What is factory recommended oil for tranny

[turbocoupe]

I have a A-555 tranny and don't know what kinda oil it takes and IM hearing 5w30 and IM not sure if that's right so please help me.

Thanks
Joey

[GLHSKEN]

FActory started with ATF, they switched to 10w30 in 87 or so. Personally I use mobil 1 5w30 in mine. Many reccomend against this because they say it is too slippery for the synchro's. I've had good luck with it.

[boost geek]

I use GM Synchromesh in my 520 OBX. Works awesome, never had as much as a "scratch" shifting down yet in my daily driver Shelby Charger.

[turbocoupe]

FActory started with ATF, they switched to 10w30 in 87 or so. Personally I use mobil 1 5w30 in mine. Many reccomend against this because they say it is too slippery for the synchro's. I've had good luck with it.

I THOUGHT 5W30 WAS THAT SO WHAT IS A GOOD OIL BUT I FIND IT WIERD THAT MOTOR OIL IS USED FOR THE TRANNY BUT IM HEARING THAT 5W30 OR RED LINE SO I DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE ANYMORE

[GLHSKEN]

Bottom line... These tranny's LIKE motor oil... Chrysler TSB'd the fill change in the 80's.

Redline works well as well. I have a few friends that swear by it. DO NOT use gear lube... motor oil.

Again I would use a 5w30..

[Tony Fields]

I use 5W30 Mobil 1 in my A-555's and my A-568 ................manual calls for 5W30

[turbocoupe]

ok thanks so 5w30 its is.... but heres another thought i bought my A-555 from a wrecker daytona and i don't know if the tranny oil has been changed and i also don't know how long its been sitting so my plan was to use cheap oil and change it every week for about a month. I mean the tranny works great it goes in all the gears so i know that works for a fact.

[GLHSKEN]

Overkill. Put good oil in it and let her rip

[turbocoupe]

Overkill. Put good oil in it and let her rip

lol ok i will do just that thanks

[Terry Again]

I saw this post and wondered if I could do the same for my 525? So to prepare I started to search for what to use? I remember from my motorcycle days that my bike used the shared source for the trans and engine and I used oil made for Bike use and it shifted much better even after 2,000 miles and found out that bike oils have a higher amount of Zinc in it to slow down the sheering action gears put on the long chain polamyers in the oil that make it slippery!! My question is the lowest weight oil I can find is 10w40 is that a light enough oil our should I go with car oil at 5w30?????
Thanks for any replies,

Terry

[GLHSKEN]

Go with a 5w30 I have friends using 0w30.

[Terry Again]

OK I'll go with thatcar oil at 5w30,0w30 would that be a synth. ???

[jckrieger]

OK I'll go with thatcar oil at 5w30,0w30 would that be a synth. ???

I use either Dexron or Mobil 1 0W 30 in my transmissions. My high mileage a555 wouldn't shift properly with engine oil. The thinner the oil, the better in cold temperatures. Don't put Lucas in the transmission under any circumstance. If your transmission had motor oil and the syncros seemed worn, switch to Dexron and it'll let you keep going without tearing into the transmission. Of course, you can replace Dexron with any light weight oil (Redline, Royal Purple, etc).

[93sundance]

I think I might have screwed up and put 10W30 in my first tranny. Maybe that is why it hated cold weather.

[93sundance]

Is it possible for synthetic oil to help a weak syncro work better? Or could it make it worse?

[jckrieger]

Synthetic *may* make it worse, though I noticed no difference going from conventional oil to 0W 30 Mobil 1 in my a568. Both my a555 and my dad's a520 had weak syncros and switching from motor oil to Dexron 3 solved the shifting problems.

[93sundance]

so should i try dexron in my a543?

[turbovanman²]

so should i try dexron in my a543?


No, unless your tranny has shifting issues. Dexron has no business being in a manual gearbox, its a hyraulic oil, not a gear oil.



I saw this post and wondered if I could do the same for my 525? So to prepare I started to search for what to use? I remember from my motorcycle days that my bike used the shared source for the trans and engine and I used oil made for Bike use and it shifted much better even after 2,000 miles and found out that bike oils have a higher amount of Zinc in it to slow down the sheering action gears put on the long chain polamyers in the oil that make it slippery!! My question is the lowest weight oil I can find is 10w40 is that a light enough oil our should I go with car oil at 5w30?????
Thanks for any replies,

Terry

Thats a great idea. Also remember, the oils have to lube the cam, and let the wet clutch grip, :thumb:

[boost geek]

No, unless your tranny has shifting issues. Dexron has no business being in a manual gearbox, its a hyraulic oil, not a gear oil.

I wanted to jump in and say that, but there are some that are intent on using ATF. If you like your tranny, DONT put ATF in. The bearings in a 525 are the same as a 520. The factory switched from using ATF for a reason, cost not being the only one.
If you have syncro issues, try GM Synchromesh, you may be surprised!

[turbovanman²]

I wanted to jump in and say that, but there are some that are intent on using ATF. If you like your tranny, DONT put ATF in. The bearings in a 525 are the same as a 520. The factory switched from using ATF for a reason, cost not being the only one.
If you have syncro issues, try GM Synchromesh, you may be surprised!

Contraption told us that the only reason they got ATF was a union deal, they didn't like filling up ATF with DEX and MTX with oil so they just filled all of them with ATF, idiots, :banghead:

[jckrieger]

Eh, my a555 held up for at least 75 1/4 mile passes with Dexron 3 at 20-25psi, including many, many 1 wheel burnouts. The transmission now has 220K miles on it and it's still going strong. Exactly how does the viscosity of oil affect roller bearing life? I can see people trying to complain about differential life, but I don't believe changing the type of oil will affect bearing/gear life. If ATF is so bad for gears and bearings, there must not be any in an automatic transmission that need lubrication. :nod:

When it comes to bearing failures in our transmissions, you can't just blame ATF for the problems. Personally, the bearing failures I've seen have been due to underlubrication or in a transmission that had engine oil as factory fill. I'm not saying transmissions with ATF don't fail, but I seriously don't think it's the reason we see failures.

