R33 Gtst Oe Gearbox Oil Viscosity

[Just_Rb]

Can anyone tell me what viscosity Nissan recommends to be used in the r33 gts-t 5 speed gearbox?

Having read through heaps of threads i have not come across actual OE specifications anywhere.

[Just_Rb]

anyone? someone on here must know

[PhilKenSebben]

Nup. I've read it all as well mate. Everytime anyone asks they get told "do a search you dumb bastard" and get pointed towards a thread with 100 different members all giving conflicting advice.

The one thread that keeps being pointed to has some advice from SK first (stickied) but he doesn't even mention what model it is for, so it's pointless.

I've asked every auto parts distributor I can find, as they all sell different brands. Penrite for instance says 2 litres in the gearbox and 1 litre in the diff for my R33 gts25t.

Members on here are telling others to add 4 litres to the gearbox and 2 to the diff! So I can run WAY too much or WAY too little.

Penrite suggests 4.1 for GTR gearbox.

Then select another brand and the figures change again. I could deal with marginal variances, but double the figure? That's insane. I'm going to ask Nissan tomorrow if I get a chance and PM you if you like, no sense adding to the confusion by posting another volume publicly.

[08r3308]

if you do get answer from Nissan please post it up or pm as well

thank you

[Just_Rb]

Yeah its funny that through the thousands of posts and with all the knowledge and info (along with some of the biggest crap) on SAU, no one is able to give me a definitive answer. there must be original documentation floating around somewhere on such a popular gearbox and the the quantity and viscosity of the oil recommended by nissan.

Come on guys someone must know.

[Birds]

Nup. I've read it all as well mate. Everytime anyone asks they get told "do a search you dumb bastard" and get pointed towards a thread with 100 different members all giving conflicting advice.

The one thread that keeps being pointed to has some advice from SK first (stickied) but he doesn't even mention what model it is for, so it's pointless.

I've asked every auto parts distributor I can find, as they all sell different brands. Penrite for instance says 2 litres in the gearbox and 1 litre in the diff for my R33 gts25t.

Members on here are telling others to add 4 litres to the gearbox and 2 to the diff! So I can run WAY too much or WAY too little.

Penrite suggests 4.1 for GTR gearbox.

Then select another brand and the figures change again. I could deal with marginal variances, but double the figure? That's insane. I'm going to ask Nissan tomorrow if I get a chance and PM you if you like, no sense adding to the confusion by posting another volume publicly.

lol and you think that starting a new thread will somehow be different, i.e. free of conflicting information from 100 different members? That is why people tell you to search because you're still going to get the same bunch of conflicting information in the new thread. You can't run too much oil...fill it until it starts to drain out of the fill hole, it's that simple...and that's why fill holes are positioned where they are. I find it hard to believe that Penrite recommend exactly 2 litres in the gearbox and 1 litre in the diff...

The reason you guys can't get a definitive answer is because there is none. It's not black and white. Use a 75w90...most people do...but experiment...you aren't going to kill your gearbox by trying different viscosity grades. What Nissan recommends is kind of irrelevant given the age of the vehicle and the climate / driving conditions here being different to Japan. You might as well be asking Holden what oil to run in your Nissan. More relevant is how the gearbox feels and drives, age, what you plan on doing with it etc. that decides the correct viscosity to use.

[PhilKenSebben]

Yeah thanks count duckula. For future reference, if you ever need to top up your engine oil, just open the filler cap, and pour it in till it starts flowing out the top. Remember, you CAN'T run too much oil!

You find it hard to believe that Penrite recommends 2 litres for the gearbox and 1 litre for the diff? Well bad news. They do. Are they correct? I don't know. But some people on this forum believe in doing some research before adding posts. Others just fling shit. You sir, are the latter.

What Nissan recommends is not "kind of irrelevant". It may not be perfect, but I trust Nissan to know their product better than you do. And so will others. What a shock.

And yes, I also find it hard to believe that no one on here has the service manual for the R33 GTS25t, it is probably the most common car owned on these forums, and it SHOULD have the recommended viscosities and volumes clearly printed in it.

PMs sent.

