thanks Daniel
Bob
Daniel,
Regarding draining the transaxle.
Iāve looked everywhere and canāt see any obvious transaxle drain hole in my 2001 GEM. Logically Iād expect it to be at the [B]bottom[/B] of the case but ā¦ nothing. Where is it located and do you need any special tools to extract the oil? I THINK Iād read that it was located at the TOP of the transaxle and you needed a vacuum extractor to suck out the oil. Even there I canāt see anything remotely like a fill/drain plug. Do I need to remove the front batteries and battery case or drop the transaxle out of the car to get to it?
Al
Remove the rubber plug and suck the old oil out with a $10 hand pump from WalMart or your favorite automotive store. Refill to the bottom edge of the hole and replace the plug.
And where do I find this rubber plug? Iāve looked and short of dropping the transaxle or pulling out the front battery box, just by looking under the GEM and really craning my neck, I see nothing even remotely looking like a fill/drain hole.
Al
Al the plug is on the sideā¦ higher than where it will drainā¦ hence the need for the pumpā¦ not sure why GEM designed it that wayā¦ know I posted the weight of oil to use in the yahoo NEV groupā¦ probably here as wellā¦ you can pull the manual for the motor up from the Gem Car Parts Direct | The Nations #1 Source for Gem Car Parts website
Bob
Itās in the sheet metal cover on the bottom of the transaxle.
Thanks but there isnāt any sheet metal cover on the transaxle. Iāll have to take another look for the drain hole sometime when the temperature gets above freezing in this part of the world!!
Al
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Al itās a large rubber plugā¦ know youāll see it with no problemā¦ after the frost clears from tour nose and eyesā¦ it really does not look like a drainā¦ again the engineerās design and the mechanicās headacheā¦ but it was Chrysler who stuffed a HEMI into about any of their carsā¦ so why not design the drain where it works more as a level check than a drainā¦ you might drop a dime on NEVaccessoriesā¦ 480-753-0684ā¦ talk to Evan or Rogerā¦ think itās Rogerā¦ the girl who may answer is knowledgeable too
Bob
maybe there isnāt a plug on an 01ā¦ here is the link to an 02 and it looks like there is a breather tubeā¦
http://www.gemcarpartsdirect.com/images/partscatalog/2002-2004PartsCatalog.pdf
Bob
Thanks Bob. If there is a āvent/drain plugā I assume it would be near the vent tube which is on the passenger side of the transaxle. Iāll have to crawl around under the car again once it thaws in NE Ohio.
I sure looked last fall thinking that I should change out the oil and I didnāt see it at that time. Maybe I was looking right at it and just didnāt recognize it for what it was. I was probably looking for something like a metal, screwed in oil drain plug not just a rubber plug. Seems like there should be a vent, a fill āportā and a drain plug just for maintenance purposes. Any rational engineer would have designed in all three of those items I think.
Al