Best Automatic Transmission Fluid?

[SimonD]

Has anybody had any experience with Transmax Z? Rodney at Wholesale Automatic Transmissions in Australia backs it as best for the 80 box according to LCOOL. It can lower running temperature a bit as well. Race Industrial Products in the UK sell it at 20lts @ £6.79 ppl (at this price it may be liquid gold except it's green ]. I'm not looking for an imminent supply but was wondering who may have used it here? A green oval forum suggests Opie doesn't sell it but maybe that is not the case?

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Don't know anything about that fluid Simon but the price doesn't seem very expensive. The Amsoil in my box from Opie worked out at £11.35 per litre bought in 10l quantity or £11.95 per litre in 5l quantities (inc VAT). Even that's cheap compared to the gear oil that works out to £16.05 per litre

 

[Chris]

I think that I must be missing something here. Is this some particularly special AT fluid with highly desirable properties? I just use your standard ATF in mine. I bought a 25l drum for £50 odd quid. And it drives fine. Is there a need to put something better in it of you are overlanding or doing extreme off roading?

That does seem a wee bit on the very expensive side to me. I know it has a very important job to do and I certainly don't want to go all cheap if there are consequences, but I put it in D, press the accelerator and it goes.

As always, I look forward to learning something.

I had to flush mine out three times until it was clear and plan to drop this lot at some point for a final fill. Maybe I should be using this stuff made from Unicorn's tears?

C

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

I don't know at what point you go from real world benefits to purely theoretical benefits but the ATF plays such an important role in the longevity of your gearbox that I see no point in skimping. I used a fuchs semi synthetic (decent enough make/quality) in my 80, bought in 20l tubs for similar price to yours Chris and it was always well used when it came back out ... remember it's not just lubricating like your engine oil does, it's actually transfering the engine power to the gearbox when the TC isn't locked.

 

[SimonD]

Is this some particularly special AT fluid with highly desirable properties?

That's what I'm asking too I guess - the specs are on the initial link. As I said I'm not looking for short term but Aussies give it a big thumbs up for mega-kms and I'm only interesting for serious overlanding [whenever that happens ]. I want my electrics and my auto box bullet proof when I do anything too serious. Apparently it drops the temperature too a bit which is good for longevity. The rest hopefully can be dealt with on the road. Synth are always expensive but as far as auto-boxes go Rodney is apparently a unicorn tamer and he recommends it to his customers - that's why i was looking to see if anybody had used it here.

 

[Chris]

Sure, and I really wasn't being sarcastic, it was a genuine question (OK apart from the Unicorn). There is a balance in many things where price and quality come into play. I was unsure if the massive price tag was really worth it in terms of benefit. But mostly questioning if that benefit was in terms of drive or longevity. As I only do about 5k per annum, if the benefit was that you only needed to change it at 100,000miles not 50,000 then I wouldn't bother. But if the benefit is far higher drive transfer, quicker changes and a better sex life then I'd get some.

You can buy a shotgun for £600 or one for £60,000 (you can, really!) but at the end of the day, it's a tube with a ten pence cartridge in it. Nothing you can do will deliver that shot any differently. So you are not paying for 'accuracy'. Same applies to some products in my view that ONLY deliver the benefits under particular circumstances. Formula one brake fluid. Great, but in a Hinda Civic? Why?

Unicorns are classed as vermin anyway.

Chris

 

[pugwash]

I don't know at what point you go from real world benefits to purely theoretical benefits but the ATF plays such an important role in the longevity of your gearbox that I see no point in skimping. I used a fuchs semi synthetic (decent enough make/quality) in my 80, bought in 20l tubs for similar price to yours Chris and it was always well used when it came back out ... remember it's not just lubricating like your engine oil does, it's actually transfering the engine power to the gearbox when the TC isn't locked.

use fuchs fully synth in the 80, but happen to get it for a very very good price from a friend that buys in bulk. Gets changed about every 30k miles as its cheaper than putting REALLY expensive stuff in!

as Jon says its really not being used as lubricant- its the sole method of transferring power. A gearbox cooler is the very best way of preotecting you rbox, and probably a better solution than using expensive fluid.

