Thread: The R380 in Aus

Originally Posted by lardy

Sorry to be dumb Pat but I am just like it lol Is that a product like morleys oil additive ?? cheers mate

Don't ever think you are dumb or are asking a dumb question Lardy,MTL is a Redline oil that is made with high shear/load and high temp additives and I used it after working on Tojo's as they have a lot of drivetrain issues and MTL seems to be the best oil for them,the R380 doesn't have any design issues so the oil again seems to work even better in them.You will need two bottles of oil and it will set you back about $90,it's worth every cent. Pat

When I put an R380 in my rangie I fitted an oil cooler.

My disco has an R380 without a cooler. I use Castrol Syntrans (fully synthetic, manual transmission fluid) in it, but the oil appears to deteriorate (dark colour possibly indicating too much heat), and is changed more often than I would like.

The following quote is from the Ashcroft Transmissions web site:

Cooling

It is not abnormal for the R 380 to run quite hot and this often results on either baulking or sticky shifts which can often be improved by either an oil additive or different oil. On the short stick boxes or it can cause the actual gearstick pivot ball to get tight in it"s socket which you can improve by stripped, cleaning oiling and replacing.

If you feel your unit is running too hot then bear in mind Landrover make for 2 main markets, Europe and Rest of World (ROW), the ROW spec TD5 Defender and Disco gearboxes are oil cooled but Europe spec are not, there is some debate as to whether they should be, especially if you live in south Spain or Italy Etc.

Thats the conditions MTL is designed for. Pat

I know of one TD5 130 towing a van (and the 130 grossed at over 3.5 tonnes) that cooked it's gearbox in the NT on a set of 45*+ days and it was running Syntrans, which is slightly heavier than MTL. (and I found MTL would thin too much in very hot conditions, noticeable for baulky changes and extra gear rattle when too hot)

I think that the Wolfs running a large cooler on the R380 behind a 300Tdi says something.

That's as extreme as it gets Rick,in those conditions any vehicle will suffer.We had a week of 42-46 degree temps here last summer and most of the vehicles including the site machines ran hot,the fact that the Tdi towed that weight in that heat without overheating says something too. Pat

Originally Posted by Psimpson7

Hey Diana,

Where did you hear that? Ive never heard of them cooking gearsets.

Mine hasnt got the oilcooler either, and has done extended heavy towing back home and been half round Oz!

I do agree that adding a cooler is not a bad idea however.

Rgds
Pete

Pete

The issue was discussed on the forward control site in the UK, a number of members fitted a variety of V8 and TDi /R380 combinations and they suggest that the boxes were cooking. One member actually suggested the 2nd gear, but I couldn't understand that scenario, unless they were talking about the second gearset being the 5th/O-D set.

The extra weight of the forward controls would put more stress on the R380 but I suspect, they didn't fit the external coolers as the boxes were removed from UK discos without coolers or cooler pipes.

Diana

Running Penrite 80/90 gear oil in my R380 g/box (no oil cooler) for a '95 130 Defender. Used for touring/camping, never used for towing. What's the verdict. Should I change it for something else?

Appreciate your thoughts.

Originally Posted by ugu80

Running Penrite 80/90 gear oil in my R380 g/box (no oil cooler) for a '95 130 Defender. Used for touring/camping, never used for towing. What's the verdict. Should I change it for something else?

Appreciate your thoughts.

Geez, that'd be a cranky change on a cold morn

Bear in mind the original oil in your gearbox was a Dex II ATF with a viscosity around 7cSt@100*C, your Penrite oil is double that viscosity at that temp (not necessarily a bad thing but.....

....at low temps your stuff is like treacle, at 40*C Penrite 80/90 is 142cSt, Castrol Syntrans 75W-85 (a very good oil in the R380) is 64.4cSt, Redline MTL 75W-80 is 56.2cSt and the oil that superseded ATF as the factory fill, Caltex/Texaco MTF94 75W-80 is 53.2.
An average ATF is around 35cSt at that temp.

Some trick oils like Motul Gear 300 are even thinner than Syntrans below 20*C while still falling into the 75W-90 viscosity range but it's really big $$$$.

If you plotted a curve as the temperature drops below 40* of your oil and the ones I've listed above it would become even more divergent. Those oils by their nature have high Viscosity Index's, in a nutshell the hotter they get the less they thin, or to put it another way, the colder they get from operating temp, the less they thicken. Your oil by it's nature thickens more as it gets colder.

Get rid of that 80/90 as quickly as you can coming into the cooler weather, the internal pump in the gearbox will thank you.