Survey: Does gear oil smell TERRIBLE to you or just so-so?

[BAJA_05]

First time I got exposed/smelled gear oil in person -- blew the rear in my old 76 Dodge Pickup doing a smoke run pulling out from a stop sign on a back road. Anyways, when I pulled the cover off -- man I backed out from underneath that truck -- pretty darn fast. My buddy was laughing his arse off -- he known what was up. Does not bother me that much today though -- NOT a preferred smell though.

 

[1978elcamino]

Gear oil smells like my underwear after a normal day, so Im use to it.

 

[FordSVTGuy]

I wouldn't say it smells good, but it is a smell that reminds me that I'm turning the wrench or getting elbows deep into some maintenance fun. I guess my brain correlates that as a net positive. You'd think that Royal Purple would go for the grape scented gear oil...

 

[01rangerxl]

I don't like the smell, but can deal with it while doing the service. I hate how the smell does not go away even after lots of cleaning though. I was wearing a work shirt while topping off diff fluid on my Explorer. The hose on the gear oil bottle popped out of the fill hole and splattered some around the neck of the shirt. I washed it real good and the stain was gone, but the smell managed to subtly linger after multiple washings. And I wouldn't smell it at first when putting the shirt on, but then halfway to work I'd get a whiff of it. The whiff was worse than dealing with the full on smell when I know that's what to expect.

 

[john_pifer]

Originally Posted by 01rangerxl
I don't like the smell, but can deal with it while doing the service. I hate how the smell does not go away even after lots of cleaning though. I was wearing a work shirt while topping off diff fluid on my Explorer. The hose on the gear oil bottle popped out of the fill hole and splattered some around the neck of the shirt. I washed it real good and the stain was gone, but the smell managed to subtly linger after multiple washings. And I wouldn't smell it at first when putting the shirt on, but then halfway to work I'd get a whiff of it. The whiff was worse than dealing with the full on smell when I know that's what to expect.


Yeah, some oils and greases are like that. Personally, I really despise Aeroshell 33, a green, thin-consistency grease that it low temperature compatible. Smells skunky, and lingers in your clothes even after being washed a couple of times.

Used a lot on airplanes.

 

[340_Magnum]

I wouldn't say it smells pleasant but if you really wanted to smell something bad then find an old bottle of limited slip additive from days gone by. That stuff was horrid.

 

[t1snwrbrdr12]

How's it smelling in the shop today!

 

[IndyIan]

I like the fact that it smells with all the anti wear additives, must be good stuff in there! Rotella T also had a bit of a smell to it as well which gave me a warm fuzzy feeling on every oil change.

 

[Jetronic]

some gear oils smell like something died a while ago, others have almost no smell. The regular MTF we use has no smell, the one we have for DCT boxes smells like cat pee. Strongly...

 

[97prizm]

Changing the gearbox oil in some of the SCCA race cars years back some were worse than others. I did work with a guy who always used heavy duty nitrile gloves as the smell made him gag if he got any on himself.

 

[Falkirk88]

Smells like swamp [censored].