Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 13:30:31 -0500
Reply-To: Chris <ncbus@MINDSPRING.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Chris <ncbus@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject: Re: [VB] Gear Oil Nightmare
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Thanks to all those who responded to the origianl posts. Here is an update
for those that are interested.
After an exhaustive search this morning, Redline MT90 has been obtained.
I tried to find any form of GL4 or 90w hypoind at NAPA, Autozone, Advance
Auto and Walmart but came up empty handed each time. Walmart had absolutley
NO gear oil whatsoever: folks must be stocking up for Y2K. I also needed to
buy a 17mm allen wrench and NAPA informed my that they do not carry metric
sizes. The guy stocking the shelves at Walmart in the oil section did not
know what gear oil was and they guy at Autozone did not know what the
designations in GL(x) meant.
I went so Sears to by the 17mm allen wrench ($8.95) and then made the trip
to the shop that filled my tranny two weeks ago using GL5. They guy who did
the fill is a really nice guy and a good mechanic and was patient with me as
I explained the GL4/GL5 issue. He agreeded that typically he would put in
MT90(GL4) but chose to use the (Redlne)GL5 becuase he thought it might be
better in the RGBs. He also achknowleged the issue of GL5 being bad for
synchros but he felt that with fully synthetic GL5 this was not an issue.
I would like to say that I am not a chemist, metalurgist or even a really
good shade tree mechanic and I will not come down on either side of the
issue. I will however tell you that I left the shop with 4 quarts of Redline
MT90 under my arm becuase that makes me feel a little better( and Karl
too:)>
I made one last stop at a different location of Advance Auto Parts to pick
up a pump for the gear oil and to my suprise I saw 90w Hypoid oil on the
shelf. I read the bottle and it was specified for use in Marine outbaard
engines in the lower drive. Not sure if that is the same as the 90w Hypoid
that VW specs in the manual but it was the only thing I ever saw that said
'90w Hypoid" on the label.
I am gonna clean all the crap off the RGBs and tranny and watch it for a day
or so and check for leaks. If it looks good I will put the Redline MT90 in
this week!
Chris
Greemsboro,NC
'72 Wssfalia
'67 deluxe
http://www.mindspring.com/~vw69bus/everybus.html