What is the best oil for a 1970-odd V-dub gearbox.. just want to change fluid and getting multiple answers.

Corey

80-90w gear oil
L8tr
E

i used some nulon additive also, makes shift feel like slicing butter ;-)

I use the Nulon additive as well.

i think it helps as well, and a 80/90 oil


Marc

Firstly, I know a lot of VW owners who use NULON gearbox additive in their gearbox.

secondly, the gearbox oil has to be HYPOID oil for the differential...
and 85-90 is the correct grade....

straight mineral oil will cause scoring and seizure of the gear teeth...

All the books say to put in about 1 1/2 litres of oil in,then wait for a while [cup of coffee] as it flows thru the transaxle...
then put in the remainder... of the oil...

2.5 litres of oil is a refill...

3 litres of oil if transaxle has been overhauled and the case is totally empty of oil...

Lee



[ Edited on 25-8-2006 by 68AutoBug ]

repco sold me straight 80 oil
after they cheaked the book
???

straight 80 is OK so long as its a HYpoid oil...

Originally it was 75 in winter - or 80 in summer..

check the bottle to make sure its a hypoid Oil..
I'm sure their book would be correct...

Hypoid oil is also corrosive if left in a VW gearbox
while its being stored.
US workshop manuals say to put a non corrosive oil in the gearbox while its stored for winter....
and then change it in the summer...

I'm not sure whether the oil would cause any problems in one winter???
maybe over a few years...

Lee

I recently replaced the oild in my gear box with hypoid 85 oil and a tube of molybdenum disulphide to reduce a rumble. It worked for a while but the rumble is back. When reversing out of home on a cold morning the car doesn't want to roll as the oil is so thick. Once warmed up it's OK.

I use Castrol Multitrax, its specialy desigined for cars with combined gearbox and hypoid diffs. Its designed for low temperature shift and syncroniser characteristics.
Rob...

[ Edited on 25-8-2006 by Robo ]

Ummm well, FWIW, I use Auto Transmission Fluid (ATF) in my gearbox/diff in the F-Vee!!!!!
Synchros work perfectly, diff gears dont gall and the parts dont corrode!!

Bwaasahahahahahahahah!
Racing use only of course!
l8tr
E

Castrol also make a non-hypoid transaxle fluid for type one trans,
it is spiral bevel and not hypoid.
Type 2 would need a hypoid oil.

Hmmm interesting.
At the end of the day apart from being less viscous, ATF simply does not have the extreme pressure additives supposedly necessary for protection of the diff teeth.

L8tr
E

no one's mentioned the "GL" rating so far... apparently GL5 can corode the brass/copper componants in oldergearboxes ie: vw ones. GL4 is needed. Well, that's what i'm running to be safe...

Yes VW manuals usually state GL4 hypoid gear oil
but all I can find locally is GL5....

but some manuals state that hypoid oil is corrosive and should not be left in a gearbox during storage...

this should be in large black letters, but it never is, its just included in the text about the transaxle etc...
maybe VW didn't find out until GL5 was released....
and didn't want to alarm anyone....

Lee

yeh, i've read that a different oil should be used for storage too. I think GL5 wasn't released yet when those manuals were published. The GL4 oil I use is Penrite 80W-85. It doesn't actually state that it's hypoid on the pack though. It does state that it's for gearboxes and won't corode any yellow metals...

i couldnt find any GL4 and was running a GL5 syntrax castrol oil in my type 1 box.

oil is drained presently as car is off the road for some gearbox work and i got some more GL5 90 weight cause i couldnt find GL4.

i hope its not going to ruin things.

No, it seems its OK to run it in Your gearbox...
just not to store it...
it corrodes the zinc used in bushes in the gearbox.
but it doesn't do anything while ithe gearbox is being used

Most late workshop manuals say to use GL4 80 grade Hypoid gearbox oil because of the angles of the Differential
drive pinion and crownwheel.

Lee

Ahhh..... Moly grease is designed for sliding surfaces Ie: bushes and pin.
Moly disulphide on roller and ball bearings can promote skidding of the balls/rollers and can lead to an early and untimely death of them.
Now there are a lot of dudes that have used the stuff in gearboxes and swear by it....but...........
l8tr
E

i have used 1 tube of molybond in every gearbox in every manual vw i have ever owned and will always do so ,before and after are so different its hard to believe its the same bag of bolts:beer:beer:beer even the late mk4 fwd golf

absolutely,the only thing it wont help with (of course) is the selector bush behind the gearshift ,if thats the cause of hard shifting,:beer:beer:beer

so just get this stuff from any auto shop?

thread grave digging I know, but I'm curious to see if anyone has used either 'Morleys'(sp?) or 'Lucas' heavy oil stabiliser additives in their gearbox and are thier perceptions of it's effects - if any. The ratios of additive-to-oil are much higher than the Nulon stuff and I was wondering if it would suit the transaxel of a bug..

FYI: I was using Penrite 80W-85 GL4 light gear oil and I found that the shifiting got sticky after a freeway stint. I think it was a bit too thin. I'm using Valvoline 85W-90 GL5 oil now, and I've found an improvement already. There's still a difference in shifting when it's cold (quite good in fact!) compared to when it's at operating temp and I'd like to bridge that gap..

[ Edited on 15-1-07 by oval TOFU ]

I've seen the Morleys and Lucas stuff in shops...
Never spoken to anyone who has used it...
I'm presuming its very expensive????

Some one told Me recently the only oil to use in a VW transaxle was LSX90...
I'm presuming its Castrol??
it out dates everything that was written years ago about transaxle oils....

I have been looking to buy a small bottle of PRO-MAR which about 10+ years ago was very common...
its Molydebunium disulphide... plus additives about 300mls ??
it was like Avon.... not sold in shops... but I have looked on the internet and it doesn't come up...??
I wanted to get another bottle for My replacement gearbox...

Lee