Red Line Synthetic Oil

[Ian Linden]

I've been reading some glowing reports about Red Line on the web, and the same source indicates that semi-synthetics like Castrol Syntrax Universal are not so good as they contain sulphur, which causes gear erosion.

I've contacted the UK supplier of Red Line; they will do mail order, and its carriage free for orders over £50.

They're willing to give SCORE members 20% discount, which would make a US quart (about 0.95 litre) of the top grade MT90 gear oil (75W90) £9.95.

Does anyone have any experience of it, good or bad

[Alex Clouter]

Hi Ian,
Let's see what response we get from members and if it's all positive, let me have details of your contact (name and phone number) and we can get him to promote the product in the magazine.

[Murray Betts]

I'm not an expert on gear oil, but my knowledge is that the sulphur is a very effective "extreme pressure" additive (hence EP designation). It's not the only substance that works (molybdenum compounds, I think), so isn't a critical additive, but gearboxes designed to work with EP oil need something like it, so I definitely wouldn't use any form of "engine" oil in a g/box not designed for it (some are, of course). As I understand it, Sulphur can attack bronzes used in some bushes or thrust bearings, but the materials are generally designed to live with "normal" sulphur levels, so no real problem. I think this sounds a little like marketing hype.

[Barry Moore]

so I definitely wouldn't use any form of "engine" oil in a g/box not designed for it (some are, of course).

Not Cappuccino related but picking up from Murray's point I used to have a Saab 900 Turbo into the engine of which I used a top grade synthetic oil. The manual gave a spec for gearbox oil but also said that a particular spec of engine oil was also suitable. As topping up gearbox oil on the Saab was a very simple affair (it had it's own dipstick/filler) I used some of the engine oil. I later found out that it's OK to do this from the start (or if you replace the gearbox) but shouldn't have been done on a gearbox that had run on gearbox oil for a while. The problem was the detergents that are added to the engine oil. A certain build up of deposits already existed in the gearbox and this was quite normal and didn't cause any problems. However the detergents in the replacement engine oil freed these up and whilst not neccessarily a major contributing factor did help speed along the demise of the gearbox.

[Ian Linden]

Maybe a misunderstanding.... I'm not advocating using an engine oil in the gearbox - MT stands for manual transmission.

Unfortunately I can't re-locate the site which warned about sulphur content of semi-synthetics, but it did mention attacking certain metals, that Japanese gearboxes often use. My feeling is, why chance it for a couple of quid saved per year

[Murray Betts]

Yes, I should have clarified; I was referring back to the comment on the "old" board that someone used Mobil 1 engine oil. There are other issues with gear oils, like tendency to become acidic with condensation etc. It doesn't behave very well as a corrosion inhibitor under the wrong conditions; it's best used for what it was intended I'm not aware of specific attack problems in certain g/boxes, but would be interested to learn more in detail.

[Murray Betts]

Found a lot of blurb re. Red Line Oil (admittedly sales blurb!!) at
www.myoilshop.com (for info).

[Ian Linden]

Manual Tranny Fluid

Yes, I also noticed the Mobil 1 - my reaction was the same.

I'll put some effort into finding the lost site - I had a computer crash, lost my bookmarks . It wasn't a sales blurb site, in that the author compared various products and highlighted alleged failings; his decided preference was Red Line.

[Ian Linden]

Found the reference

Its http://www.bradbury.cwc.net/probemx/index.htm
Scroll down to the Gearbox Oil heading. My memory was not quite accurate - it doesn't say Castrol semi-synth has sulphur, just that Red Line is better.
OK, so its all about Mazdas, but I think the information is relevant to Cappos too.

[Ian Linden]

The Red Line price list can be downloaded from http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ian_linden/redline/2001ret.doc
Just noticed that the prices are without VAT
That makes a US quart of gearbox oil £11.68.
Reassuringly expensive

[Daniel Leaman]

http://www.geocities.com/chrislonghurst ... bible.html
this link may help it really is useful , was up on old messageboard but perhaps people did not see it .
Also I was talking to someone who really highly recommended mobil one but flush with a natural iol first , expensive but correct . The guy does know what he's talkin about .

[Nicholas Claydon]

Hi Ian

I use Amsoil Series 2000 75w90 fully synthetic gear oil for both Manual Transmission and Diff.

Maybe you want to consider this product.

I have it in both my Capps together with fully synthetic Amsoil 10w30 in the engines.

I am very pleased with both products and although not the cheapest they are one of the best available.

Nick Claydon

[Ian Linden]

Hi Nick,

Where do you buy the Amsoil oil

Ian

[Nicholas Claydon]

Hi Ian

You can buy the Amsoil products direct from the importer Performance Oils 01598 752782 but they only accept cheques.

They will send you technical literature on any of the Amsoil products.

You can buy the series 2000 gear oil from PDQ motorcycle developments at taplow near Slough (they do mail order)

You can buy the 10w30 engine oil from Demon Tweeks (Wrexham)(mail order)

The gear oil is approx £14 for a litre and the engine oil is £37 for 5 litres.

The gear oil is an excellent quality synthetic GL5 spec lubricant and the engine oil is suitable for high revving turbocharged applications requiring a 10w30.

If anyone else out there is using these lubricants please let me know.

I am also using Amsoil fully synthetic ATF in my Automatic Cappuccino transmission.

Nick Claydon