 

[Chris]

Have to say that having replaced my rad recently, I didn't think that there was much cooling potential for the ATF going through the bottom section. Maybe a cooler is the way to go.

C

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

My 80 had two coolers and an Extreme valve body but the ATF would come out dirty after 10k. Probably depends how you treat them but the Amsoil is well rated for high temperature work. Not knowing enough about oils to make an educated choice but knowing how hard it has to work I just went with Opie's recomendation for my truck. I spend so much money on other stuff for this truck it seems silly to shy away from spending £70 for an ATF change even if I do it anually which I probably will.

 

[ajnabi]

On to a similar subject ... any recommendations for the "Best Manual Transmission Fluid" for the H151F?

Again the Ausies think highly of Castrols VMX-M which I believe is a 75w-85.
However not been able to source this in the UK and even so.. not sure it's suited to our colder climate.

IQ

 

[Andrew Prince]

Has anybody had any experience with Transmax Z? Rodney at Wholesale Automatic Transmissions in Australia backs it as best for the 80 box according to LCOOL. It can lower running temperature a bit as well. Race Industrial Products in the UK sell it at 20lts @ £6.79 ppl (at this price it may be liquid gold except it's green

Simon, did you ever source some Transmax Z?
My ATF is due for a flush soon - I have some cheapish Fuchs ATF that I am going to use for the initial drain and fill but then would like to put in something a bit higher spec for the reasons that Jon outlines. Also Chris' current travails with his auto box has me thinking that a little bit of £££ as preventative maintenance might save a lot of bother down the road (not saying Chris' problems are related to ATF, just feeling his pain in fixing the gearbox)

So far, I've found Transmax Z here at a cost of around £180 for 20l delivered.This seller also has some other cheaper Castrol ATFs (about £80 for 20l delivered) but this stuff might not have the unicorn tears in

Any other suggestions for quality ATF to stick into an 80 autobox and where to buy it at sensible prices?

 

[SimonD]

Andrew - just the Race link I posted which looks a bit cheaper than yours. However the guy lost interest when I said I was just looking for the future and not ready to buy so I didn't follow up. The other synth one Rodney suggests is Allison Transynd which I haven't tried sourcing.

I also read on MUD that "any fully synthetic fluid from Amsoil, Redline, Mobil 1, Castrol, Allison.... that is Dexron III compatible (note than in some countries Castrol Transmax Z is not certified for Dexron III, but it is 100% compatible, confirmed by Castrol) will be fine".

 

[Andrew Prince]

The Transynd is also a Castrol/BP product - it's more expensive than the Transmax though. The place I mentioned also sells it.

Re the Mud advice - I am sure that most ATFs of the correct specs will be fine I want one that's close to being the best

I'll see if I can get any traction with the guys you mentioned.

Cheers,

 

[Andrew Prince]

So further digging has revealed that the Castrol Transmax Z and Amsoil fully synthetic ATF are much of a muchness in terms of specs (viscosity, flash point etc).

Our friends at Opie offer 20l of the Amsoil for £186 delivered with our club discount. This compares with the Transmax Z coming in at £181 incl. delivery (it appears Simon's figures excluded VAT). So nothing to choose between them on price.

So now it looks like I'm in the realm of wasting my timw debating which one to go for Oh, and one's green while the other is red

Anyone have any more views/ideas on this topic?

 

[Dave Docwra]

Hi Andrew, what you think of this one? http://www.revolutionoil.co.uk/lubrican ... ission.php its about 33% cheaper..

 

[Andrew Prince]

Quite hard to tell what the specs are of that one, Dave?
I have been using the ZF rating of oils and the ZF 14C rating is what the Castrol Transmax and Amsoil are, whereas this one looks like ZF 14B. 14C is a higher rating/longer service life than 14B. 14E is the longest/best but very few oils make this grade.

Basically I am looking for a synthetic oil with a high flash point as presumably it will be more tolerant of high temps and thus slower to breakdown.

Do you know if Revolution Oils have any detailed specs on the oil and where did you get the price from?

Cheers,

 

[Dave Docwra]

Give them a call on the phone number from their website, I spoke to them & they were very helpfull, I paid £98 + vat for 20ltrs from a company called Intertruck in St Albans.