Gearbox Oils Vmx80 Vs Syntrans 75w-85

[08r3308]

lately i been doing lots of research on gearbox oils and wanted to find out how superior is synthetic gear oil for gearbox, in this case syntrans over vmx 80

i have read castrol msds and chemical properties of each oil and there seems not much difference between the two?

or those small values mean a lot?

also checked out castrol lube 2010 book at few auto parts stores and they all state vmx80 or vmx-m for R33 and gtrs.

why isn't synthetic recommended in lube book for our gearbox and diff?

[ARTZ]

I like this thread already..

Its also odd that they recomend vmx-80 when the factory recomends a multigrade oil..

I got the vmx-80 mainly cause it was cheap, if i had the cash i would've got the syntrans but the only real benefit i thought was it would last longer, though i reckon it would handle abuse better as well...But seeing as im a regular oil changer,and not overly abusive. isnt really of concern..

But i have read many a thread on it , some saying synthetic is not good for______reason and others saying the same about mineral.. Maybe we should Email Castrol and find out the there thoughts..

Even says on their site..

Note: Although Castrol Syntrans B may be topped up with mineral oil (Castrol VMX80 preferred),

some of the performance advantages and protection provided by Castrol Syntrans B will be

significantly reduced.

Edited November 16, 2010 by Arthur T3

[08r3308]

yeah i guess call or email would be great idea , but i thought i will ask here and get some responses first.

then again when you think of it i dont think much of synthetics were available once our cars were made and they would have been very expensive , i could be wrong here.

castrol only recommends their synthetic in say a Ferrari which says syntrans to use in gearbox but nearly every import its vmx80 and vmx-m

[08r3308]

anyone?

oil experts?

can anyone help with castrol msds?

[T04GTR]

vmx80 is like water in comparison. back when i had my dr30 i blew up 12 fj20 gearboxes. they lasted twice as long when i put in syntrax.

and then longer again when i put in redline shockproof.

my gtr. i was running redline shockproof for over a year. then broke the input shaft gear. put in another gtr box, with syntrax. (had some at work when i was doing the change) it lasted a week before it sheered all the teath of third. then bought a ppg....

for someone who treats there gearbox like a mongrel, i would suggest using the redline. lightweight. (blue one)

the data sheets will not really tell you anything. you need a very high sheer load but at the same time not being so slippery as to not make the synchros work..

[08r3308]

is there any reason why castrol dont recommend it for our cars?

every book i have looked at says vmx80 or vmx-m which is 75w-85

i have also heard bad storied with redline so that's why i tend not to use it , my mechanic doesn't like it one little bit

[08r3308]

i have emailed Castrol , lets see what they say.

[MrStabby]

i have also heard bad storied with redline so that's why i tend not to use it , my mechanic doesn't like it one little bit

Redline produce excellent oils. You only have a problem if you use the wrong one. Listen to T04GTR.

[08r3308]

didn't redline them self say not recommended in transmissions with synchros??

my mech strongly suggest against using it unless you gbox is stuffed.

i have called Castrol and even emailed and i have been told that Syntrans is much better as obviously is synthetic and provides more protection at hi temperatures and they advised its fine to use in our gearboxes.

So i went today and got some and changed it , so far its much smoother .

[T04GTR]

yeah no problem, ignore everyone who has first hand experiance and go on what castrol oe factory fill says. you have a completly standard car? and want the lowest grade oil? no problem. may aswel take it to nissan for a service.

dude. the fact that redline do a specific synchro oil, is one thing. but the fact remains that the shockproof light PROTECTS the selector hubs from damage caused by crunching. you want your gearbox to last

on a side note, frank modena of modena gears who do ALOT of competition dog boxes recomends using castrol lsx140 mineral lsd oil for the gears....

[some_cs_student]

didn't redline them self say not recommended in transmissions with synchros??

my mech strongly suggest against using it unless you gbox is stuffed.

