I changed the oil on my 2002 GT2 Trannie today and when I went to replace the filling plug, it wouldn't thread in. I felt a small tube or rod in back of the filling hole that seemed to be blocking the plug. It moved a bit and another larger tube or shaft fell down into the casing when I moved the shift lever on the casing. But that did allow the plug to screw in. Now I am worried something has fallen out of the internals on the cable side of the trannie and will need the trannie to be removed to determine what the piece or pieces are. I haven't tried tried to recover them with a small magnet yet and may not be able to. Or maybe it fell into the drain plug magnet which I'm thinking Ill remove to check for it/them.
Any clue what may have happened? Trannie is original and never been removed. If I have to drop the engine I may do the clutch and pin the coolant pipes. 54k miles on it.
Wrong plug. Fixing this will require gearbox disassembly...
I assume you did not remove the fill plug which is directly behind the oil cooler on the drivers side. You can see it here directly behind the zip tie on the oil cooler "center ear" in the picture below...
It's hard to see, but I replaced the hex socket filler plug with a 17mm plug from a 944. This makes it easier to remove as you can easily put a 17mm box wrench on it.
Yep I got the correct plug but I had to do some serious effort to notch it at an angle with a chisel then used a nail center punch at an angle to tap it out. The center was totally rounded I suspect by a PO or dealer. I suspect in the process the impact caused something to come loose like the lock out pin.
Whatever it was, the plug went in easily but now the trannie needs to come out. Might as well drop the engine and get the cooling pipes pinned which was on my to do list anyway. Also replace the clutch which isn't a problem but why not at approaching 60k primarily highway miles. Its only many $$$$$ aaaaargh
Sorry about the late response, my bad.
Yep, in fact I pulled out the wrong plug on the differential. The correct filling plug was as mentioned on the driver side of the transmission (not the differential), just forward and behind the oil cooler. As a result the transmission had to be dropped, the pins and spring removed by a magnet from the diff and with much digital dexterity replaced back to its proper place. I went and had the clutch, throw out bearing etc. replaced since the trannie was dropped. It was getting ready for a replacement in any case. Once again humbled by a stupid DIY mistake, having avoided spending a few minutes in the workshop manual. Also did the plugs and coil packs while underneath. I had previously done the engine mounts and serpentine belt as well.
Thanks for the responses, guys.
At some point I will need to get the coolant lines pinned but nothing scheduled yet as that will require an engine drop.
