jaap said:I filled it until it came out again from the filler hole. That was approx. 1.4 liters.
Where is this breather tube connected? It's hard to see in this exploded view (and also in the engine compartment without taking the engine out).
Seems to be tilted about 1 degree forward, all is lost! :mrgreen:jaap said:
nlspace said:If you follow the bottom of the tube in the diagram, it is supposed to attach to a nipple on the brush ring cover; the top end runs up to connect to the breather element up high on the inverter, held by clip FN9 in the diagram. The tube is connected at both ends, there is no open end of the tube.
Sounds like the breather tube is not leaking at the attachment point to the gearbox, which is the same side the plugs are on. The right side (non-plug-side) is where the tube goes to, so it's traveling up the tube. Some fluid escape is normal, usually just fumes. Big leakage is strange.jaap said:..... the oil seems to be inside the little tube too. I'm sure it's not the plugs, they are dry and the oil is on the right side of the gearbox, not on the left side where the plugs are.
I see you're prob right. Also note how jaap's last picture above showed oil spots all over the orange parts.nlspace said:Somebody must have removed the breather or the tube broke.
jaap said:...when I opened the drain plug, nothing happened. After a while a tiny stream of pitch black oil came out. What came out was less then 0,10 liter!
nlspace said:jaap said:...when I opened the drain plug, nothing happened. After a while a tiny stream of pitch black oil came out. What came out was less then 0,10 liter!
Oh yeah now we know how and why it was so extremely low on oil--it all puked out the tube with the missing breather valve.
jaap said:Here's yet another reason why you should change the reduction gear oil...
After reading this post about why (not) to change your reduction gear oil, I decided that safe is better then sorry and got some replacement oil.
However, when I opened the drain plug, nothing happened. After a while a tiny stream of pitch black oil came out. What came out was less then 0,10 liter! There was quite some metal goo on the magnets, but given that there was hardly any oil there, I still think the metal residue is reasonable.
Maybe there wasn’t even enough oil in there to transport all the metal residue to the magnets, so I’m thinking about changing (or at least draining) the oil again after 1000km to see how much dirt will accumulate now that there is oil.
My 2nd-gen Leaf is from 11-2018 and has 45.000 km on it. I never had any problems or noises from the reduction gear, the only reason to change the oil was because I want this car to run forever without problems and my definition of a car lifetime is much longer then Nissan would aim for (my other cars are 45 and 54 years old).
My guess is that something went wrong during production and the reduction gear oil just wasn’t filled at all. What was in there is about what you expect to find in such a gearbox before assembly. There’s also still an option that the gearbox is leaking and the oil leaked out before I bought the car (when it was 1 year old). I never saw any leakage.
These pictures show the magnets and the oil that came out. It’s actually a bit more then what came out, because it also contains a bit of the fresh oil that leaked when I filled.
Of course, I could have inspected the reduction gear oil earlier and according to the maintenance schedule, the dealer should have inspected it at the 12-month periodical check they did when they sold it to me. Apparently, they didn't. Any thoughts on what would be my best course of action to make sure this mistake has no (or least) consequences for the lifetime of the vehicle?
Interesting to hear the dealership's and maybe Nissan's warranty response on this issue. Don't forget us.jaap said:I think most likely is there are parts missing (and that also caused the low oil level). I'm quite sure the dealer never even got the bottom plate off although they should have done that during the 1-year maintenance check they said they did when they sold it. So I'll go back to the dealer, see if they can get me this breather and ask what they are going to do about the probable damage to the gearbox.
voltamps said:Interesting to hear the dealership's and maybe Nissan's warranty response on this issue. Don't forget us.jaap said:I think most likely is there are parts missing (and that also caused the low oil level). I'm quite sure the dealer never even got the bottom plate off although they should have done that during the 1-year maintenance check they said they did when they sold it. So I'll go back to the dealer, see if they can get me this breather and ask what they are going to do about the probable damage to the gearbox.
I've done a dozen of this gear oil changes now across many multiple generations of Leafs when doing my research some time back. It takes the full 1.4 liters just to reach the bottom of the second plug when the Leaf is level, but even that is not enough to really "over-fill" it. To do that, you would have to take the top "3rd" hidden plug out and then continue to fill at that point to really over-fill it. Since you filled at the second plug like the manual says, I would be highly doubtful that you did an over-fill unless the Leaf was at such an extreme angle facing down and forward that it wouldn't be safe. :lol:jaap said:The workshop manager thought it might be possible I over-filled the reduction gearbox when I filled it myself (both times, in that case). I find that hard to believe, because I measured what went in and it was very close to 1.4 liters. Also, I had the side plug out while filling, so it overflowed a bit and I let it drip for a while. I guess that even if here was 1.5 liters in the gearbox, that should not come out through the breather.
jaap said:Next friday, I have another appointment at the dealer, and we'll have a look if there is new oil leakage or not. Maybe it was a matter of over-filling, after all. But even if that's true, that doesn't explain why there was only 0.1 liter in there to begin with.
To be continued...
jaap said:...
In the mean time, we can just speculate on what's happening...
- Why is it leaking from the tube? Could that be cause by a faulty breather?
- How come oil comes out when you open the side plug, even though that was opened before and drained until it didn't leak any more?
- Could the oil be foaming, causing increased volume?
- Is there another liquid that could leak into the gearbox, raising the oil level? Coolant maybe? Any cooling pipes nearby?
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