<cut>

There was a good thread explaining that this is not completely true from Redline, if you lookup the Australian redline website they recommend the Lightweight Shockproof for the R32/3 GTR's. However use whatever you think is best...

[kimbod]

Which gearbox you running. Have filled my getrag with redline shockproof heavy . takes alittle while to warmup, then great changes, though my gearbox has only 30,000ks on it

[T04GTR]

that is an example of what not to do..

but proves it works! a gearbox that recomends an atf fluid should have the yellow super lightweight in it. you dont want to go to far from the factory viscosity

[Moodles2]

If I had a Getrag I'd only be putting in the genuine fluid, Toyota V160 (same box as the Supra 6spd Getrag)

[08r3308]

yeah no problem, ignore everyone who has first hand experiance and go on what castrol oe factory fill says. you have a completly standard car? and want the lowest grade oil? no problem. may aswel take it to nissan for a service.

dude. the fact that redline do a specific synchro oil, is one thing. but the fact remains that the shockproof light PROTECTS the selector hubs from damage caused by crunching. you want your gearbox to last

on a side note, frank modena of modena gears who do ALOT of competition dog boxes recomends using castrol lsx140 mineral lsd oil for the gears....

how is syntrans lowest grade of oil?

actually my nissan does great jobs on any work done so they are not too bad

i dont want to use redline and never asked about it , and if my mechanic does not recommend it with many others i will not use it in my car.

even trent from status has had problems with redline .

[kimbod]

Which gearbox you running. Have filled my getrag with redline shockproof heavy . takes alittle while to warmup, then great changes, though my gearbox has only 30,000ks on it

It was on the recommedation of one of Japan's best tuners. They use that in their cars

[MrStabby]

It was on the recommedation of one of Japan's best tuners. They use that in their cars

IIRC Redline themselves recommend Superlight shockproof for the Getrag, so you're at the other end of the shockproof range. Doesnt necessarily follow that the advice is wrong tho, as we havent discussed use cases. Generally you'd assume that if you werent using the factory fill of synthetic ATF, you'd be using something that's at least somewhat similar, and superlight would be the closest.

[simpletool]

Shockproof heavy could definitely cause faster wear during the first 10mins of driving. Depends on whether you do a lot of short trips or longer high-speed drives without cooling. I would have thought going in-between at normal "lightweight" which they rate as similar to 75w140.

Anyway, I had MT-90 in mine which worked well but now have a 50/50 mix of Nulon 80w-90 and 85w-140. FYI, 85w-140 is too thick by itself, whines on start-up in cold weather (tried that for 2 days).

Edited December 3, 2010 by simpletool

[Roy]

Syntrans for me. I run a std RB20 gearbox which now has 198,500kms on it and have run 150rwkws for the first 120,000kms. 215rwkws for 25,000kms. Then 250-270rwkws for the next 50,000kms and since about 120,000kms have only used Syntrans. I dont abuse the box, but I dont really nanny it either. And the car does plenty of motorsport too so, its only an example of one car and gearbox...but where appropriate its the only gearbox oil i will use

[rehab2010]

Just did an oil change in my gearbox, rear diff, front diff and the transfer case. Car is a R33 GT-R.

Used Motul FF-LSD 75W-90 GL5 in the rear diff and the gearbox.

For the front diff I used some other Motul 75W-90 GL4/GL5 gear oil.

Transfer case got some ATF, Dextron.

Gearbox felt like junk since I bought the car - felt really clonky, notchy - I really thought it was dying, just to figure out that some bright spark filled it up with ATF.

After the change it feels great.

Used around 1.5litres for the rear diff.

Gearbox took around 4litres.

Transfer case took around 2litres of ATF.

Front diff took exactly 1litre of 75W-90.

I found some thread on the forum talking about filling transfer case. There is no need to fill transfer case from the top, where the shifter goes - just get one of those big syringe type pumps and its really easy to do it all from underneath the car.