03 VW Golf TDi 5spd Manual Redline MTL + Lwt SP

[azsynthetic]

Analysis done by Polaris Lab

2003 VW Golf TDI 5 speed manual transmission. I replaced the factory fluid at 3K and put in 1.75qt of Redline MTL and 0.25 quart of Redline light weight Shock Proof oil. This oil sample has 178K miles on it and the level of Iron is due to me teaching my wife how to drive a clutch. She ground the gears quite a few times. Overall shifting is great. I refill with just MTL this time.

Iron...........389
Chromium....4
Nickle........1
Aluminum....14
Copper.......40
Lead..........2
Silicon........8
Sodium.......9
Potassium....9
Molybdenum..5
Manganese...15
Boron.........188
Magnesium...8
Calcium.......476
Barium........37
Phosphorus...2042
Zinc...........438

Water........ [email protected]
TAN...........6.5

 

[ChiTDI]

It will be interesting to compare these numbers to the next 178k !

 

[unDummy]

Scary. One reason why I push 30k OCI's for gearboxes regardless of fluid used.

TAN is painful to look at.

 

[ravenchris]

Is that TAN or TBN in your report?

 

[moribundman]

Originally Posted By: azsynthetic
This oil sample has 178K miles on it and the level of Iron is due to me teaching my wife how to drive a clutch. She ground the gears quite a few times.


"Grinding the gears" is impossible, because all gears (gear wheels) are always meshed. The grinding noise that you hear when not shifting properly is due to the dog teeth not properly engaging in the matching holes in the collar.

 

[azsynthetic]

Originally Posted By: moribundman

"Grinding the gears" is impossible, because all gears (gear wheels) are always meshed. The grinding noise that you hear when not shifting properly is due to the dog teeth not properly engaging in the matching holes in the collar.


You are correct. But, my intention was it is easier for people to imagine the sound gears grinding than the sound of the dog teeth not properly engaging in the matching holes in the collar.

Ravenchris, TAN number is 6.5 which is pretty normal for 178K miles.

 

[moribundman]

I made no presumptions if you knew or not. I wanted to simply point out the impossibility of literally grinding gears in an MT. Why? Because I've seen even a professional service advisors get it wrong (He elaborated and spewed cow cookies).

 

[benjamming]

There is nothing normal about a TAN of 6.5 IMHO. Useage was too long.

 

[ravenchris]

Thanks for the reply, I have MTL in an application now.

 

[MolaKule]

The Shockproof is what skewed your TAN values and is a differential fluid, not an MT fluid.

 

[azsynthetic]

I know that the shockproof oil is skewing the TAN number that is why I said 6.5 is normal for 178K. Even though it is a differential fluid it has work well in my MT for the past 6 years. When I drained it out the fluid was a clear golden brown color with no swirl mark. The drain plug has a very slight trace of grey material and that is it. I mixed the shockproof (only 12%)in there because I was anticipating teaching my wife how to drive a clutch. I was going to drain it out after my wife was done with the training, but never did get around to it until now. I was surprised at the low level of iron considering how my wife abused the tranny. I have plain MTL in it now. I don't think I'm going to touch the tranny again until about 350K.