WHAT'S the best trans/diff fluid to use to better performance and extend life?

[braker15]

Wanna do my manual trans fluid, and diff as well, because its noisy.
Is Redline any good? what to use on dff?
I searched.
tk

[ThirdStrike]

Redline Shockproof
Fixed many of synchro and gear grinding issues on different vw/audis for me. Its the best by far imo

[Scotty@Advanced]

We've gone through a number of gear oils, and redline has the worst shear stregth of just about any fluid out there.
My recomendation would be the Titan Fuchs SintoFluid 75W90 or Motul Gear 300. We stock the Sintofluid here.... Best thing about the Fuchs is it is a performance oil that meets the OEM fluid specification.

[J-b5]

neat... cant get that motul stuff easily around here. nice to see an alternative.

[ThirdStrike]

We've gone through a number of gear oils, and redline has the worst shear stregth of just about any fluid out there.
My recomendation would be the Titan Fuchs SintoFluid 75W90 or Motul Gear 300. We stock the Sintofluid here.... Best thing about the Fuchs is it is a performance oil that meets the OEM fluid specification.

Good to know. I was just about to change the gear oil in my golf too.. Ill buy some motul

[braker15]

so, 75w90 in the trannny? and what goes into rear diff?

[IamEzraM]

Redline MT-90 for the tranny, Redline 75W-90 for the diffy

[sweets4style]

Royal purple 75-90 in both boxes and it meets the GL4 spec of the gear oil which is required and its cheaper then many alternatives. As is the 75-90 for both boxes by amsoil which also meets the GL4 spec which is required. Also cheaper as well and available at many auto parts stores. Both are full synthetic and have great properties (one of which being shear strength) and others like thermal stability and breakdown. Could do more detail but you would have to be a chemist almost to understand it.

[DiscoPotato]

Redline mt90

[coreyj]

hands down this stuff is the best... my old shop used it in all the race cars mainly Porsche, but works extremely well in the 01E and other quattro transmissions, ( even stop bad syncros from slipping in one customers TT) it is GL5 spec.



Race-proven gear oil
Special adhesive/cohesive formulation eliminates "dry starts", dramatically reducing initial start-up wear on pinion and ring gears
Helps improve "stiff shifting" manual transmissions
Reduces operating temperatures
Blended with highly refined pure paraffinic base stock and a high tech additive package, including SWEPCO's proprietary additive, LUBIUM®
Helps keep gearbox and transmission seals soft and pliable, reducing leakage
Meets all AGMA specifications, API GL-5, and MT-1
EP and limited slip differential additives
Available in SAE 80W-90, 90, 140 and 250; ISO Grade 150, 220, 320, 460, 680, 1000

[gearhead1186]

motul gear 300 here.

[sweets4style]

hands down this stuff is the best... my old shop used it in all the race cars mainly Porsche, but works extremely well in the 01E and other quattro transmissions, ( even stop bad syncros from slipping in one customers TT) it is GL5 spec.



Race-proven gear oil
Special adhesive/cohesive formulation eliminates "dry starts", dramatically reducing initial start-up wear on pinion and ring gears
Helps improve "stiff shifting" manual transmissions
Reduces operating temperatures
Blended with highly refined pure paraffinic base stock and a high tech additive package, including SWEPCO's proprietary additive, LUBIUM®
Helps keep gearbox and transmission seals soft and pliable, reducing leakage
Meets all AGMA specifications, API GL-5, and MT-1
EP and limited slip differential additives
Available in SAE 80W-90, 90, 140 and 250; ISO Grade 150, 220, 320, 460, 680, 1000

It is not a good idea to use that fluid as it is a GL 5 spec luid and is not meant for out gear boxes. It is actually too slippery and will over time cause quite a bit of extra wear at contact surfaces.

[J-b5]

i tried this in my 02J trans years ago.

car was UNDRIVEABLE when it was cold.

had it out 2 days later and replaced with stock fluid at the shops expense.

