First I must tell everyone how helpful this forum has been to me. You all have been so great in offering advice to me, not only prior to the purchase of my '64 BJ7, but also since then, with my numerous dumb white-collar questions!
Although I bought my first British car in '68, (a'57 MGA), I never became a wrench-head, and only performed a little transmission work on gear changes and other minor work on the car prior to running it into the ground, while driving to and from college in western PA.
I checked my transmission fluid today and found it to be low. I then went to the local auto parts store only to become totally confused. I was told by the shop that did my initial work after my recent purchase, to use a 20-50 weight fluid, but the store asked if it was fluid or gear oil?? Heck, the shop just said to get 20-50 fluid?? Is it oil, fluid or what? When I called the shop back for clarification they said they didn't know, and to smell it to determine if it was gear oil,(a bad smell), or just transmission fluid, which doesn't smell bad, and should look reddish in color. Well, it doesn't look red, but rather a brownish color, and doesn't smell like a gear oil! To top it off, the clerk at the auto parts store said the gear oil would not smell if it was old!!
So, I guess now I should just drain it all out and start over...but with what?? The original owners manual has specs for all of that 50's and 60's stuff, but what do I use?
And once again, thanks in advance for your great assistance, and hopefully one of these days I can pass it on to another neophyte like me!
P.S. Am I the only person that just can't understand why people can work in a store,(any type of store,)and have no concept of what's going on other than scanning a price, having the cash register tell them how much change to give back and then program them to say thank you and have a nice day?
Although I bought my first British car in '68, (a'57 MGA), I never became a wrench-head, and only performed a little transmission work on gear changes and other minor work on the car prior to running it into the ground, while driving to and from college in western PA.
I checked my transmission fluid today and found it to be low. I then went to the local auto parts store only to become totally confused. I was told by the shop that did my initial work after my recent purchase, to use a 20-50 weight fluid, but the store asked if it was fluid or gear oil?? Heck, the shop just said to get 20-50 fluid?? Is it oil, fluid or what? When I called the shop back for clarification they said they didn't know, and to smell it to determine if it was gear oil,(a bad smell), or just transmission fluid, which doesn't smell bad, and should look reddish in color. Well, it doesn't look red, but rather a brownish color, and doesn't smell like a gear oil! To top it off, the clerk at the auto parts store said the gear oil would not smell if it was old!!
So, I guess now I should just drain it all out and start over...but with what?? The original owners manual has specs for all of that 50's and 60's stuff, but what do I use?
And once again, thanks in advance for your great assistance, and hopefully one of these days I can pass it on to another neophyte like me!
P.S. Am I the only person that just can't understand why people can work in a store,(any type of store,)and have no concept of what's going on other than scanning a price, having the cash register tell them how much change to give back and then program them to say thank you and have a nice day?
