parchwba · Sep 23, 2015

I have changed my gearbox oil on my Disco (R380 gearbox), and replaced the ATF with MTF94, as recommended by Ashcroft Transmissons.

The box now seems to be getting very winey and is getting louder every day. Gear change is still good. If I put the clutch in the noise stops. It’s hard to tell but I think it’s the same noise in all gears including neutral.

Before the oil change we never noticed any noise from the gearbox.

I have double checked the oil level which seeps out when I take off the filler plug (have I put in too much oil?).

There was about a thimble amount of swarf on the drainage plug when I emptied the oil.

What could be causing the noise and why is it getting louder?
Should I drain it and put some ATF in it instead?

digby · Sep 23, 2015

so its a manual box - in that case ATF will surely kill it ?????

could be that the old oil was so thick and grotty that it prevented the noise ??????????

GRATCH · Sep 23, 2015

Have you drained and filled the gearbox or the transfer box?

parchwba · Sep 23, 2015

Did Both.

parchwba · Sep 23, 2015

Have been in touch with Ashcroft Transmissions.
They're not sure why it's happened but have suggested I buy a particular brand of ATF oil.
Will buy and replace. see what happens.

haigy · Sep 23, 2015

Ive been replacing manual gearbox oils with atf for years and never had an issue on any make of car.

sierrafery · Sep 23, 2015

IMO if the R380 makes tricks with MTF94 which is the best for it something is wrong there

jamesmartin · Sep 23, 2015

digby said:
so its a manual box - in that case ATF will surely kill it ?????

could be that the old oil was so thick and grotty that it prevented the noise ??????????

why would that be, atf was oil of choice until mtf came along

jamesmartin · Sep 23, 2015

parchwba said:
Have been in touch with Ashcroft Transmissions.
They're not sure why it's happened but have suggested I buy a particular brand of ATF oil.
Will buy and replace. see what happens.

if you need a particular brand then box has an issue ,bearings and gears will run on nearly any oil ,baulk rings wont though ,how much oil did you put in

Saltlick · Sep 23, 2015

parchwba said:
Have been in touch with Ashcroft Transmissions.
They're not sure why it's happened but have suggested I buy a particular brand of ATF oil.
Will buy and replace. see what happens.

Is that oil from them by chance?! Redline or something else nice and expensive?

tuskar · Sep 23, 2015

Go back to ATF

parchwba · Sep 24, 2015

Well, putting some "Triple QX ATF Plus" (as recommended by Ashcroft)in tonight. Sounds impressive!

However, noise isn't as bad today. Gears are all still fine. Almost tempted to keep the "Triple QX ATF Plus " until the next oil change.

sierrafery · Sep 24, 2015

IMO the reduced noise is cos that ATF is thicker than the MTF94, that doesnt mean that the gearbox is ok as long as it's noisy with the best oil for it... i made several tests with my well working R380 with few so called ''alternatives'' cos i couldnt find MTF94 locally and the best gear change ever was with the MTF94 so i'm convinced that it's the best oil for it(recommended by the builder as well)... i'm ordering it from UK(the genuine one) rather than put other oil in my gearbox.... it's on 170K miles and still going strong

Thor1950 · Sep 24, 2015

sierrafery said:
IMO the reduced noise is cos that ATF is thicker than the MTF94, that doesnt mean that the gearbox is ok as long as it's noisy with the best oil for it... i made several tests with my well working R380 with few so called ''alternatives'' cos i couldnt find MTF94 locally and the best gear change ever was with the MTF94 so i'm convinced that it's the best oil for it(recommended by the builder as well)... i'm ordering it from UK(the genuine one) rather than put other oil in my gearbox.... it's on 170K miles and still going strong

aft is like 10w hydraulic oil in viscosity

haigy · Sep 24, 2015

My mate races cars and we always put atf in them gearboxes and they get more abuse than offroafing and all my offroaders have had atf in with no problems we use fuchs oils on account so its free to me. Atf is fine as it is dexron 2 and mtf94 is dexron 2

Thor1950 · Sep 24, 2015

haigy said:
My mate races cars and we always put atf in them gearboxes and they get more abuse than offroafing and all my offroaders have had atf in with no problems we use fuchs oils on account so its free to me. Atf is fine as it is dexron 2 and mtf94 is dexron 2

They put the M in MTF as it confused people as to why are you putting ATF in my manual transmission. The have been using ATF since the late 70's in manual transmissions

haigy · Sep 24, 2015

And its cheaper

Discokids · Sep 24, 2015

You did both? What did you put in the transfer box?

jamesmartin · Sep 24, 2015

sierrafery said:
IMO the reduced noise is cos that ATF is thicker than the MTF94, that doesnt mean that the gearbox is ok as long as it's noisy with the best oil for it... i made several tests with my well working R380 with few so called ''alternatives'' cos i couldnt find MTF94 locally and the best gear change ever was with the MTF94 so i'm convinced that it's the best oil for it(recommended by the builder as well)... i'm ordering it from UK(the genuine one) rather than put other oil in my gearbox.... it's on 170K miles and still going strong

is mtf thinner ? i thought atf was if any difference, thickness doesnt matter ,they use thin oil to reduce drag and aid cooling, r380 has a baulk ring issue,which if anything is why they changed the oil, lt77s ran very well on atf but had a better design of baulk ring for lengthethity

sierrafery · Sep 24, 2015

i did serious research on this comparing multiple data sheets of ATFs and MTF94 and there are differencies, maybe for some boxes few units of difference in viscosity, density or viscosity index doesnt matter but imo for the R380 is important, i know what i have experienced with different ALMOST SIMILAR oils in my perfectly working box when i hardly selected low gears on cold start when outside was below 0*C and drained out the box 3 times a month to put MTF94 in it so nobody can convince me the opposite

btw.. i didnt know they made race cars with R380 gearbox, Jamesmartin just explained about a baulk ring issue of the R380( and if somebody knows about gearboxes he does)..... i thought that's what's here about not about other more robust gearboxes or race cars.

back to the main issue in this thread: a problemless R380 doesnt have to be noisy with MTF94 whatsoever... that's a fact

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