[coreyj]

It is not a good idea to use that fluid as it is a GL 5 spec luid and is not meant for out gear boxes. It is actually too slippery and will over time cause quite a bit of extra wear at contact surfaces.

if you put this in your fingers it strings like syrup, it wont cause wear... there are several cases where this stuff has actually gripped better on the syncros and caused gears not to grind anymore. also this oil is MT-1 approved (which means it does not cause harm to yellow metals)

If porsche 996, gt2/3 owners use this stuff then id say its safe for our transmissions. since some of the Porsche transmissions use a few of the same parts. ( I can prove this with because i came accross the parts when i build my last couple 01E's)

[coreyj]

i tried this in my 02J trans years ago.

car was UNDRIVEABLE when it was cold.

had it out 2 days later and replaced with stock fluid at the shops expense.

yes i will agree this stuff is not to be used in -30*F lol... if you live in southern half of US or Cali, then you will love it.

[J-b5]

Dude this was on a balmy 60 degree day. Once the trans warmed up it was usable, but until it did the syncros did not work at all.

[coreyj]

Dude this was on a balmy 60 degree day. Once the trans warmed up it was usable, but until it did the syncros did not work at all.

Do you even know how syncros work? lol. also i never said to use this in a VW 02j trans. i have this in my car right now and started it at 20*F this morning and had no issues whatsoever...

[J-b5]

scotty how do you stand this forum sometimes?

[Nadrealista]

We've gone through a number of gear oils, and redline has the worst shear stregth of just about any fluid out there.
My recomendation would be the Titan Fuchs SintoFluid 75W90 or Motul Gear 300. We stock the Sintofluid here.... Best thing about the Fuchs is it is a performance oil that meets the OEM fluid specification.

I use motul gear 300 but I am curious how did you come to the conclusion that redline has worst shear strength?

Redline oils are based on esters (group V fluid) which is very shear resistant...

[J-b5]

im guessing he had some tested after pulling it out of severely worn transmissions. but ill let him field that.

[braker15]

hands down this stuff is the best... my old shop used it in all the race cars mainly Porsche, but works extremely well in the 01E and other quattro transmissions, ( even stop bad syncros from slipping in one customers TT) it is GL5 spec.



Race-proven gear oil
Special adhesive/cohesive formulation eliminates "dry starts", dramatically reducing initial start-up wear on pinion and ring gears
Helps improve "stiff shifting" manual transmissions
Reduces operating temperatures
Blended with highly refined pure paraffinic base stock and a high tech additive package, including SWEPCO's proprietary additive, LUBIUM®
Helps keep gearbox and transmission seals soft and pliable, reducing leakage
Meets all AGMA specifications, API GL-5, and MT-1
EP and limited slip differential additives
Available in SAE 80W-90, 90, 140 and 250; ISO Grade 150, 220, 320, 460, 680, 1000

hey chief, where to get this stuff? at auto parts??

[coreyj]

^ pelican parts or ebay

[ThirdStrike]

Im not saying that scott@advanced is wrong but my old jetta (02J) had first to second gear grinding issues even at low rpm, until I put the Redline shockproof in. Shifting felt like new again. (and my clutch wasnt bad)

[J-b5]

your old fluid might have been finished. new redline is still a good product, hes just saying its got a short life.

[Scotty@Advanced]

scotty how do you stand this forum sometimes?

It is challenging at times.

I use motul gear 300 but I am curious how did you come to the conclusion that redline has worst shear strength?

Redline oils are based on esters (group V fluid) which is very shear resistant...

There are a couple different studies I've pulled found which showed how poorly the redline fluid sheared (note I do not know specifically which redline fluid it was, but I suspect it was MTL). Redline also scored poorly on the high temp particulate test. One study was done by Amsoil, and the other IIRC I saw it on bob is the oil guy.

We've also seen shear related gear face damage on some of the 01E's we have rebuilt which the owners stated they ran Redline for most of the trans' life.

Im not saying that scott@advanced is wrong but my old jetta (02J) had first to second gear grinding issues even at low rpm, until I put the Redline shockproof in. Shifting felt like new again. (and my clutch wasnt bad)

People always testify a particular fluid worked great when it after flushing old fluid from the gearbox. This is not an objective test but rather and observation.It is highly likely that any fluid (be it redline, motul, or stock) would have likely displayed similar improvements due to the fact the old fluid was spent, or contaminated and likely needed to be changed in the first place. On another note, Audi and VW's lifetime fluid recommendation is a farce only implemented to sell gearboxes or parts (IMHO).

im guessing he had some tested after pulling it out of severely worn transmissions. but ill let him field that.

