Gear box with small iron filings

[dannyboy2005]

Looking into getting a new box (well 2nd hand)

Found that this one had iron filings in.

Contatced the seller and he said the following

Hi, it was a small amount of little bits of fillings in the oil, we only put the car in 1st and 2nd gear to drive it onto the trailer and it went fine and it didnt crunch or anything when reversed off the trailer, hope this helps, cheers

Would this be the teeth chipping away? When i last drained my oil, i couldnt rember seeing any of this, although it was black.

[titchster]

Over time, bits of metal are shaved off the cogs, but it shouldn't be much, only very minimal. Being brutal enough it's possible to chip teeth off the cogs, and grinding the gears increases the rate too.

[dannyboy2005]

Its from a V reg (1999?)

So this is common then? When my oil was black, it was black from the lose bits of metal?

[nickwillyhams]

no, its not common. gear wear will happen but you should only ever get particals of metal which you wouldnt be able to see but if there big enough to see then id avoid it at all costs. the box wont last long if theres crap lurkin about in there mate

[shannon6460]

every gear box ive drained of oil i allways see filings init. It isnt a good sign usually but most cars seam ok with bits of swarf floating around init

[Gordon]

Seeing tiny dust like particles can be pretty normal but if it's anything 'filing' sized then i'd stay well clear. Most likely a previous owner has been crunching the syncros.

[BobC]

Hi,

Simo has a guide inthe Premium area for replacing gearbox oil and his pictures clearly show iron filings stuck to the magnetic ends of both the drain and filler plugs.

Here is a quote from the guide:

"Each of the sump plugs has a magnetic section at the end. This is used to try and capture any metal particles, which may have worn off inside the gearbox. It is also possible to capture gear teeth on the magnet if you've been particularly brutal to your gearbox!"

Once the filings come off, the magnets on the ends of the lugs are there to remove them from circulating around the gearbox and contributing to damage.

That said a "filing" is not the same as a tooth! The filings have probably come from the selector dog teeth rather than the gears. When a gearbox is "crunched" its the dog teeth that suffer damage.

[Mikol]

When I drained my fluid it had a decent amount of metal on the end.

Then again the oil hadn't been changed in 2 years and in that time it'd seen both a woman driver then a learner driver.

Oh and my dad driving it.

"Your car won't go in gear."
"Press the clutch"
"Aah there we go"

Douche.