I bought some Total BV 75W80 today

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charentejohn
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I bought some Total BV 75W80 today

Post by charentejohn »

Might not seem like much to you but not easy here in frozen France (even in unfrozen France) as I have been looking everywhere. Only cost 9 Euros for 2L too.
I tried the supermarkets as these are the usual place here but no luck, then as if by magic my local one had them on the shelves. This happens a lot, stock changes arbitrarily.

Too late to stop me upsetting the nearby Total petrol station (part of a Renault garage) who had oil but naturally the Elf equivalent. Most upset when I said I wanted Total BV as it is the only one recommended for the gearbox.

Too cold to do the change at the moment, all oil is like treacle so will leave it for a week or two.

One question is how long does gearbox oil last, usually a long time ?
How long would you leave it as if it is within, say, 20k miles I will buy another 2L now as I have been looking for 2 months so best to 'buy while stocks last'. I anticipate only doing 7k miles per year.
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Re: I bought some Total BV 75W80 today

Post by Peter.N. »

Many manufacturers don't give a gearbox oil change schedule, unlike engine oil it doesn't usually get dirty so its just a case of topping up (not auto boxes of course). I dont generally change the oil but have topped it up when a drive shaft has been removed to make good the loss.

My only high mileage experience was a CX 25 Dtr turbo I had for many years and many miles, I kept checking the oil which got neither dirty or low so I didn't bother any more, until I got to about 250,000 miles and lost synchro on 5th, I checked the oil and it was black, so it would seem it does need changing - but not very often.

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Re: I bought some Total BV 75W80 today

Post by DickieG »

The big thing to take into account with gearbox oil is the amount of metal filings floating around in suspension in the oil, when I buy a car changing the gearbox oil is one of the first tasks on the list.
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Re: I bought some Total BV 75W80 today

Post by HDI »

The issues with gearbox oil are viscosity breakdown through shear over time, this is caused by the tooth load on the gears. Not quite so bad on front drive vehicles as there are no spiral bevel gears. Then there is oxidation of the additives through heat and moisture. Modern geaboxes can run quite hot, easily as hot as the engine, this breaks down the additives, as does combating moisture. This is an issue in cars habitually used for short journies where the moisture caused by condensation never gets evaporated off. Although transmission oils will last longer than engine oil as they don't have to survive combustion by products, they should be changed on a routine basis to allow the gearbox to survive as long as possible. Personally I do mine every 30K miles, bearing in mind I drive regular long journies, that is 30 miles plus, 3 or 4 times per week.
Cars used mainly for urban short journies I would change on a time basis, annually is a good strategy.
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Re: I bought some Total BV 75W80 today

Post by charentejohn »

Sounds right to me to change at 30k miles for my usage, I do 6-7k ish per year and mostly longish country road runs with few gear changes. So I will arrange it's next one for 2016 at the latest.

I also change oils and filters on any new (old) car I buy just so I know what is in it and so when next to do it. The gearbox was supposedly (bill from seller) filled with 3L when it is 1.9L capacity so not sure if it was changed at all / topped up / filled with a.n.other brand or what. He put it into his local garage but I'm not sure what they actually did.

So as Total BV is the recommended one I will just change it anyway, all good getting to know the car experience.
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Re: I bought some Total BV 75W80 today

Post by CitroJim »

charentejohn wrote: So as Total BV is the recommended one I will just change it anyway, all good getting to know the car experience.
Basically John, if you do the change annually as recommended here and I agree, then any 75W/80 oil specifically recommended for PSA gearboxes will be fine. Apart from Total, Comma and Valvoline make it. The 75W/80 grade is the critical bit...
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Re: I bought some Total BV 75W80 today

Post by Estately »

That's what I find fascinating about this site.
Where else do you get that sort of information about gear box oil? Brilliant. (and how to reinitialise a C5 with a flat battery)

If I could add Partco as a supplier to those local to the West Midlands (No personal interest - just a recipient of good service).

They supply Titan 75W/80 which is made by Fuchs - a German producer of good specification oils so I am told.
This hopefully may be of use to CharenteJohn who may not be able to buy from Partco but could widen his choice of supplier if there are any in the locality who supply Fuchs oils products.

