Oil Change on Pinion P1.18 Gearbox - Co-Motion Siskiyou 650b

Ready to change the oil on your Pinion P-series gearbox? Co-Motion Cycles and Darren Alff from Bicycle Touring Pro will show you how!

* Updates
1. Pinion has a new syringe and hose adapter as of December 2020
3. Torque spec for drain screw = medium tight
4. Torque spec for cover screws = 1.5 Nm

[cliveelsmore]

The oil change kit now comes with a screw-in plastic adaptor and a short hose so you can literally suck the old oil out using the syringe. WIth the drain port as low as possible, you suck out 10-20ml, unscrew the adaptor to let air in, screw in the adaptor again and suck another 10-20ml out. It takes literally five minutes to pull more than 60ml out. You cannot efficiently drain the gearbox if you just let it drip out.

[radarmusen]

Happy to see that your oil also is dark, change oil on my c1.6 and it was dark, it was the first time. C1.6 has a extra drain screw so I got the same amount oil out as I fill in.

[jbfussell]

The pinion gearbox has no air bleed hole so the oil cannot be fully drained by the method described because of the vacuum that is created in the gearbox when some oil comes out initially. One way to solve the problem during the draining with the bike on its side, is to place a hypodermic needle on a syringe in the drain hole and inject some air into the gearbox. Immediately a surge of oil will be expelled but soon the vacuum is reestablished. So the air injection procedure is repeated until around 60 ccs of oil is drained. When filling the gearbox, the gearbox will be pressurized by any oil injected. In order to minimize wasted oil, the syringe containing the oil can be periodically operated in reverse while holding the spout firmly against the drain hole. This will back bleed pressurized air from the gearbox into the syringe and make it easier to continue the injection.

[Arpin_Lusene]

Hmm, for a system that required periodic oil change, the old oil removal method still needs a bit more improvement.

[Starginal]

Staying tuned for the "C" series gearbox oil change.

[stephensheppard]

This was super-helpful! Thanks Darren and Co-motion.

[alexmorgan]

Why don't Pinion have a small breather grub screw to remove as well for example on the top of the gearbox meaning oil would flow so much easier as pressure inside and out would be equalised. Rohloff is the same. Their hub only has one oil drain plug meaning oil does not easily drain out of their hub making getting all of the old oil out a real PITA.

[fraserc]

Boy am I glad to hear that only getting a little amount of old oil is normal... I changed mine yesterday (after 7, 200 miles, 1 year) and got a tad less than this video showed. I now see that #Geert Meertens notes that alternately raising and lowering the bike can help to get all of the old oil out! Wish I had done that, given the color of that old oil... Anyone else have this experience? Curious because I have never parked my bike outside, and would most certainly noticed oil dripping while parked.. Made me suspect the oil was low from the dealer...!

[GeertMeertens]

You will get a lot more oil out if you put the bike in an upright position for a few seconds when the oil stops dripping and then lower it again. Repeat this procedure until no more oil comes out. Peculiar that Pinion does not mention this.

When you inject new oil, make sure you put a wire next to the nozzle of the injector so air can escape. Or you wil spill quite a lot of precious oil.

[Starginal]

Dark color looks due to break-in of the gears. Next change may thus be less dark.

[mikahakinen]

Don't have a Pin, but the video is very helpful! :)

[richardstern]

In order to get all the oil out, I found you must repeatedly invert the bike (gearbox), not just lay on the side

[HotelPapa]

The drain is oeasily the weakest point on the P series. I use a bent syringe needle to pump in air and force the oil out.

[hve]

Thank you. Great video. Much appreciated!

[mrmott]

Raise the rear of bike up to make the drain plug lowest point of gearbox. You’ll get a little more out.

[bones]

Nothing came out of mine. Suction, leaning, tipping, not one drop. To say that’s concerning is an understatement since it’s one year old and has only 1800 miles on it. Not too comfortable pushing 60ml back into it not knowing where the other 60ml went. I’ve emailed the shop I bought it through and CoMotion.

[jakobw]

Is there a way to FLUSH out all the old oil?

[derekmann]

before putting the cover back on shouldn't he have put grease on those little gears or whatever they are?

[derekmann]

so you don't get 60mls out but you put 60mls of new oil back? so after lets say 3 oil changes and only getting around 20mls out each oil change and you put 60mls new oil into the gear box x 3 where is all this oil? I'm I missing something?

[polishguywithhardtospellna]

You should redo this video Co-Motion Cycles, cause this is not how you drain the oil. I believe I've seen a person stuffing a wire deep into a hole, so it can drain using the capillary properties. Now there is double portion of oil in this gearbox. This video is making people think there is 2ml in the gearbox. It shouldn't stay on the channel and you really need to open this gearbox again.