Wrong gearbox oil?

dusan.g · Post by **dusan.g** » 18 Nov 2005, 13:13

The clutch in my car has been changed recently. Service changed also gearbox oil. They put in Valvoline ATF Dexron III/Mercon, which is for automatic transmission and I've got manual transmission.
Do you think that I should leave it there or should I change it for Total TRANSMISSION BV 75W-80, which is recommended for my gearbox?

dnsey · Post by **dnsey** » 18 Nov 2005, 13:39

Get them to change it at their expense!
Anyone who cannot tell the difference between auto and manual transmission shouldn't be near a car, never mind servicing them.

bxbodger · Post by **bxbodger** » 18 Nov 2005, 13:40

Take it back and get the garage to change it- straight away!!!

I don't know if it would do any harm or not but I suspect it most likely would!!

As you have a manual box it should really have a manual specification oil in it, ATF fluid is designed for a completely different environment-sun and planet type gears and clutch bands-it probably won't be able to cope with the manual box's synchro rings and cones, etc.

Peter Mannn · Post by **Peter Mannn** » 18 Nov 2005, 13:53

And get them to flush out the Dextron with some compatible gearbox oil before putting in the final fill. Otherwise you run a risk of chemical interactions with Dextron and loss of lubricating/anticorrosion properties.

Post by **Peter.N.** » 18 Nov 2005, 14:06

Drive it gently until you do, the auto oil is to thin to stand the pressure exerted on it by a manual gearbox transfering any ammount of power.

dusan.g · Post by **dusan.g** » 18 Nov 2005, 14:13

The worst is, that I wanted them to change the oil for Total Transmission BV. They said that it's not good oil for Citroen gearboxes that they have good experiences with that Valvoline ATF. It's my fault that I let them convince me into that oil. I'm novice in cars, so that's why I agreed with ATF oil. Now I'm very mad at myself.

Clogzz · Post by **Clogzz** » 18 Nov 2005, 15:04

dusan.g wrote:It's my fault that I let them convince me into that oil. I'm novice in cars, so that's why I agreed with ATF oil. Now I'm very mad at myself.

You should be able to trust the so-called experts.
Put on a sarcastic smile, and ask them what their old trade was.

fastandfurryous · Post by **fastandfurryous** » 18 Nov 2005, 16:08

There's a very good reason that peugeot and citroen recommend total 75W-80W gear oil. Changing to ATF will almost certainly knacker the gearbox after a little while. Synchros are very intolerant of incorrect grades of oil.

Have it drained, flushed and re-filled with the correct gear oil as soon as you possibly can.

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 18 Nov 2005, 16:47

Interestingly Volvo used to use ATF type A fluid in their MANUAL gearboxes - both with and without overdrive - and those boxes dont give many problems!

Also when autos fail its usually the control and brake mechanisms that go rather than the (many and small) bearings.

I'm not condoning the use of ATF and don't know enough to take a chance with someone elses vehicle.

fastandfurryous · Post by **fastandfurryous** » 18 Nov 2005, 16:58

jeremy wrote:Interestingly Volvo used to use ATF type A fluid in their MANUAL gearboxes - both with and without overdrive - and those boxes dont give many problems!

No... because they are designed to use this fluid. There are all manner of grades recommended for different boxes, depending on how they were designed.

I once knew someone who ran a rally car with the thinnest ATF fluid you've ever seen in it to reduce transmission drag. The gearbox would last about 200 miles before the synchros died and the gearteeth had fairly massive wear ridges in them.

Dave Bamber · Post by **Dave Bamber** » 18 Nov 2005, 19:56

dusan.g wrote:The worst is, that I wanted them to change the oil for Total Transmission BV. They said that it's not good oil for Citroen gearboxes that they have good experiences with that Valvoline ATF. It's my fault that I let them convince me into that oil. I'm novice in cars, so that's why I agreed with ATF oil. Now I'm very mad at myself.

BV is the oil to use, as recommended by Citroen. Looks like your garage had some ATF to offload

magicride · Post by **magicride** » 12 Jan 2006, 03:02

heard BE3 boxes cannot use with synthetic oil.....any idea on this?

i am thiking of replacing with Redline Synthetic MTL 75-80

what does BV stands for anyway?

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 12 Jan 2006, 10:09

BV stands simply for Boite Vitesses or something - very roughly translates as box of speeds or gearbox.

For all you fans of the the old Truimph Herald and its derivatives - Renault produced a hot 18 many years ago which proudly displayed the badge on the back - '5 vitesses'

john alexander · Post by **john alexander** » 12 Jan 2006, 11:26

Hi My family ran many rover 214's for years. this was a car designed by honda built by rover and had a peugeot gearbox which contained a thin red oil . Yep you've guessed it dextron..the only problem with that box was that the first bearing got noisy £8.00 odd to buy a new one.plus one upset wife when she saw the kitchen floor. regards john.

alan s · Post by **alan s** » 12 Jan 2006, 12:13

If it's Dexron3 get it out fast.

Dexron fluids are all different as D1 - D2 & D3 come from different bases so much so that recently we've discovered that Dex3 in BX autos (designed to operate on Dex2) will totally stuff them within 80 - 120K klms. The point is that ATFs contain friction enhancers to make bands and plates grab more efficiently not the kind of thing you really need in a manual gearbox.
Stick to what is recommended and don't be conned into being told they work better with ATF. This is an old hang up from C-matic days where Total Fluide T was used and this was often put into manual boxes; difference there is that C-matics were a manual gearbox with a fluid coupling and bore no resemblence to auto boxes that need an ATF with friction enhancers and a variety of other additives to operate. C-matics don't work on ATF either FWIW.

Alan S