I had the dealer replace my diff oil a few years ago and most of it leaked out from the filler plug in just 500 miles or so because they reused the ‘out-of-stock’ crush washer. They refilled and used a new washer, no problems thereafter.
For the sake of a few pence on a widely available industry standard part, it’s no big deal. Another thread a few months ago listed the correct sizes to look for. I’ll see if I can find it.
18mm ID, 25mm OD aluminium. MX5 Parts have loads of stock at 90p each. eBay is a lot cheaper but no guarantee they are the correct thickness before and after crush at the specified torque (See the Mellens pdf files for the torque settings).
Tightening torque for both Diff plugs with washers
39.2-53.9 N.m {4.00-5.49 kgf.m, 29.0-39.7 ft.lbf}
Tightening torque 5 speed Gearbox use washer on drain plug, and thread sealant on fill plug,
25-39 N.m {2.5-4.0 kgf.m, 19-28 ft.lbf}
Tightening torque 6 speed Gearbox use washers on fill and drain plugs
27-48 N.m {2.7-4.9 kgf.m, 20-35 ft.lbf}
Looks good. My original ones were alloy so I got those.
I have some in the garage as I will be doing mine next week. I will measure them tomorrow if our good friend Richard FX can’t find the details.
I changed mine a couple of weeks ago, have a big box of assorted copper washers I am slowly munching through on various machines. Screwfix/Toolstation do multi kits.
BUT, I wish I had sourced a new magnetic drain plug. The magnet on my original was very week, and after an hour trying to get a replacement on line locally, I gave up and ended up refitting my old tired one. Can’t fix that now without dumping the oil again.
Yes, they are available, if you plan ahead…
Does anyone know what the sizes are? And how to translate this into Gold Plug size codes? Most sites seem to provide plugs by make and model, but only list engine sump plugs, not gearbox or diff.
I wouldn’t use cheap ebay plugs, a magnet coming loose could be catastrophic.
I think the gearbox is M18x1.5, but no idea what Gold plug corresponds to that size.
Would be great if someone could confirm size needed for engine, gearbox and diff. And presumably they are different by model?
Did the oil changes earlier and all went to plan, no issues!
Next problem… The car is currently on axle stands while I wait for the wheels to come back from the powder coaters. After finishing the oil changes, I started it up and ran it through the gears while stationery on the stands and now I’ve got an ABS light on the dash… In hindsight I knew this would happen, didn’t occur to me beforehand
Does anyone know if there’s to a way to reset it without a code reader?
I’ve had the battery off for half an hour, no luck.
Or, does anyone live in the west Yorkshire area that would lend me a code reader?
Just a guess, I’ve never tried it but:
I guess you have all four wheels off the ground and ran the car like that. Is it simply that the ABS system is ‘confused’ (ie throwing an error code) by a period with rear wheels running while fronts are stationary maybe?
If it were me I’d see if the ABS error goes away once the car is run with all four wheels before looking for other problems.
JS
I agree, I’ve wanted one for ages but some many of them are utter crap that I don’t want to buy a cheap one for fear of it being a total waste of time!
I went for redline MT-90. The change is buttery smooth now. My car is a 5 speed NC model and 2 US quarts wa just the right amount. Hope this helps. The oil is sold in US quarts which equal 946 ml.
I bought this one below to use on my daughters car when her car had a fault. Never used it for hers but I checked out a fault on my SEAT when it went into limp mode. When I took it to the garage and he plugged his fancy stuff in to the car it came up with the same code as my reader found so it worked ok.
Think I paid around £18 off Amazon over 2 years ago.
