Thread: Penrite Sin Manual Trans 75/85 Vs Castrol Syntrans

I also like a good oil thread but find all this talk of crappy shifting R380 'boxes quite alien to me. Never had a problem with Daphne's shifting in the 310K odd km we've put on her (~380K total).

Believe she had ATF when we bought her on 2001. She had one dose of MTF94 when Suttons in Alice Springs did her rear main seal and the gearbox and T/C seals in 2003. But since then she's been on a diet of nothing but Castrol VMX80 mineral oil.

Especially since I got hold a 60L drum of it that had a tiny pin hole weep in the side (still fixed with a dab of silicone) for $200 from the local distributor several years ago. That looks like keeping her and Leo the SIII ute happy for some time to come (touch wood).

Ian,I ran ATF in the Tdi and now Redline MTL and after 17 years of abuse,I don't baby my old girl,she shifts fine.With Leo's gearbox remember the phosphor bronze bush's will di-solve if you run non caster oil based oils. Pat

Originally Posted by PAT303

Rick made a good point many moons ago about changing oils,you need to drive for quite some time to allow the ''stuff'' in the new type of oil to do it's work.Different oils work in different ways and need time to season the box to reach their best,my mate from the post three years ago had really crappy changes when he first tried Penrite but after a few thousand K's it got better and now he no longer has any trouble,he's in Queensland and his Tdi is nearing 500,000k's like mine without issue. Pat

Originally Posted by incisor

yep

plenty of times i have told people the same... it needs to be in there for a few months or a few thousand klms to do what it does best

Yep, the new fiction modifiers can take some time to displace the old ones from the synchro clutch and hub surfaces, so the blokes that design and blend these brews tell me, at times more than 750km.

JC has often said the R380 can be idiosyncratic in operation too, and what one box likes in terms of fluid choice another doesn't feel as nice.
Motul Gear 300 is the only fluid I've used that cured the high temp/high load bearing and gear rattle (and notchy shifting that went with it) yet still had better than acceptable low temp shift performance.
Syntrans also seemed totally spent in under 20,000km, something that Bush65 noted too.
Whether it had sheared or all the FM's had been used up, I don't know, I never bothered testing it, I just did a fluid change when the shifting started to deteriorate.
The interesting thing is that it's rated to 400,000km in Volvo truck applications.

Gear 300 just maintains it's shift performance in my experience.
The funny thing is that my oil analyst based in the US doesn't rate Motul.
He said it's good, but not as brilliant as people think, but I don't think he rates the French that highly generally.

Originally Posted by PAT303

Ian,I ran ATF in the Tdi and now Redline MTL and after 17 years of abuse,I don't baby my old girl,she shifts fine.With Leo's gearbox remember the phosphor bronze bush's will di-solve if you run non caster oil based oils. Pat

Thanks Pat,

Hadn't heard about caster oil based gear lubes before. VMX 80 was the recommended oil on the Castrol Lubes website (now it's VMX-M 75W85). I had heard that I should use only GL4 spec oils in the old Series box not GL5, as GL5 oils are not kind to the old style bushes.

What's your choice for series boxes (and T/Cs too, I presume)?

Ian,Castrol is the oil to use,it got it's name from originally being caster oil based.How's Leo's gearbox going?,I forgot to ask earlier. Pat

Rick,I've had MTL in now for 80k and mine shifts perfect,no smell and no dis-coloration. Pat

I have used both.
Currently Syntrans for about two years and not impressed. Am going back to penrite next change as its cheaper and better in my experience

Originally Posted by PAT303

Ian,Castrol is the oil to use,it got it's name from originally being caster oil based.How's Leo's gearbox going?,I forgot to ask earlier. Pat

Thanks for asking Pat.

Leo's 'box has been all back together for a couple of months now. Then the "starter motor that came out OK but won't go back in with major dismantling" issue arose - and then the "other hundred or so more important issues that arise on a rural property" turned up, and Leo has dropped back down the priority list...

But having to drag a box trailer with a spray tank and pump around behind Fergal, the Grey Fergie, instead of having it in the tray behind the Leo's cab is giving me the sh*ts, so.

Any decade now, I'll pull the extractors off Leo's Holden 202, refit the starter motor, and then drop the gear box/TC back in and see how it goes.

You can't rush these things - apparently...