MTF94 and 75w80, the same???

[bigbeast]

hi chaps

according to google these gearbox oils are one and the same? can anyone confirm before i part with my cash

MTF 94 is the same as 75w80 GL4

there is a price difference between the two thats why im asking

MTF 94 seems to be around £9 per litre, and 75w80 is around £5 per litre???

your help is appreciated as always. Ta

[RILEY]

HI mate mtf on ebay £30 for 5lts tried all different x ref myself(i'm a tight git)but bought the right gear in the end

cheaper than a fooked box !

[Tanuki]

They're not really the same: 75W80 GL4 is an ordinary generic gear-oil; MTF94 is a "modified friction" oil: thinner, and rather closer to ATF in its characteristics.

Use the wrong one and the gearchange-quality will be compromised.

[muddy]

I tried some 70 odd syntrans in my disco transformed it intastly into a bag of ****. Td5 110 at work is the same forget second gear on a cold morning.

I have just got some all singing all dancing Miller's stuff to put in this weekend.

Will.

[tweetyduck]

Theres some guessing going off here.

Theres a really good article on the Argentina LR forum about MFT94 and Honda MTF and EP. They did full analysis on the oils.

IIRC the only think MTF94 has that the others do not is a slightly better handling of low temperatures.

Go check out this link. The one at the bottom is the comparisons. They do a lot of work over here as the LR stuff is so expensive.

http://www.landroverclub.com.ar/viewtopic.php?t=919

http://www.landroverclub.com.ar/viewtopic.php?t=2741&start=90

http://www.landroverclub.com.ar/viewtopic.php?t=425&sid=db3ed9b652e292e1faae4a7a7683c91b

[rick]

They're not really the same: 75W80 GL4 is an ordinary generic gear-oil; MTF94 is a "modified friction" oil: thinner, and rather closer to ATF in its characteristics.

Use the wrong one and the gearchange-quality will be compromised.

No it's not.

MTF94 is a 75W-80 manual trans fluid blended by Texaco.

It has a Kinematic viscosity at 100*C of around 10cSt.

Most xW-80 MTF's have a kinematic viscosity around the same, ATF's are around 6.5-7.5 cSt @ 100*C. A big difference.

There are plenty of MTF's around, how they shift is determined by the friction modifiers used.

Basically they are of a type that the coefficient of friction increases as the hub speeds get closer together, allowing mesh of the 'dogs.

Standard diff oils and motor oils have the opposite property, ie. as the differential speeds of the synchro clutch and hub get closer the coefficient of friction drops which can lead to dog clashing, the old gear crunch.

R380's can be idiosyncratic in what fluids they like too, most here In Australia end up using Castrol Syntrans 75W-85 as

a) we can buy it (you can't get MTF94 here anymore)

b) it's a 75W-85 (11.9cSt@ 100*C) so copes better with the higher temps and loads we experience here.

c) shifts very, very well.

and FWIW I don't give a toss about the first couple of first to second changes first thing of a cold morning at -6*, but I can do without the baulky shifts and gear and bearing rattle on +35* days so, I actually use Motul Gear 300 these days, a 75W-90.

Excellent shifting and no gear or bearing rattle, and it still shifts OK in winter (VI of 222)

The R380 has 305,000 hard km on it now, so the fluids I use must be working OK.

[TSD]

Theres some guessing going off here.

If that bothers you, you'd best stay off the internet completely.

I ran Syntrans in my current R380 for a lot of miles (~60k, maybe more) from when I fitted the (Ashcrofts recon) box.

Gearshift was horrible in the cold (and I mean properly, dangerously, blocky - not just a bit obstinate) and never good at any temperature.

Last year, I changed to MTF94 from Smith & Allen, and there was an instant improvement in the gearchange, even in the cold weather it's been sweet as a nut.

No guessing, just my personal experience.

[rick]

I ran Syntrans in my current R380 for a lot of miles (~60k, maybe more) from when I fitted the (Ashcrofts recon) box.

Gearshift was horrible in the cold (and I mean properly, dangerously, blocky - not just a bit obstinate) and never good at any temperature.

I'm curious, which Syntrans ?

Castrol Syntrans 75W-85 would be the most popular R380 blend used in this part of the world for the reasons I've listed above.

[TSD]

Looking back at posts I made last year, it was Castrol Syntrans SMX-S 75W-85

[rick]

Must be a different blend to what Castrol sell here, the stuff we use I found better than MTF94, so go figure ?

[muddy]

Just to add I have done about 600 miles now on this oil, its ok but still notchy in a morning not as good as the atf it replaced.

Will.

[Escape]

Uhm, that's engine oil, not gearbox lubricant?

[Aragorn]

And it'll work fine as a lubricant, however as mentioned above, the friction modifiers and additives are different potentially giving poorer shift quality etc.

Quite a few car manufacturers (including rover's PG1 gearbox) specify 10w40 engine oil can be used in their gearboxes.

The R380 (and LT77) is particularly sensitive to oil type because the synchros are pretty rubbish.