Edited July 30, 2010 by PhilKenSebben

[ARTZ]

well looking at the books today as i needed oil. castrol recomends 2.8ltr and yes penrite 2ltr very damn confusing, also penrite recomend a 90 grade for the diff, whereas castrol recomend multigrade75/90 or thereabouts..

Too much headache can spoil the fun, so i got castrol vmx-80 for the box and penrite 90 for the diff cause the books recomend it and the prices were right, also got tube of g70 for the hell of it..About 100$ all up..

Mechanic is actually gunna fill it for me cause i cant be bothered, so ill tell you how much he puts in tomorrow k....

PS seen a guy fill his engine oil up to the top once,took about 5-6 bottles ran like shit and blew more smoke than cheech n chong...Silly bugger...

Edited July 30, 2010 by Arthur T3

[PhilKenSebben]

Okay, just so I have this straight, because I am trying to keep track

Your figure is for a S1 R33 GTS25t, yes?

Castrol VMX-80 for the gearbox, 2.8 litres of?

And 75-90 for the diff, volume recommended?

[Just_Rb]

Having changed the oil in my mates Toyota echo manual gearbox last week which took 2ltrs of oil as stated in the workshop manual i find it hard that the r33 5speed would only take 2.8ltr i would be thinking more around the 4ltr mark at its a large box. Any importers, mechanics out there know the answer to this age old question?

[Birds]

Yeah thanks count duckula. For future reference, if you ever need to top up your engine oil, just open the filler cap, and pour it in till it starts flowing out the top. Remember, you CAN'T run too much oil!

You find it hard to believe that Penrite recommends 2 litres for the gearbox and 1 litre for the diff? Well bad news. They do. Are they correct? I don't know. But some people on this forum believe in doing some research before adding posts. Others just fling shit. You sir, are the latter.

What Nissan recommends is not "kind of irrelevant". It may not be perfect, but I trust Nissan to know their product better than you do. And so will others. What a shock.

And yes, I also find it hard to believe that no one on here has the service manual for the R33 GTS25t, it is probably the most common car owned on these forums, and it SHOULD have the recommended viscosities and volumes clearly printed in it.

PMs sent.

Oooooooookay...I thought we were talking about gearboxes here? Who said anything about engines? Filler holes on gearboxes and diffs are always positioned so that you can fill them to the maximum because they usually don't have dipsticks that tell you how much oil is in there. An engine is not a gearbox...two completely different things. You cannot overfill a Skyline gearbox with oil as long as you are filling it through the filler plug.

Yes, please supply me with some evidence of Penrite recommending exactly 2 litres of gearbox oil and exactly 1 litre of diff oil...because checking their recommendations website it says 2.5 and 1.6. So I did do my research, and I already have plenty on hand given I know an awful lot about gearboxes, diffs and oil anyway. Not that it matters, because as I said before, gearbox and diff filler plugs are positioned as such for a reason. This is also why, to my knowledge, it is not written in the service manual. The reason for a lack of viscosity information? You don't have a wide choice here, it's categorised as either low viscosity (75w90, 80w90, LS90) or high viscosity (80w140, 85w140). Low viscosity for light duties or good condition parts, high viscosity for heavy duties or worn parts - general rule of thumb.

On the other hand I suspect you don't know a greaet deal about oil...given you're asking questions about it perhaps you should listen rather than just assume or deny an answer thrown at you. No one said Nissan don't know their product, they did in Japan, but Nissan never sold the R33 Skyline with the intent for it to reach Australian shores, or for it to be used on a racetrack. When conditions change, so do the requirements for an oil. I recommend having a read of the "Goods On Oils" thread stickied in the general maintenance section as there are some good explanations as to why you should not rely on a straight from factory Japanese service manual for advice on oil changes in Australia on a 100,000km+ vehicle.

Okay, just so I have this straight, because I am trying to keep track

Your figure is for a S1 R33 GTS25t, yes?

Castrol VMX-80 for the gearbox, 2.8 litres of?

And 75-90 for the diff, volume recommended?

75w90 for the gearbox, 80w90 for the diff. Stick with these and you will be fine.

Having changed the oil in my mates Toyota echo manual gearbox last week which took 2ltrs of oil as stated in the workshop manual i find it hard that the r33 5speed would only take 2.8ltr i would be thinking more around the 4ltr mark at its a large box. Any importers, mechanics out there know the answer to this age old question?

