Quote:
Originally Posted by Frodo
Looking at this again, I should re-word: Not what "you, JFP, have had customers drain out other transmission oils to put in?"
What I meant to say is what "you JFP, at the request of your customers, have drained out of transmissions to put in?" I'm pretty sure you weren't holding a gun to their heads..  |
Some time we needed to just about strangle customers who insisted that "they read on the internet" this or that oil was perfect for their cars, and then they had noise, hard shifting (particularly when cold), etc. And when we told them it was the oil they used, they insisted we were wrong. By far, the most common gear oils we drained out and replaced with the factory fill (and solved their problems) were Royal Purple, Red Line, and Amsoil.
Years ago, we wrote to all of the major gear oil suppliers looking for an exact match to the OEM oil, and were totally dismayed by their responses, particularly for the five speed products. The "big boys" all told us that the factory fill was a unique product that was only available through Porsche, while the smaller compounders said they had perfect matches. Unfortunately, the "perfect matches" were the products we were draining out of customer's cars and replacing with the OEM fluids.
Sometimes you just have to swallow hard and accept the obvious; there are some unique lubricants out there, and if they are speced for your car, you have to live with it. Currently, we are seeing similar issues with the newer CVT transmissions common in many cars; these things use an unusual ATF that is formulated around the transmission, and sell for $14-18 per quart, and are often only found at the dealers. People that cheap out and use "exact match" aftermarket fluids find themselves with an out of warranty CVT that no longer works at all, and cannot be rebuilt in the field. Nissan, for example, sells replacement units at $2800.00 (shop cost), plus an $800 core charge. So much for saving a few bucks on transmission oil...................