have really been more than 2/3 of the way empty?  I assume that if I overfilled it, the excess will come out of this leak.  I just hope it doesn't come out into the clutch!

Thanks very much,

Michael Townsend
townsend@rtp.ericsson.se

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