Thread: r380 oil-confused

syntrans,

or if you feel its a lil notchy changing gears people put d3 in to make it all smoth agen

you can use dex III in the r380, I have for the last 70K Km with no ill effects. you can also use engine oil.

I ran Transmax M ATF in mine for 400,000k's and it's still going strong. Pat

Originally Posted by bcj

time to do oil in r380 -1995 110 300tdi, local repco swears blind i should only use castrol TQF, I've read lotsa threads stating i should use syntrans or transmax,starting to get confused!110 normally runs around unloaded but sometimes is overloaded-mostly highway driving when fully loaded. Original box 140,000km 1st-2nd syncro prefers slow change and has some slack in drivetrain-possibly output gear? does this gear need cross drilling-I think i read that somewhere.Is this gear easy to replace as in series3?
thanks
bcj

Land Rover used to use Auto transmission fluid then did a rethink and specified a manual transmission fluid.
I checked the castrol site there is a note for the R380 see bottom.

Manual Transmission CASTROL TRANSMAX M
Automatic transmission fluid formulated to satisfy the GM 6297M specification (1975), and suitable for older automatic transmissions requiring a GM type fluid.
Service Refill Capacity: 2.7 Litres (See Note 416)416With R380 manual transmission. For severe applications or towing use CASTROL SYNTRANS 75W/85.

syntrans has my vote as well...

by a country mile...

Thanks all-syntrans it is- didn't think TQF was right.
bcj

My understanding on this, and being neither a mechanic nor an engineer, is that

1. Any ATF is formulated for a high-stress environment, autos obviously.
2. There are basically 2 specs, being GM & Ford derived.
3. ATF was specified for the R380 until better, suitable gear oils came onto the market, & LR upgraded the recommended spec accordingly.
4. Conventional gear oil, whatever the spec, shouldn't go into R380. Not every shop assistant knows the R380 has a pump in it!

Regards
Max P

Originally Posted by bcj

time to do oil in r380 -1995 110 300tdi, local repco swears blind i should only use castrol TQF, I've read lotsa threads stating i should use syntrans or transmax,starting to get confused!110 normally runs around unloaded but sometimes is overloaded-mostly highway driving when fully loaded. Original box 140,000km 1st-2nd syncro prefers slow change and has some slack in drivetrain-possibly output gear? does this gear need cross drilling-I think i read that somewhere.Is this gear easy to replace as in series3?
thanks
bcj

There has been a lot of discussion about this topic. For example:

Oils According to Rick130

IMHO I would use Syntrans (synthetic, expensive!) and there is a Penrite light gear oil also. I would avoid any type of ATF if the vehicle is going to be used in harsh conditions, but at least it would be better than engine oil.

At a pinch you could use Castrol VMX-M 75W-85, but, not being synthetic, will require more frequent changes.

Cheers,

Lionel