Irrelevant. Toyota Echo for starters is a FWD transaxle, i.e. diff and gearbox in the one housing, therefore requiring more oil than just a gearbox alone. Also, a bigger box does not always necessitate more oil. Ford Transit gearboxes, for example, take about 1.2 litres of oil and are a bit larger than Mazda Bravo gearboxes which use about 3.2 litres.

[ARTZ]

Okay, just so I have this straight, because I am trying to keep track

Your figure is for a S1 R33 GTS25t, yes?

Castrol VMX-80 for the gearbox, 2.8 litres of?

And 75-90 for the diff, volume recommended?

yeah gtst...

your all searching for advice but are not taking any notice of advice given,which is, if the car is level and you fill up through the filler hole you cannot overfill it, as birds said it is designed that way..And has been in most cars for the last 50 years if not more...

Now if the car was not level you may have a slight variance..

Anyway, my diff took about 1.5 ltres..cant be exactly sure but of 2.5 ltrs there is about a litre left..

Gearbox took 375ml of g70, and about 3 ltrs of oil..just over a litre left from 4...So about 3.4ltr all up

I say 375ml cause bought 2 tubes, one for the diff, but after draining and noticing filings on the gearbox plug we thought it was best to put it all in the box ,not sure if this is a good idea or not but im sure ill find out..

Took it for a long drive and it all feels nice and tight and smooth...and didnt cost the earth...

@birds ..in the recomendations book in autobahn/repco the penrite book does recomend 2 for the box and 1 for the diff (weird i know)..Castrol says 2.8 and i think 1.5..in another thread here ..3.8 and 1.8 was recomended, which i think is closest to right if you use the top it to the plug method as you described, which is the method Ive always used as well...i used a little bit less than this...but close...Why people are not content with the method im pretty sure every mechanic uses is beyond me...

Edited August 4, 2010 by Arthur T3

[Birds]

Yep, apologies if I sounded hasted/assy regarding the amounts of oil to use, but it is kind of shitting me when people are obsessive about getting the exact figures for these things when it's far from an exact science. Most mechanics know to use the filler hole as a guide. The only reason I would want to know how much something takes before I fill it with oil is to know how much oil to buy...

[ARTZ]

yeah which is gunna suck if you read the penrite book and only buy 2ltrs...Maybe its a typo or old info thats since been updated on the net, dunno...

We still havent really answered OPs original question

But even Kiwis can do it....

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[ARTZ]

Just_rb

here is the technical info from the service manual you are after...Hope this helps...

[Birds]

Oh look it's he same viscosity I quoted

You are going to use ONLY genuine Nissan gear oil aren't you PhilKen? Have to stick to what the service manual says

[08r3308]

i found out caltex does Easy Shift API GL-4, SAE 75W-90 which would be perfect fro r33 gbox

more info on caltex website here

[Just_Rb]

Just_rb

here is the technical info from the service manual you are after...Hope this helps...

thanks alot mate

[PhilKenSebben]

Oh look it's he same viscosity I quoted

You are going to use ONLY genuine Nissan gear oil aren't you PhilKen? Have to stick to what the service manual says

Nope, Nissan couldn't tell me anything about it. Bastards. I simply wanted to see what the service manual said, and now I have. Cheers.

Except I only got 2.5 litres for the gearbox and I don't think it'll be enough. Thanks Penrite. I even re-checked the manual in case I had mis-read the amount, as no other oil company seems to agree with this volume.

A mechanic has told me that the filler hole is the correct method UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED. He told me he did work on a euro once that specified NOT to fill to the side filler hole, but to use a measured amount. Given that the RB25 manual says no such thing, I'll settle on that.

By the way, it's not that I instantly dismiss the opinions of others on here, as I obviously don't know enough myself to do that. It's merely that I know better than to accept everything written on internet forums as gospel, and all I really wanted to know was Nissan's perspective on the matter. It's the one viewpoint that I haven't been able to find in my searching, and I found that odd.

[ARTZ]

yeah stupid small bottles, if you get another litre...should be enough..

Did you get this one

or this one...