Oil comparison/test study

[quiksilver20004]

I was doing research on gear oil for my talon, and came across this study. Some of the contained info is somewhat surprising but contains a lot of good info for those of you who want the best oil.

For those of you who swear by royal purple please read this! Our OEM tranmissions are comprised of syncros that are made from soft metals, such as brass.

Amsoil released this gear oil comparison paper on (9/21/07). This is a great comparison of different brands of common gear oils on the market. The testing of the gear lubes was done in accordance with American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) procedures, Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) J306 requirements and Federal Test Method Standards. Other than the oxidation filter patch procedure, performance testing was conducted by an independent laboratory.

The gear oils in the test include:
Synthetic Canidates
AMSOIL® Severe Gear® 75W-90
Castrol® SYNTEC® 75W-90
GM® Synthetic Axle 75W-90
Lucas® 75/90 Synthetic
Mobil 1® Synthetic 75W-90
Mopar® Synthetic 75W-90 with Mopar® LS additive
Pennzoil® Synthetic 75W-90
Red Line® Synthetic 75W-90
Royal Purple® Max-Gear® 75W-90
Torco® SGO Synthetic 75W-90 with Torco® Type G LS additive
Valvoline® SynPower® 75W-90
Petroleum Candidates
Castrol® Hypoy C 80W-90
Pennzoil® Gearplus® 80W-90
Valvoline® High Performance 80W-90

See the study HERE:
http://www.modernoils.com/g2457GearOilWhitePaper.pdf

 

[Calan]

While Amsoil is known to be a good gear oil (and the subject of which gear oil is best for DSMs has been ), is it any surprise that Amsoil would be ranked so far ahead of the others, in a paper released by...

wait for it....

Amsoil?

 

[snowborder714]

Sounds like the same situation as with the wideband shootout

Either way, interesting info. I'm looking to buy a bunch of fluids to do maintenance on my truck and have been considering Amsoil.

 

[quiksilver20004]

I understand that it may seem a little biased when Amsoil released the study, but the tests were performed by an independent group and all testing was witnessed and notarized as to be authentic.

I personally would love to run amsoil, but when it comes down to having to do drivetrain work at the spur of the moment the incovenience of obtaining amsoil comes into perspective, especially when your talking about your daily!

 

[Calan]

I finally got around to changing my drivetrain fluids out the other day...RL MT-90 in the trans and RL Heavy Shockproof in the x-fer case and rearend.

The tranny/drivetrain is SO much more quiet and smooth. As of right now, I'll never go back to anything else I've used (which includes Synchromesh, Castrol 90w, Royal Purple, etc.).

 

[quiksilver20004]

Yeah i have heard a lot of people love that oil. How does it do in the cold? I am running Mobil LS Syntetic in my AWD and it is a stiff shift when it is cold. By cold i mean like below 28degrees. I made the misteak of putting royal purple in my 01 nissan maxima 5spd and found out that it eats up soft metals. Well guess what. All the syncros in my trans were brass. You win some you lose some haha

 

[Calan]

Yeah...you have to run a GL-4 spec fluid in the tranny (not GL-5).

The MT-90 is the most stable out of everything I've tried. It seems to shift the same whether the car is brutally cold or warmed up.

My trans has some gear lash and bearing wear due to it not being shimmed correctly the first time it was rebuilt, and has been noisy as hell, especially during deceleration. I was very close to yanking it the other day, when I decided to try the MT-90 just to see what happens. It improved the shifting, noise, and "feel" of it so much that I now plan on running the trans until next spring at least, or until it just gives up .

 

[quiksilver20004]

Good info! Hopefully i wont have to worry about the cold too much here soon. Im moving to NC and cant wait!!! Also at the moment im not horribly worried about the tranny cause as soon as i get down to NC im starting at Nascar Technical Institute, so im tearing that trans out and building it the way i want. I think dog gears sounds good

 

[DeviantBoost]

thanks for posting this quicksilver, I have to flush out the royal purple max gear, I havnt been on my drive train at 250* F for 3 hours , so i hope my synchos arnt trashed, noob mistake

 

[fhudsonjr]

And when have you heard of a test by an independent lab not paid for by the company who has something to prove.

Just because it was paid for by the company, does not mean it is biased toward them and it doesn't mean it is against them. It could be either way.

You need to look at the tests they perform(SAE), the reputation of the company and are there similar companies performing the exact same test with their products compared to the others.

If there are no other like tests comparing their products to others, it seems to me you have to at least ask,"Why not?"

 

[GooeyGus]

I finally got around to changing my drivetrain fluids out the other day...RL MT-90 in the trans and RL Heavy Shockproof in the x-fer case and rearend.

The tranny/drivetrain is SO much more quiet and smooth. As of right now, I'll never go back to anything else I've used (which includes Synchromesh, Castrol 90w, Royal Purple, etc.).

Can one buy redline products at a retail location, or is it solely an online endeavor?

I changed my x-fer and trans fluid about two years ago, but it just has boring ol' gear oil in there (valvoline 75W-90 if I remember correctly). It still shifts really well, but I'm sure it will be like butter with some good stuff in there.

Also, my rear diff has a bit of whine to it, and has had it the entire time I've owned the car (6 years). I've never drained/filled the rear diff, so I'd like to try some redline in there to see if it will help.

Thanks!!

 

[ReYnd]

There is a vendor search page on Red Line's site. No one even remotely near me sells anything but their Water Wetter product. So for some, it is solely an online endeavor.

My transmission, transfer case, and rear differential were all full MT-90. After replacing an axle, we (a mechanic friend and myself) decided to try a normal gear oil.

Bad.
F&%#ing.
Plan.

I'm looking into ordering some in the very near future, and am torn among quantities of MT-90, MTL and Heavy ShockProof to completely redo the fluids. MT-90 gave me no problems at all, but I wonder what would be possible. Also found some silver liquid when I drained the stuff with less than 350 miles on it (if the seller is to be believed). Will probably just refill with MT-90 since it worked so well, and if any combination would work better, I will remain oblivious.

 

[biker_joe89]

good stuff I was looking to see something like this. I think I will go to amsoil I got a factory hookup there anyways.

 

[1993Talon]

Would these fluids(amsoil and RL) be good in temp really cold like lets say -40 C or -40 to 49 F ? Also how much do you need for the trans. rear diff. and transfer case. Thank you