RedLine MTL

[robcall]

I've seen a few recomendations on this site for this oil in the gearbox and diff.
As this is a synthetic does all the old oil have to removed(difficult if in the car) or just drain and top up to the fill levels?

[paros]

Nigel,
It needs to be drained as you would for any oil change - no more or less. Red Line will mix with mineral oil, but obviously you don't get all the advantages if it is 5% diluted. be careful to use GL4 for the gearbox and GL5 for the diff. If you use GL5 for the gearbox the synchros won't like it and won't work well.
The back axle casing on my Elan gets to 185 degrees C when I race, and the Red Line survives, so I stick with it!

Richard

[robcall]

Thanks Richard-i was concerned about the same 'mayonaisse" effect that occurs in the engine when synthetic and mineral are mixed might be a factor.

[rgh0]

No problems with a small amoun t of old mineral oil - no imcompatability or mayonaise.

Incidently the "mayonaise" effect with synthetic engine oil is generally due to the oil not getting hot enough and water from the blow by gases comtaminating it - synthetics form a much more stable "mayonaise" than the normal mineral oil - if you know your food you know that mayonaise is a oil water mixture and its exactly the same in your engine. This is not an issue with synthetic gear box and diff oils as no blow by gases and thus no water.

cheers
Rohan

[steveww]

It helps if you take the car out for a little run first to get things nice and warm. The oil will then drain out of the gearbox better. Just fill back up with MTL. The improvement in shift quality is amazing

[robcall]

The one and only time I had mayonaisse was when I topped up with mineral into synthetic(Mobil 1) in the engine-hence the question.
Even with a new oil change It took a long time scooping the gunk out
It was a long time ago-but left a bitter memory!

[hatman]

It needs to be drained as you would for any oil change - no more or less. Red Line will mix with mineral oil, but obviously you don't get all the advantages if it is 5% diluted.

Anyone know how much oil is actually left in the box after it's been 'drained'? There does seem to be rather a lot that runs out when you tilt everything to remove the engine and box together - left a right old mess on my drive (and stank the place out ) when we did the engine-removal thing on mine.

To get full 'Redline effect' you would probably have to do two or three changes, which would be rather expensive, not to mention a bit of a pain.

[inxs]

Hi Nigel,
I put MTL into my gear box, it did give the gears a great feel when selecting gears, one problem though, it leaks every where from every orrifice from the gear box.
I had the gear box reconditioned a few years ago ands I had no problem with leaks with the standard oil so I will be going back to the standard oil as I would rather sacfice the slick gear change for no more oil leaks.

Regards,
Darren

[robcall]

Hi Darren,
seen this problem using Mobil 1 in the engine too