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Looking to change gearbox oil

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2.5K views 12 replies 10 participants last post by  benckj  
#1 ·
Hi I want to change my gearbox oil and have looked at Castrol syntrans multivehicle 75w90 GL4
Will this be ok to use in a 225
 
#3 ·
I always use Genuine oils, and did so when I did Haldex, rear diff and gearbox last Spring .
This is the correct oil for the 6 speed box in the 225....IIRC the official capacity (inc transfer box ) is 2.6L.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-GENUINE- ... SwE8dfrTEp

Sure it's more expensive than the Castrol (which I'm sure is good stuff) but at least you know it'll be 100% correct.
 
#6 ·
It doesn't have to be OE oil, VAG don't make oil they get other people to do it. Castrol , Fuchs, Shell etc are OE suppliers and as long as the spec is correct it will work fine. I see no point in spending twice as much money to get essentially the same thing. I changed the gearbox oil in my 500bhp TT when I changed the gearbox a few months ago, used Castrol syntrans 75w/90 have also used Fuchs Titan Race syn 5 ,
https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 9#p8512369
VAG don't specify a change interval as they are filled for life. But a change is definitely worth doing so whatever you put in is likely to be a lot better than what is in there.
 
#7 ·
I remember on another forum reading about someone who filled their Mk4 Golf with correct-spec but non-Genuine gearbox oil and the car then suffered a dreadful gear change when cold .
Swapped back to Genuine oil and the problem went away .
Whilst Genuine oil will always be more expensive and yes is probably Castrol or Fuchs or Shell etc in the bottle (although I think I've read it's Fuchs ) at least that way there is no doubt you've got the good stuff in there .
 
#8 ·
Psychological... there was an issue with using gl-5 in the gearbox instead of gl-4 , so maybe the golf iv issue was putting in gl-4 / gl-5 compatible oil instead of solely gl-4 only.

I changed my gear oil to get rid of a noise, and it didn't make it better, so I put the correct pressure in the rear tyres and the problem was solved.
 
#9 ·
I bought my wonderful Canadian 225 BAM TT over 2 years ago and it is my daily driver. When I bought it on beautiful Vancouver Island and drove it to my Alberta home, I found that the the shifting was not very smooth and felt notchy?? I had driven a 5 speed MK4 Golf for 5 years prior and it shifted awesome. I found many posts in the R32 forums that claimed that the only oil to use in the 6 speed VAG transmission was OEM VAG oil. I was very skeptical about the oil difference, but I bit the VERY expensive bullet and bought the G 052 171 A2 oil for the 6 speed and the G 052 145 S2 oil for the rear diff. I couldn't believe the difference!! The transmission now shifts silky smooth and the car is even more of a pleasure to drive! I have no idea what oil was in the tranny when I drained it? So maybe it was the totally wrong oil??
 
#10 ·
Quite possibly it still had the original oil in it, doesn't last forever, when I have changed gear oil the original stuff that comes out is fairly disgusting and smelly.
This is my TT with Fuchs titan race syn 5 , shifts just fine around this sprint course, lots of high speed gear changes.
I ran Castrol syntrans in my Passat 130 TDI That was slightly modified made 210bhp .
Did some more oil investigation when I changed the gearbox oil in my A4 3.0 TDI daily. Went for the OE oil in that. It was an expensive car for me at the time and I intended to keep it for many years so decided to splurge.
https://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/k ... st-2301066
For the DSG gearbox I am putting into the TT I have gone for Febi DSG oil.
 
#11 ·
silverbug said:
I remember on another forum reading about someone who filled their Mk4 Golf with correct-spec but non-Genuine gearbox oil and the car then suffered a dreadful gear change when cold .
Swapped back to Genuine oil and the problem went away .
Whilst Genuine oil will always be more expensive and yes is probably Castrol or Fuchs or Shell etc in the bottle (although I think I've read it's Fuchs ) at least that way there is no doubt you've got the good stuff in there .
I did the same in a Golf gt tdi six speed bought the correct oil but not from Volkswagen TPS to save a bit of cash. terrible cold shift. I am about to replace the oil in my TT after gearbox repair and this time round will only consider buying from TPS.
what ever is in the VW/Audi oil makes a difference when cold.
 
#13 ·
Going against the trend here.

Oil technology has evolved significantly in the past 10 years. I'd do some research on what the latest and greatest fluid is to run as often it will be much better than the factory offered 20 years ago. Redline makes awesome products as does Penrite. While I'm using a DSG box I've used Penrite products for all my fluids including trans, transfer box and diffs without any problems at all. In fact I've found them better than the OEM and 1/3 the price!

In my turbo MR2 Redline Light Weight Shockproof transformed the vehicle manual transmission and eliminated any notchy shifts on track & road. Been using for 8 years now without any issues at all.