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transmission fluid recommendations


ultimated

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I have a slight gronch in second gear, especially downshifting, in my newly purchased '76 2002. The trans fluid is full, if dirty. At some point (when I have the money) I want to do a 5 speed conversion, but until then I thought I'd try changing the fluid. Any recommendations? Is synthetic OK? Should I stick to the weight in the manual? Sorry to ask such a basic question, but I can't seem to get the search function to work. TIA.

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synchros (what you have), but will make a balky B-W synchro gearbox shift much more smoothly. Been using it for a long time and it's good stuff.

cheers

mike

'69 Nevada sunroof-Wolfgang-bought new
'73 Sahara sunroof-Ludwig-since '78
'91 Brillantrot 318is sunroof-Georg Friederich 
Fiat Topolini (Benito & Luigi), Renault 4CVs (Anatole, Lucky Pierre, Brigette) & Kermit, the Bugeye Sprite

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Use 75W-90. Synthetic is ok. 40 years ago 75W-90 did not exist. Some use 80 but not found everywhere. Can aso use 10W-40 engine oil but recommend a non-shearback synthetic. At rating temp, SAE 40 engine oil is same viscosity as a SAE 90 gearlube. The trans is not a severe service application.

A radiator shop is a good place to take a leak.

 

I have no idea what I'm doing but I know I'm really good at it.

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i agree with AZ Chris :

"Drain & refill with Dexron ATF (at any gas station)

it is high detergent

& will clean the sludge on the

slider hubs & internals parts.."

drain refill, drive 100, drain refill, drive 100, drain refill .

buy a pressure brake bleeder to flush the clutch and brake fluids

completely - you might find that all your gear crunching

was caused by just nasty hydraulic fluid. Brakes and clutch

always work better after flushing - once a year!

and when everything is normal - still give the gearbox a break!

shift slowly and feeel the lever into the next gear, especially

until the oil and metals have warmed up.

'86 R65 650cc #6128390 22,000m
'64 R27 250cc #383851 18,000m
'11 FORD Transit #T058971 28,000m "Truckette"
'13 500 ABARTH #DT600282 6,666m "TAZIO"

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thanks for the replies guys. No one recommends Royal Purple? I only ask because I have about a half liter sitting around used.

I agree with Mike. I'm running redline MTL. No problems.

also - the search is your friend:

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,57/page,viewtopic/t,372911/highlight,transmission+fluid/

avoid GL-5 gear oil...

Like I said in the OP, I tried the search function, using transmission fluid, "transmission fluid", transmission+fluid and it spat out everything.

Am I using the wrong format? I browse with Firefox 15.

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Hi-

Redline MTL has a measured amount of friction to make syncros work better.

A while back I lived about 50 miles from CD's new vinyard/home. We bought a 35K mile gently used Nissan 4WD station wagon for a "winter rat"; the 2nd gear syncro was slow and I refused the dealer's warranty option to rebuild a "maybe faulty" trans. After a number of months finding a work-around for the factory fill plug tool (one reason the dealer did not change the transaxle lube per factory spec), I put in all 5 quarts of Redline MTL. It solved the slow syncro problem without letting the Cortland NY dealer mess up again (they proved generally incompetent on this and the other similar cars in town).

Redline MTL is a little thinner now than 80 weight GL1 grease (30 weight motor oil is within the viscosity range of 80 weight grease), but it still works fine. It's a lot better than motor oil, especially in colder areas, even if the motor oil has jojoba oil elixir.

Larry

Larry Ayers

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

’73 Malaga— first car, now gone

'74tii Malaga

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Hi--

For the best discussion, see Redline tech articles: Transmission lubricants [http] and products for BMW's [http].

While these articles are, of course, Redline biased they also explain my experiences with Redline MTL and other lubricants. They do not state that BMW originally recommended GL1 grease in 2002 transmissions to avoid corrosive additives common in GL4 and GL5 petroleum greases (for hypoid EP use). MTL used to be MTL85, but I think cold temperature stiffness encouraged Redline to decrease the cold temperature viscosity slightly.

I used Redline 20W-50 engine oil once in a truck manual transmission (before MTL was available...); it made the shifting easier but did not eliminate the grunch during shifting the truck had since new. MTL would have been a better choice but I sold the truck before MTL appeared!

Larry

Larry Ayers

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

’73 Malaga— first car, now gone

'74tii Malaga

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  • 6 years later...

Redline has a friction modifier which adds some drag to the synchros on the shaft so they slow down faster and allow them to mesh/sync better.

 

Also as stated GL5 can cause corrosion of some of the soft metals.

 

GL5 75-90 for your diff, unless LSD.

 

It made shifting in my Alfa, Porsche and Triumph  much better.

 

My 02 box is next on my list to investigate, but it may need a rebuild.

G. Hamilton

North of Boston

'74 02 - Former Cali car

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