Dr T Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 Right, i'm looking into replacing the gearbox oil when i put my shortshifter in (i doubt its been done before and at 140,000 miles i should think it would need it) i've done a bit of searching on here and looking at opie oils site and i just want to run through what oil i should/can use in my 5 speed manual From what i've read i only need 1.1L as mines a 5 speed (6 speed uses 1.7L) According to opie oils i should be using http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-981-fuchs-titan-sintofluid-sae-75w-80-synthetic-manual-transmission-fluid.aspx but from another thread i see someone saying this stuff is better, and its a few quid cheaper. http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-739-castrol-syntrans-multivehicle-75w-90-fully-synthetic-mtf-replaces-smx-s-75w-85.aspx# annoyingly i need two bottles so the few quid difference adds up a bit, given the poundland nature of my superlight project i don't want to be buying M&S gearbox oil when just good gearbox oil will do, and lets face it sometimes things that are recommended are priced up and something else that technically is just as good but doesn't have a seal of approval is cheaper and may even perform better. So what are peoples thoughts,. Stop being a pikey and order the Fuchs stuff or is the other stuff better/just as good. Alternatively Halfords stock these two http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_209375_langId_-1_categoryId_255220 http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_222101_langId_-1_categoryId_255220#tab1 andwar78 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr T Posted December 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 or even cheaper, somehow always feel better about buying a branded product though http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_214019_langId_-1_categoryId_255220 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz 330 Cs Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 Buy the dearer one and be safe in the knowledge it's the recommended juice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Messer Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 I read that royal purple oils are great in bmw gearboxes on multiple threads. Lots of people reporting a big improvement using royal purple. I need to do this job too as I'm on 165000! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz T Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 What spec do you need for gearbox if going for royal purple Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz031178 Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 (edited) Going to be doing this on my 330i m sport soon. Going to do it as the clutch is being changed and the fubar'd gear lever centering springs. Bloody car has only got 70k on the clock. Never mind Edited December 30, 2012 by daz031178 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stahl320 Posted December 30, 2012 Report Share Posted December 30, 2012 Coming up to 100,000 might be a good time to do mine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F07GT Steve Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 This is what you need, as recommended by Opie Oils. I have used this on my old 525, I did the 330,s box with this and will be doing the e60 530 in the new year Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - 10-4 Out# Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F07GT Steve Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 But while your under there it's also worth doing the rear diff oil as well Also did the 330 when I did the gear box Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - 10-4 Out# daz031178 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr T Posted December 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 or there's this one, http://www.opieoils.co.uk/pv-1210-fuchs-titan-sintofluid-fe-sae-75w-synthetic-manual-transmission-oil-1-litre.aspx?utm_source=ProductSearch&utm_medium=GoogleBase&utm_campaign=GoogleBase_ProductsFeed&utm_content=1210 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Messer Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 (edited) Royal purple syncromax or redline mtl both seem to get good press.. Actually for us UK boys it seems that a mix of redline MTF and D4ATF gives a good improvement. The MTF is great in summer but is a bit thick for our winter so cold shifting can be a little more difficult - hence why it's mixed with the ATF stuff. Edited January 1, 2013 by Messer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiksilver_TR Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 I have copied this from my blog I spoke to the guys at Opie oils about what to use as I couldn’t see an oil listed for my car. Firstly Opie were extremely helpful with this and recommend some 2 different oils for this application. Red Line synthetic manual transmission lubricant 70W-80 GL4 – 1 US Quart (0.946 litre) http://www.opieoils....70w-80-gl4.aspx And Red Line D4 synthetic automatic transmission fluid – 1 US Quart (0.946 litre) http://www.opieoils....sion-fluid.aspx My gearbox only needed 1.1 litres of fluid to fill. I did the change over the weekend and have since done 50 or so miles in 3 days. Before the oil change by gear change was quite notchy when cold, not just the box oil being cold but it get more notchy when the air temperature dropped too. With this fluid in the box mixed 50/50 the gear change is smooth and no longer notchy. I also feel that the gearbox is quieter whilst driving too, not that the box was noisy before the change. I also changed the diff oil to a 75W-90 synthetic gear oil also from Opie but I decided to use this one after search the internet and various forums to see what others had used. Again the diff only needs 1.1 litres of fluid to fill. Again I feel that the diff is quieter whilst driving too, not that the box was noisy before the change. Really only noticed a slight diff whine whilst on the motorway which I don’t get at all now. To do both jobs only took 30mins, with the aid of a friends pit and a hand pump to refill the box and diff. (I do take my time and clean threads out and clean other parts whilst I’m doing jobs, bit anal like that) The hardest part of the job was removing the drain and fill plugs as they had obviously never been off and were pretty damn tight! When I removed the oil diff oil it looked alot like very dirty dish water and had the same sort of consistency which I can’t imagine was doing very much in the way of protection. The same went for the gearbox oil. Neither had any fillings or anything unexpected in and both the plugs were clean. So they were probably about due a change with the mileage @ 105000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blair Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 Redline stuff in mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomis Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 This is what you need, as recommended by Opie Oils. I have used this on my old 525, I did the 330,s box with this and will be doing the e60 530 in the new year Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - 10-4 Out# This is what i used too. I just went by opie's recomendation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knuckle Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 I went for redline ATF (which says on the bottle suitable for BMW manual gearboxes) mine changes gear easier as a result especially into 1st Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andwar78 Posted April 19, 2018 Report Share Posted April 19, 2018 Hi Can I use the same oil in the Diff and Gearbox? or am I missing somthing and are they made up of diffrent compinds. Also some times going into 1st Gear my gear can be notch or I have to put it in 2nd then 1st, will Oil change fix this? Thanks E46 2001 330Ci Owner 5 Speed Man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R11CH Posted April 20, 2018 Report Share Posted April 20, 2018 Gearbox takes 75w-80, diff takes 75w-90. Both take just over 1L of oil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