I've been meaning to send a few samples of some of the common gear lubricants as well as some of the shit drained from gearboxes to a couple of labs for analysis and evaluation, but haven't had much opportunity to do so.

Someone posted earlier a GL4 versus GL5 fluid. In the past most GL5 gear oils contained sulfur compounds which helped with smooth LSD clutch plate operation, however at elevated temperatures, the sulfur tended to bind with yellow metals (brass) found in syncro rings turning them into sludge. However modern chemistry has mostly eliminated sulfur in lubricants so it is now safe to run a GL5 fluid in a GL4 application. Just because a fluid is specified as being GL5 does not mean it won't function properly in a gearbox requiring
GL4, as long as the GL5 is sulfur free.

[J-b5]

SCIENCE!

[ThirdStrike]

your old fluid might have been finished. new redline is still a good product, hes just saying its got a short life.

good point

Definitely gonna get Motul after this thread! I've been advised by other people to get Motul before

[Scotty@Advanced]

Wanna do my manual trans fluid, and diff as well, because its noisy.
Is Redline any good? what to use on dff?
I searched.
tk

To directly answer your question, the best things to improve transmission life and performance is use a good oil, redline, motul, fuchs, factory whatever, don't shift like a tool, and change the fluid one every 2 years or 50K or if driven hard 1 year or 25K. If you ask me what I prefer, I say again Motul, factory or the Fuchs.

[coreyj]

on manual trans service motul is very good also imo. for track duty i would do the motul 300 or swepco 201

[TozoM8]

Just to make this thread more interesting I run 10 W40 motor oil in my trans. We had some -4F last week and it shifted like butter.

[Scotty@Advanced]

Just to make this thread more interesting I run 10 W40 motor oil in my trans. We had some -4F last week and it shifted like butter.

Some of the detergents in motor oil can cause issue after prolong use but frequent oil changes can alleviate those problems.

ATF is a pretty awesome lubricant, but a bit harsh on syncros. Dog boxes can run the stuff with no issue.

[braker15]

Scotty, is good to use the same 300 motyl gear oil for rear diff??
tk

[billh_pa]

redline MT90 does not work well in cold weather (at least for me S4 - 2001.5 6mt)(and yes I know that you can mix MT90 and MTL and that that might work better in cold weather). Here in south eastern PA temps have been around 22F in the mornings. Shifting has not been easy. This past Friday night I switched back to the factory fluid (G 052 911 A2). Yes it was $26.00 per liter. Had to by 3. Since then shifting is fine especially the 1 to 2. No issues even this past Monday when it went down to -1F. When MT90 is warmed it works fine but, when it is below 35F I had issues.

Also found that this Pentosin should work in our trans.
http://www.pentosin.net/pressrelease...nto_MTF2_2.pdf
Looks like it costs $23.00?

[Mike@PureMS]

We've been recommending and using Motul 300 for years. It's a great fluid for both the diff and transmission.
Available on our website.

[Just_dizzle]

Motul 300 in tranny Motylgear 75-90 in Diff?

[Just_dizzle]

how much does the tranny and diff take?

[Scotty@Advanced]

how much does the tranny and diff take?

2.9 liters for the trans and .95 for the rear diff IIRC.

[Scotty@Advanced]

Motul 300 in tranny Motylgear 75-90 in Diff?

Rear diff lube isn't nearly as persnickety as the trans. Either would be fine.

how much does the tranny and diff take?

2.9 liters for the trans and .95 for the rear diff IIRC.

[J-b5]

i did the old fill till it leaks out and it damn near took 4 litres.... of course it was seeping out of the drivers side axle flange after i did that, so may thats not the best way. :)

the measured way is best but that stuff flows soooooooo slowly..

[Just_dizzle]

Rear diff lube isn't nearly as persnickety as the trans. Either would be fine.



2.9 liters for the trans and .95 for the rear diff IIRC.

thank you scotty