I've also noticed that in the last 2 manual transmissions I've taken apart, the syncronizer stop rings had fine cracks in several locations due to excessive force being applied to them. Which lubrication did these transmissions have? Motor oil, as they were a523's. I've also noticed a few request for stop rings as they seem to break apart after repeated hard shifts.

[Tim]

I've read about the problems of automatics wearing out the differential pin, and it's because ATF doesn't lube the gears / pin well enough.

I've run many 1970's Mopars and done a LOT of 1 wheel burnouts in them, and never ever heard of a differential pin wearing out. Because they had gear oil in the RWD axles, which could handle the loads on the differential pin.

So I'd like to know if manual gearboxes have this same differential pin wearing problem when running engine oil or synthetic oil in the transmission. I expect it would happen when using ATF.

And I don't think ATF has any business being in a manual transmission, no matter what the factory says!

[jckrieger]

I agree, the differential may lose some life when running ATF over Mobil 1. As far as differentials lasting longer with Motor oil, I'd say they don't. Look at the Neon manual transmissions, they chuck pins left and right and they're filled with engine oil. I also had an Avenger transmission (same as the neon) that was filled with gear oil (previous owner) that spit out the diff pin (never did burnouts with that trans). The 2 pinion differential just doesn't like high loads and high speed ratios, regardless of the type of lubricant.

When it comes to RWD stuff, the differentials are generally much larger, so they can handle a few 1 wheel burnouts a little better. Of course, this doesn't mean I haven't seen several RWD differentials let go due to 1 wheel burnouts or off-roading! I think every transmission is mainly limited by the type of alloy steels used, and heat treatment. The lubrication is just the only thing we can control ourselves.

[boost geek]

Read posts 18, 19, and 20 again. I aint gonna say much more, except get rid of that crappy diff pin, and buy an OBX.

[jckrieger]

Read posts 18, 19, and 20 again. I aint gonna say much more, except get rid of that crappy diff pin, and buy an OBX.

I'm picking mine up in 6 days :thumb:

[boost geek]

Awesome:thumb: You'll love it!

[jckrieger]

Do you have a moly end plate or the 555 gearset in your trans? I'm debating whether or not I should rip the rest of the trans apart, or just wait until a gear fails before yanking it again.

[boost geek]

No, stock endplate and 520 gears. This is my daily driver, and I wanted to get on the road. I figured I spent enough for now on the OBX and 6 new bearings. Slowly I'll get my parts together to build another tranny, always looking for a 555. I would have bought the OBX even if it was single-track, I REALLY wanted to run a no diff pin tranny.
Both my 525s had "scratchy" synchros, this 520 is smooth as silk. My 86 S.C. had the tranny fluid replaced with 5/30 synthetic, it took a beating at 15-17 psi without a failure, but the syncros did grind more with the synthetic oil. I really wonder how it would have shifted with the Syncromesh fluid. My 87 S.C. was driven normally, had an 85 525 in it, and blew the bearing by the bellhousing.
My friend has a blown 555 that I can get gears from, but the case is shot.
I'll just keep checking Pick a Part...
My dream is still RWD:)

[jckrieger]

No need for the case, right? Just throw the a555 gears on and you're done. As far as the syncromesh fluid, how is the viscosity? Is it thin like ATF or is it a heavier weight like most motor oils? I've always feared various MTX fluids because they generally don't advertise the viscosity. Thinking of my friend who put Lucas in his Ranger's MTX just makes me cringe.. and it said it was suitable for manual transmissions.

[boost geek]

Nowhere on the bottle does it say the weight on it, although it does seem kinda thin. It is a "part synthetic" oil.

[turbovanman²]

Synchomesh pours like 10w30, good stuff. I had a 90 Grand Am I beat the sh*t out of with that stuff in, sold it at 160 K and still going strong.

Dick, I have a 555, ;) I think 2nd gear needs attention, make me an offer.

[rbryant]

I had a low mileage 568 puke the second gear synchro using Moibl 1 0W30. Perhaps it wasn't the synthetic oil's fault but I am not interested in trying it again to find out. I am putting regular mobil 10w30 dino juice in it this time around.

If I lived in the north I would probably go with 5w30 dino juice.

-Rich

[jckrieger]

My a568 shifts better than my Dad's new SRT-4 with the Mobil 0W30 oil, so it's probably not the oil's fault, but you never know.

What color is the syncromesh oil? Is it yellowish like conventional oil or does it have friction modifiers in it that change its color?

[boost geek]

It's a kinda honey brown color. The bottle doesn't say too much, says it has excellent lubrication properties, and does not break down. It withstands high temperatures, and fuctions well in low temps. Also lists this:
parrafinic hydrocarbons, C-10 C-16 alkyl benzene derivative, proprietary additives, poly alkyl methacrylate.
Is a 555 case the same as a 520, or stronger?
Oh ya, Simon, I have a diesel engine for sale, '05.5 Duramax :thumb:

[jckrieger]

From what I've seen and been told, the a520 and a555 have the same case. The only area that might be different is in the differential area (for clearance of the 4 pinion diff).

[1 bad day]

alldata and mitchell online manuals both suggest 5w-30

Edit: Sorry, wasnt paying attention to dates and kind of brought this back from the dead

[WVRampage]

I used gear lube not knowing any beter a while back when I put my trans in,then I drained it and used royal purple 10w30 and had no problems other than leaks now im uning conventional 10w30.