Best oil for 6speed box??

[EFA]

What's the current thinking???

[Mark w]

The old ford red stuff

 

 

 

If you can get it ..........

[patneale]

My manual says Caterham gearbox oil GL 4 grade... 5 and 6 speed. Under no circumstances use GL5 grade oil.

I used Castrol and due to a very tight 1st and 2nd change added a PTFE based gearbox additive. IT was less tight, but was never really easy until 30,000 miles. Now at 45,000 miles it is very good even from cold as you could ever wish. Finger tip light.

[Mike Eamer]

i went from the stock catehram supplied oil I assume (car had 4k miles on it) to Redline MTL and it was a lot slicker and changed a lot faster.

 

Now at 15k miles and its better still!

[SLR No.77]

+1 for Redline MTL.

 

Stu.

[Paul Richards]

Redline MTL from Opie Oils

[I reply to every thread]

You need leaves in it as well

[Johnty Lyons]

Redline MTL.

 

[EFA]

Matthew,

 

How many leaves per litre and should they be evergreen even though I won't use the car in winter?

 

Also do you know where the gearbox wiring earths?

 

 

[rgrigsby]

Lots of people use Redline MTL but Brian @ BGH hates the stuff, they recommend a Comma GL4 SX75w90 oil.

 

This is the stuff I run in my BGH 5 speed and it seems to work well.

 

Edited by - rgrigsby on 29 Aug 2012 21:02:09

[SLR No.77]

There'll plenty of us who've swapped from the o/e oil (assummed Comma) to Redline MTL and the stated benefit has usually been a smoother gearchange, but does anyone have experience going back? ie. swap from MTL to Comma GL4 SX75w90? Any gains?

 

My 6 speed has MTL and the changes are very easy and precise, but compared to my old 5 speed there are negatives that I've always assumed to be related to the box itself - mainly the fact that it's noisier than my old 5 speed and particularly so in 4th gear (which is the straight through gear) where it seems to exagerate the whole gearbox/diff whine. I know that the noise in 4th is quite common amongst 6 speed boxes. Is MTL a benefit to newer/tighter 6 speed boxes whereas when the box becomes more worn would going back to GL4 SX75w90 benefit the box whithout being detrimental to the gear change?

 

I'm always open to new suggestions and if a respected rebuilder like BGH hate the stuff I'm going to listen!

 

Stu.

[Shaun_E]

Another well known gearbox re-builder no longer recommends Redline MTL. I can't remember exactly why but I think there was a suspected issue with damage/wear to certain components due to the acidity of the oil - something like that anyway.

I've gone back to the Caterham supplied gearbox oil or the Halfords equivalent. The change can be a little reluctant when cold but once warmed up it is fine. I have a stronger detent spring fitted to help with the change from 2nd to 3rd which is always the tricky one when competing.