trans fluid change....., wanna make sure i buy the right stuff. Options

[scottb]

well off to the local parts store to buy the stuff for a trans fluid change. anything i should stay away from? anything in particular i should look for? or can i just grab 2.5 liters of any SAE 90 EP hyphoid gear oil on the shelf?

muchas gracias....... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/boldblue.gif)

[Lawrence]

Get Swepco brand if you can.

-Rusty

[Greg]

There's a good thread on this BBS that had a healthy debate over synthetic vs. dino gear oil - well worth finding and reading. In my case, I decided to split the difference and went with a 75W-90 Valvoline synthetic blend (part dino/ part synthetic). For me, the fluid change made a huge improvement in shift quality - more so than the bushing replacement I did last year. So far I've driven a few hundred miles on and a track day since the fluid change and I'm still very satisfied with my choice.

[EdwardBlume]

I've run the regular 80 wt Valvoline that you can get at any parts store. Then again, my tranny is old and grinds coffee, nuts, and my ego at the AXs.

When I had my 993 serviced, I was told that Redline is a very good choice.

[Red-Beard]

I hesitate to get into another debate on tranny fluid but...

I've read a lot about the different oild right from the manufacturer's websites. I can't find any information that Swepco is anything but bue colored dino oil.

Dino oils are refined, but still contain light end fractions (Which evaporate) and waxes (Which varnish). Snthetics are a better choice.

Jake Raby is the only person I know who has shown data on different tranny oils (and motor oils) and his choice is Mobil 1.

For me, having cleaned the inside of lots of trannies, I prefer Mobil 1 (Or any true Full synthetic).

BUT - my reccomendation is....anything is better than nothing. Keep it filled up and change at least once per year or every 12000 miles.

James

[Lawrence]

Is there a tranny flush out there, like an engine flush?

-Rusty

[Red-Beard]

You could use just about any solvent, but not everything drains out. The temps in the tranny aren't as bad as the engine. I'd just change the fluid.

James

[Brad Roberts]

So.. in all those debates did anybody go into what the factory recommended ?

Here is what I have found:

The synthetics allow the box to eat itself up about twice as fast as the old SWEPCO crap. We "ran" Redline in one race tranny and SWEPCO in all the others.. for a couple of seasons (both get rebuilt at the end of each season) The boxes get changed for every track so they should see just about equal wear. The Redline box shifted great.... for about 8 races. The SWEPCO box shifted great....well it still does. The Redline box died much quicker... is my point.

I cant confirm this (but I have been trying for years) Porsche designed the entire synchro mesh system around the old style gear lube. The gear lube was actually factored into the equation for helping to slow down the assembly when you pushed in the clutch. The makes a LOT of sense to me after seeing how fast the Redline box wore out. The bearings where great, but the synchros looked like they had a 100k miles on them.

Redline works great in your tranny (no doubt about it) but..I promise it wears the box out much much faster than running the SWEPCO stuff. The Redline also wore our ZF limited slips out much faster (even after working with the Redline people making sure we put the correct stuff in the box)

So.. debate away. SWEPCO in all my boxes (they are from Ft. Worth Texas)

B

[Mike9142.0]

Brad was the Redline you used the normal synthetic gear oil or the shock proof stuff?

[scottb]

thanks for the info guys. i found the castrol equivalent that the hayne manual recommended. gonna put that in. hopefully can keep the tranny alive as long as possible. now if i can just get the friggin' lawn tractor running. pushing a mower sucks! :finger2:

[ejm]

I cant confirm this (but I have been trying for years) Porsche designed the entire synchro mesh system around the old style gear lube.

I'm sure they did. When the 914 era boxes were designed, synthetic's were still years away.

I've run the 75-90 synthetic. There was noticably more gear noise and every gear would almost grind, esp. when hot. Went right back to the thick, sticky, smelly 90W dino stuff.
scottb!!! you should have said something when your car was in the air this morning. I could have fixed ya up! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[MarkV]

I think Mobil 1 helped kill my last tranny. Nothing but Swepco for me.

I did a google search on Swepco 201 and found a place called Taylor Race Ingineering in Plano TX, that sells it for $28.56 a gallon plus $10.72 for shipping.


www.taylor-race.com

[scottb]

too busy mucking about with the keys! and i hit my head on the lift. was a little dazed.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif)

[Curvie Roadlover]

In my last car I had problems downshifting to 4th gear when the car was warm. Put in Swepco and the problem went away. Nothing but Swepco now for me

[Brad Roberts]

We where sponsored by Redline... lol we used what the engineers gave us (high shock)

Thanks for listing Taylor Race engineering... Craig Taylor is/was a SCCA racer and runs a very respectable trans shop in Plano. Not far from Rich Johnsons house.


B

[Dave_Darling]

I'm a believer in Swepco. The Garretson guys foud that it was the only thing available (in 1980, mind you!!) that would let a 935 transmission live for 24 full hours and be rebuildable. (My mechanic was one of their mechanics.)

He chewed me up one side and down the other for putting Redline in my transmission. He did that in the middle of telling me why I could not shift into any gear without grinding. His conclusion on the state of the transmission: "I don't think I've ever seen anything this bad actually drive in under its own power." Ouch...

Something about very expensive lessons that tends to stick with you.

--DD