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Gearbox Oil - Castrol Syntrax, Castrol VMX80 or Redline Lightweight Shockproof?

GiJOr33
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GiJOr33 Experienced

GiJOr33

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I've searched the forums and saw many varying views on the different oils for the manual gearbox from a fair while ago. Just wondering what you guys think after a few km's on the gearbox oil you selected and why you think it's good or bad.

These are the 3 oils i'm looking at using:

Castrol Syntrax - 75w90

Castrol VMX80 - 75w80

Redline Lightweight - 75W140

I currently have Redline Lightweight in my gearbox. I don't think i've done enough km's for it to "wear in" as i've read in other threads that it does. I had the gearbox out and spilled some of the oil out so am not sure whether to get more redline and top it up or change it out for one of the castrol oils.

Post up your experiences!

And if anyone knows where i can get some Redline Lightweight Shockproof in Melbourne today (pref over the eastern side) that would be sweet as Oil World has sold out :)

Andrew

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Jay95R33 Grand Master

Jay95R33

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About 12 months ago I drained the oil (looked like the factory stuff !!) and put in VMX80.

After about a month of driving the 1-2 crunch I got when cold almost disappeared.... But now it's back again, but not as bad.

Give it another few months and I plan on draining it and replacing it with Redline Lightweight shockproof, cause by then the weather would have gotten colder and the 1-2 crunch would have got worse... :)

J

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GiJOr33 Experienced

GiJOr33

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Yeah i think i'm just going to top up my Redline. The engine had to come out and they spilled some oil from the gearbox. I've hardly done any km's on that gearbox oil. Only problem is Oil World have sold out here in Melbourne so i can't get any till Tuesday!

I'm going to put Motul 4100 Turbolight in the engine too... see how that goes.

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xRHETTx Mentor

xRHETTx

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How much is redline lightweight shockproof? Is it much more expensive than the other two?

I think its almost time for me to do my gearbox and diff oil, as i dont know if they were done for compliance or not.

Cheers,

Rhett

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benm Grand Master

benm

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I put the Redline in my gearbox a while back and it made a massive difference after about 750km of driving. I'm not sure how long ago that was but i'm getting crunching again so it might be due for another change.

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GiJOr33 Experienced

GiJOr33

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Yeah i have a short shifter kit, but i haven't driven the car for 6 months so can't really tell you anything about it!!! Once it's back on the road i'm gonna try and clock up 1000km's in the first week. Then i'll be able to tell you about it.

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Scooby Veteran

Scooby

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Is anyone using these oils with a short-shifter kit?

LW.

Lucien;

I've got a short shifter in a 32 GTR and 1-2 shifts can be notchy sometimes, usually when shifting quickly and accelerating hard. Low speed or pausing slightly between shifts smooths it out but the latter defeats the purpose of a short shifter. Pushing the shifter firmly to the left when changing sometimes helps also. It's very smooth everywhere else which makes the 1-2 shift really annoying. Does yours do the same?

I was thinking about using some friction modifier - used to good effect in an RS Liberty for about 20k km now.

Mark

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lwells Grand Master

lwells

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Lucien;

I've got a short shifter in a 32 GTR and 1-2 shifts can be notchy sometimes, usually when shifting quickly and accelerating hard.  Low speed or pausing slightly between shifts smooths it out but the latter defeats the purpose of a short shifter. Pushing the shifter firmly to the left when changing sometimes helps also. It's very smooth everywhere else which makes the 1-2 shift really annoying. Does yours do the same?  

I was thinking about using some friction modifier - used to good effect in an RS Liberty for about 20k km now.  

Mark

What g/box oil are you using?

LW.

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lwells Grand Master

lwells

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Valvoline 75-85

Interesting. Reason I ask is that I was considering installing a short shifter for me R32 GT-R -- don't have one ATM -- but I want to know that using a better oil will compensate for any additional strain. With that in mind, you mentioning crunchy gears don't exactly convince me that a better g/box oil will be enough.... :(

LW.

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GiJOr33 Experienced

GiJOr33

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Thanks for the link Jimbo2000... if only i'd checked the forums earlier today!!! Oh well I'll go to box hill first thing in the morning. Hopefully i'll get the car tuned tomorrow or wednesday

lwells... i had a little crunch from 1st to 2nd as well before i put in the short shifter. I then had redline installed and the crunch went away. I then put in the C's short shifter kit and there is still no crunch. I think it's just a slightly warn gearbox that will give some crunchies when cold.

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Lunatic Dancer Collaborator

Lunatic Dancer

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when i first got my car...after i changed all fluids it started crunching REALLY bad 1st-2nd...i used the valvoline dura gear 75w85....

after a few thousand k's i changed to vmx80 and the difference was great....i still use vmx80 now and change every 10,000k's or so and its very smooth no crunching at all...esp with my C's :)

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