Used VW gear oil=YECH!

[Alan]

I drained my VW 02J box today of what I assume to be the original factory fluid with 29,317 miles on it.

It came out a darkish golden amber color however this stuff stunk,smelled like rotten salad dressing

!

There was what looked like thin dark brown colored sludge like deposits on drain and filler plugs.They wiped off quite easliy but still

.I guess I should be happy I didn't see any meatal flakes in the fluid though

.

Went with 2qts of M1 75W90 which had a more pleasent smell,very unlike the dino gear oil i've used in the past which stunk.Smelled more like a M1 motor to be honest

.

I am impressed by the shifting action so far,much more fluid shifting is possible now

.Good stuff!

 

[crossbow]

My comment on the transaxle fluid pouring out the mazda 6s mtx was..."Smells like someone shoved a dead cat in there".

Everyone in the garage left when it started pouring out

.

 

[Eddie]

Smell probably came from the fish oil additive.

 

[Bobert]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Alan:

Went with 2qts of M1 75W90

---

Mmm, I don't know about using Mobil 1 75w-90 (rated GL5) in a VW tranny. I would have at least used a dual rated GL4/GL5 lube. FWIW when I had a Mitsubishi Eclipse and I knew nothing about gear oils back then, my synchros burned up in about 85,000 miles when I used GL5 gear oil in a GL4 spec box. Be careful.

 

[Flash]

Agreed, Bobert. VW spec is for a GL-4 fluid due to the brass synchros they use. To my knowledge, the factory stuff and Redline MT-90 are the only fluid that meet VW specs.

Interestingly enough, I *thought* I saw a new Penzoil synthetic 75W-90 at WalMart the other night, but didn't pay a lot of attention to it. Might want to see if it's dual GL4-5 rated........

Cheers,
Ashley

 

[Alan]

Guys,

The test procedures for GL-4 are dead so Mobil won't put that GL-4 label on their gear oil.

Both Bob Winters and George Morrison both commentated about how prior GL-5 formulations(dino and syn)had problems in GL-4 speced boxes but thats in the past now

,at least with the quality syns it is.

The good synthetic formulations of today like M1 shouldn't hurt a GL4 box,at least in their opinions it won't(I trust their knowledge and experience

).

I am very happy so far with the smoothness and feel of M1 in my 02J box,it's just keeps getting better

.Way improved perfomance over the stock stuff.
The M1 GL-5 gear oil I used was very clear and smelled like M1 motor oil unlike the nasty smelling,looking Coastal GL-5 stuff(dino)I put in my 320i's rear end.I bet that stuff would perform like crap in my application,possibly damaging the transmission.

BTW,Porsche's factory fill in their manual boxes is M1 75W90 and they use a lot of yellow metals with no reported problems

.

[ November 08, 2004, 09:15 PM: Message edited by: Alan ]

 

[Flash]

Two things:

1) Has anyone run MT-90 as well as Mobil 1 to compare the two?

and

2) Alan, are you positive that Porsche has been using the Mobil 1? Pentosin makes the fluid for VW trannies (I thought). Just curious as to why they would use that synthetic in VWs and the Mobil in Porsche. It would seem that buying from one supplier would make it cheaper. No?

Thanks,
Ashley

 

[mkosem]

That is odd. I would imagine either pentosin or castrol(other major vw oil supplier) would make the factory fill.

On another note, the MT-90 seems to make for a stiff shift when the weather is cold till the engine warms up. It seems to be ok within 5 miles or so. Have not used M1.

also, MT-90 smells terrible too!

--Matt

 

[Alan]

Porsche uses M1 as a factory fill for the engine and trannys.It's the top dog in the family so it's gets the best stuff OEM

.

While the stuff VW specs is pretty good you would think that Porsche specs stuff with less regard to "cutting corners".

This 32.0F morning the transmission shifted great right away with the M1

.

[ November 10, 2004, 07:55 AM: Message edited by: Alan ]

 

[moribundman]

I'm not convinced that Mobil gear oil is OEM fill in a Porsche. Pentosin is THE maker of factory fill fluids for German car makers. All GL-4 lubes stink. I put Red Line MT-90 in my Audi, and it's very smooth. A modern GL5 gear oil should not be a problem for any tranny that requires GL-4 -- at least as long as the gear oil temperature does not exceed a temperature that you will not encounter during street driving.

 

[Alan]

Why not,M1 supplies their OEM engine oils,why not the gear oils?

 

[Flash]

Hmmmmm, I didn't know M1 was the 'factory fill' for oil, although they're very public about the VAG certifications. I thought the factory fill, and all subsequent dealership fills, were Belgian Castrol Syntec 5W-40.

 

[Flash]

p.s. I'll ask my friend about the factory fill in her new R32 tomorrow. I do know that our dealership uses the Belgian Castrol for warranty oil changes on the new cars.

 

[moribundman]

quote:

---

Why not,M1 supplies their OEM engine oils,why not the gear oils?

---

Okay, you got me.

 

[mkosem]

do the gears seem to engage any quicker with the M1 oil? I'm thinking of switching mine out, at least for winter.

--Matt

 

[Alan]

Quicker shifting is possible with the M1 in there,ymmv.

 

[ebaker]

Approved oils for Porsche boxter transaxles are Burmah(castrol) TAF21, Shell transaxle oil, and Mobillube PTX. For the Carrera Shell transaxle oil, and Mobillube PTX are approved.

 

[heyjay]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bobert:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Alan:

Went with 2qts of M1 75W90

---

Mmm, I don't know about using Mobil 1 75w-90 (rated GL5) in a VW tranny. I would have at least used a dual rated GL4/GL5 lube. FWIW when I had a Mitsubishi Eclipse and I knew nothing about gear oils back then, my synchros burned up in about 85,000 miles when I used GL5 gear oil in a GL4 spec box. Be careful.

---

If you're worried about the brass synchro rings, Mobil does make a commercial HD GL-4 that is approved for all "soft" synchro metals and for most HD truck transmissions. http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lubes/PDS/ NAUSE2CVLMOMobiltrans_SHC_50.asp Not sure why Mobil had to worry about synchro rings in large trucks, as most don't have synchros! The SHC 50 is GL-4, but the bad news is the last time I bought some, it came in 5 gal pails as the smallest container.

 

[Rat407]

I'm running AMSOIL's ATG 80w-90 GL4 rated gear oil in my 91 Jetta's gear box. From what I have read this is only a GL4 rated oil not a GL5 so it should work. So far it is running great. My slush box has 162k on it with 3k running the AMSOIL in it. I did do an ARX cleaning prior to installing the AMSOIL. I do know that the Redline MT-90 is really big with the other VW owners on the VW forums.