Schaeffer's #204S-ATF Blend or Full Synthetic?

[Whitewolf]

No joke. Some products really do stink to the point that if you are familiar with them you can recognise the smell and know which company some part of the additive came from.

 

[Colt45ws]

Im going to guess that its the FM...

 

[bmwtechguy]

The smell you are referring to is common to several brands and types of ATF. I've noticed it as well. The latest ZF spec ATF for new BMW's smells strong, kind of like a gear oil. I'm told the high level of certain additives gives it this smell. Said to be a very long life fluid.

 

[Pablo]

It's amines that smell of fish.

 

[Colt45ws]

What are they used for?

 

[MolaKule]

The Schaeffer's ATF was a blend of PAO and GroupI and II base oils for some time, then they changed to GroupII+ and GroupIII and PAO.

It is now a majority GroupIII oil, so the oxidation numbers should be good.

The esters used to carry the friction modification package and the phosphorous AW is the fishy odor you detect. Those special FM's to me smell like chalk dust, and when compounded with the esters and the phos, they really stink.

 

[Lyondellic]

I know that the Amsoil Universal ATF has a strong smell, but it is more of a chemical smell to me. Perhaps this is the gear oil odor that some have described?

On a previous post someone asked what Amine is used for. Though it has nothing to do with ATF, we use Lean DEA to remove Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) from various gas product streams at the refinery where I work. I should have made the connection, as Lean DEA smells like dead fish too.

 

[TrailRunner]

I thought it was just me. It does smell fishy.