Hope that helps.
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Re: I bought some Total BV 75W80 today

Post by myglaren »

We have Fuchs oils for some of the CNC machines, routers and saws.
The oil is probably not the reason they are all cabbaged.
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Re: I bought some Total BV 75W80 today

Post by HDI »

No, it won't be unless the wrong spec was used.
I concur that any 75w80 can be used, I go for Motaquip. Been used for over 60K miles so far, no prob. Actually the box whined a bit when I first had the car but after an oil change on the box it gradually disappeared !! Can't explain that except for postulating that maybe a bearing was a complaining a bit with the crud that was drained !
Don't be tempted to add friction reducing, (so called), additives, the synchro's won't like it.
Now using '00 Xantia LX HDI, pov spec :(
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Re: I bought some Total BV 75W80 today

Post by myglaren »

HDI wrote:No, it won't be unless the wrong spec was used.
It is managerial complacency, lack of maintenance and sheer miserliness in most cases.

All but one where it is used in place of the correct spec oil as management won't buy it (£30 a Litre but 1 Litre lasts three years).
Instead they would rather use any oil and fit new bearings ever couple of years @£500+.

The same theme runs throughout the company as a whole*. Let it drop to bits then fix it at ten times the cost.

Nothing wrong with Fuchs oil in the right place.

*They would rather pay £60 every three days for a propane cylinder to heat the glue, rather than fit the dedicated heater at a cost of £250 and and about £20 a year in electricity.
Except when they don't bother to order the propane for the heater and the fork lifts so everything grinds to a halt and causes backlogs and chaos the it takes days and loads of extra money to dig themselves out of. Not rarely but often.

Maintenance costs money but lack of it costs a damned sight more :evil:
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Re: I bought some Total BV 75W80 today

Post by CitroJim »

myglaren wrote: Maintenance costs money but lack of it costs a damned sight more :evil:
How very true. Applicable to all aspects but especially our cars...

Steve, you must have the same management as us! Else all managers go to the same place to be brainwashed. Sorry, that can't be so as manages have no brains :twisted:
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Re: I bought some Total BV 75W80 today

Post by myglaren »

CitroJim wrote:
myglaren wrote: Maintenance costs money but lack of it costs a damned sight more :evil:
How very true. Applicable to all aspects but especially our cars...

Steve, you must have the same management as us! Else all managers go to the same place to be brainwashed. Sorry, that can't be so as manages have no brains :twisted:
True. They appear to be quite bright, especially the MD who has built a multi-million pound business from nothing in fifteen years.
They appear to have no common sense though.

We have no quality assurance, no goods inwards control, nothing. When it has been shown that QA, although costly, can save a business around 80% of wastage costs. (We have LOTS of wastage costs)
Generally applied as a stick for the workers backs though. Mr Deming is rotating rapidly underground :(

There are dozens of computers there but there is no inventory control linked to the ordering section or to link with production so all ordering and inventory is under completely ad hoc manual 'control'. (looks like we could do with some more widgets :roll: ).
It's infuriating, instead of being managed and controlled it is daily fire fighting. "Wing And A Prayer" is the company motto. I'm sure they have an inspirational poster with that on somewhere, that or "We'll Muddle Through".

It is all very disappointing to the workforce and anti-motivational.
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Re: I bought some Total BV 75W80 today

Post by CitroJim »

myglaren wrote:it is daily fire fighting. "Wing And A Prayer" is the company motto. I'm sure they have an inspirational poster with that on somewhere, that or "We'll Muddle Through".

It is all very disappointing to the workforce and anti-motivational.
I never realised until now Steve that you and I work at the same place :twisted: :lol: :lol: :lol:

You have described my place to an absolute tee :roll:
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Re: I bought some Total BV 75W80 today

Post by myglaren »

CitroJim wrote:
myglaren wrote:it is daily fire fighting. "Wing And A Prayer" is the company motto. I'm sure they have an inspirational poster with that on somewhere, that or "We'll Muddle Through".

It is all very disappointing to the workforce and anti-motivational.
I never realised until now Steve that you and I work at the same place :twisted: :lol: :lol: :lol:

You have described my place to an absolute tee :roll:
It is "The British Way" I suppose. Time honoured and fatally flawed :(
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Re: I bought some Total BV 75W80 today

Post by HDI »

It's obvious they must be making a fortune then !! What sort of business is it ?
Now using '00 Xantia LX HDI, pov spec :(
My past Citroens :-
'00 Xantia SX HDI, now dead due to accident :(
'99 Xantia HDI 110 Exclusive, RIP :(
'97 Xantia TD SX
'96 Xantia TD LX
'96 ZX TD
'89 BX TD
'88 AX GT
'79 CX2400 Pallas (scrapped :( )
& a couple of Peugeots !
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