Thread: ATF: Castrol Transmax Z vs Penrite ATF FS

Originally Posted by steve_a

Dipstick :-p

Well your dipstick seems to be absolutely useless if you don't even know if it's accurate or not! Furthermore, with a brand new gearbox surely you would be wanting to ensure you have the correct fluid level to prevent early wear and failure!?!

If your dipstick is fitted through the fill plug hole then start the motor and undo it - if your fluid to too full it will come out, if right or not full enough no fluid will leak. Then you can adjust as required and confirm the correct fluid level, refit your dipstick, confirm and adjust the accuracy of your dipstick and rest assured.

Personally I don't see the need for the dipstick. From my experience when there's a fluid leak from the transmission it is more often than not one of the hoses and it sprays out so fast under pressure that most notice quickly or find the car experiencing driving issues which causes them to look. In contrast the engine weeps and seeps oil out in various places which requires monitoring of the oil level through the dipstick.

Original oil was unknown, replaced filter and refilled (first time) with Penrite, shift seems much smoother, but the old stuff was "old". Yet to do a second change, but don't expect much difference. Changed all oils to Penrite when i got it. Yet to do the Power Steering, what's in there is black and it came with a Castrol standard power steering bottle of oil, so that's coming out soon. Use Penrite in my "play" car under harsh conditions and been happy.

Never found a way to fit a dipstick to the D2 pan, so it runs a P38 pan and dipstick. In theory the dipstick should be right, but I have my doubts.
The pan dimensions are near identical, but the dip stick hole is lower. Back when I fitted the box I filled it with *exactly* the right amount, started a few moments later the cooler line came off (despite checking it) and I lost an unknown amount . Hence my doubt since then.
I had it at the dipstick level, but the shift was even harsher.

The pan is alloy (so welding is complicated), so not sure how practical it is to fit a dip stick threaded adaptor to a D2 pan is, it would have been my preferred solution.

I was going to swap the penrite for standard good ATF, but I'd be changing the amount and type at the same time, so I'm thinking I might as well try it with the penrite stuff after a change as I already have it.
I've considered stealing the pan back off my mate I swapped with to do a test with the right amount, but I figure I might as well go with the oil change path.

I'm pretty sure it's gearbox harshness. It's only after warmed up, so to me that rules out the transfer, centre diff, prop shaft UJs, axle diffs and drive flanges - purely because the clunk on change should still be there from cold if it was excessive slack.
I've also managed to rule out it being engine temp related, this last few weeks has seen the harsh changes come on before for the engine got to full temp (unlike summer when it was pretty much around the same time).

Originally Posted by twr7cx

Well your dipstick seems to be absolutely useless if you don't even know if it's accurate or not! Furthermore, with a brand new gearbox surely you would be wanting to ensure you have the correct fluid level to prevent early wear and failure!?!

If your dipstick is fitted through the fill plug hole then start the motor and undo it - if your fluid to too full it will come out, if right or not full enough no fluid will leak. Then you can adjust as required and confirm the correct fluid level, refit your dipstick, confirm and adjust the accuracy of your dipstick and rest assured.

Personally I don't see the need for the dipstick. From my experience when there's a fluid leak from the transmission it is more often than not one of the hoses and it sprays out so fast under pressure that most notice quickly or find the car experiencing driving issues which causes them to look. In contrast the engine weeps and seeps oil out in various places which requires monitoring of the oil level through the dipstick.

Perhaps you've never had to refill the box after the line split in January at the side of the road with no ramps or anything. You might see the utility of being able to refill the box from the engine bay then, along with the comfort of being able to check the level.

As they used to say, my attitude to my dipstick at the moment is 'trust, but verify'.

I've got a D1 pan on mine, with the dipstick. It's been handy from time to time, and certainly beats filling the box the normal way.

Anyway, back to the oils, as I am interested to see the outcomes of this also.

from the ZF website.

[ame]https://www.zf.com/global/media/en_zf/lubricantslists/TE-ML_11.pdf[/ame]

What someone needs to invest some time into is working out how to shoehorn a 6HP box into the D2 and make the whole thing work correctly, so we got a few more gears to choose from and keep the little td5 spinnin'!

At one point Castrol Transmax Z wasnt available as a retail product, I've been using it for 10 odd years I guess.

I've recently changed to the Penrite product as mentioned here, like all Penrite stuff, seems to be good. It may well be just luck but the last 6 or so used autos that I've fitted to Discovery 2s have run incredibly nice and smooth with the Penrite, but like I said it might be luck that I've been sourcing some good auto to use.

Regards
Daz