Other day at the FLAPS I purchased what I thought was 85/90 gear oil for my '74 2.0L. After filling the gear case I realized I had picked a bottle of 85/W145. The car has never driven better and is much quieter than it used to be. Seems like my mistake was for the good, but are there any hazards/drawbacks to using this heavier weight oil? So far it has been an improvement.

Ansbacher

Interesting question.

The Haynes manual indicates the tranny capacity to be 2.6 quarts of 90W hypoid gear oil. Did you put in all 85/W145 oil? Or did you mix the 85/W145 with 85/W90, and if so, what quantity of each? I hope someone can comment on what the resulting weight is when oils of different weights are mixed.

you will be fine
the thicker oil will take longer to warm up

we used to exclusively run 140wt oil in our race tranny's

now we are onto something else
but you will be fine

maf914 - I would say I say I have about 1/3 of 85/90W and 2/3 85/145W in the tranny now.

Brant - Thanks for the encouraging post. As for the taking longer to warm up factor, luckily I live in Florida.

Ansbacher

its ok...

the W has nothing to do with the weight of the oil its code for winter and the lower the W # the easier it flows and how viscous it is at that temp..research Conoco/phillips oil numbers

so the OP put in 85W/145..not 85/W145 .... its been ingrained in most motor heads over the years to the point we just call it 90 weight gear lube when its really not at all

Just so ya know