Getrag gear oil (hopefully the final thread on it)

[haste]

i went with "XT M5 QS" on my cellphone. one guy recognized it, the other didnt.

i saw them type it into their system as "XT.M5.QS" and it came up right away.

i can take a pic of the bottle if you like...

[Basselisk]

well the guy here tells me its the only one they have, they have another type of tranny fluid but this one costs 45$ a quart, with this number: 1045737

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Multi-vehi...-/190679886573

that stuff...

they cant find xt.m5.qs either...

[haste]

hope this helps...

[Basselisk]

yeh they dont have that one available... I guess Im screwed? lol

[Lscman]

Originally Posted by 1turbofocus

Add me to the list of 5 guys in the US that build the Getrag SVT Trans , I have a SVT Getrag making over 300HP to the wheels with Mobile 50 wt oil and has seen over 10,000 miles or hard road track use ( mostly VIR) over 500 1/4 mile passes , 100 1/8 mile passes runs a 1/4 in 12.99 @ 111 mph and tens of thousands of miles on the road as a daily driver , I have over 200 SVT customers running this same oil 100% issue free and most of them boosted where the SVT Getrag is exceeding its load limits set by Getrag over 300TQ at the wheels , I build mostly daily drivers not race cars and I do not work for a race team , I own my own engine shop , trans business , tuning and dyno business as well as fabrication

the claimed "wrong fluids" at your # they should be 150+ out of the 200+ I have done that should of gone bad and none have , kinda throws a wrench into your scare tactics , a MTX-75 with over 150,000 miles turbocharged track / DD car with Mobile engine oil 50wt Syn , 3 clutches but never any trans issues ,

This many Foci with "the wrong fluids" and no issues has to say something at least to the point they dont brake if you dont use the Ford fluids

Tom

Gee Tom, you've seen 10K miles without trouble?? That's is a real impressive testimonial!! How about an 80's vintage Mustang with 300K miles, weekend warrior Whipplecharger motor with 450HP and no tranny trouble? It took half a decade for Toyota Supra Getrags to fail and similar for Mustang T5. Most of these cars saw 50K to 100K mi before trannys jambed and synchros failed. The serious compatibility issues were limited to certain fluids, not all alternative fluids.

Please read my posts more closely. I was discouraging arbitrary substitution of fluids based upon some anonymous website recommendation from some french guy or whomever who said to use something because it improves shift quality. Depending upon wear clearances, shift quality may also improve with Aunt Jemima Maple Syrup or Kerosene because higher friction improves synchro cone clutch engagement.

I absolutely never said synthetic 50W motor oil or GL4 lube would cause a Focus transmission to fail. I frankly doubt it, but Illl still put my money on application-specific lubricants specified by Ford and Getrag. I was most concerned about folks trying 75W-90 GL5 hypoid crap. The 50WT do not contain corrosive GL5 hypoid additives, so it's a far lower risk substitute. I have run synthetic motor oil and automatic transmission fluids in various ZF and Getrags without issues. I have frankly run motor oil in more trannys than special gear lube, but those applications called for motor oil in the tranny. Many modern manual transmissions specify motor oil including my Vette. Again, virtually NO modern transmissions specify GL5 lube because it is not compatible with modern synchros. It is generally not smart to experiment because this has PROVEN over and over to be UNNECESSARILY risky. There is nothing wrong with the lubricant that Getrag and Ford both strongly recommend for the Focus. To pick some unapproved lube with differnt properties makes no sense. Maybe I'm a little more concerned than you because I own a BMW with a Getrag transmission that is worth a little more than yours lol. List is over $6K.

[Magus2727]

Go with Mobil 1 15W-50 then. If you can't get the right ford stuff then get the next or equal thing... you may be able to find the Royal Purple stuff... or even use AmsOil to locate a local dealer that may have some Amsoil solutions.

[1turbofocus]

So now Mobile 1 Syn engine oil is ok guys , seems we took a 180 here you stated a lot of things that this last post says things a little diff

I think 10,000 race miles at 2 times the engines HP/TQ stock engine and trans is a good testimonial for using Mobile 1 engine oil

This isnt about Mustangs , Toyotas , BMW this is about the Focus Trans and what can safely be used in it

I am glad we got that over and done with

Tom

[Chris_HT]

Originally Posted by Lscman

Gee Tom, you've seen 10K miles without trouble??

If you would put at least half-ass effort to read with understanding you'd know he didn't say just 10k, but much much more.

It took half a decade for Toyota Supra Getrags to fail

decade is 10 years, half-decade would be... 5 years.

Please read my posts more closely.

Would you do that first?


...and now, I have no idea if Tom is right, but don't make your arguments fade by showing ignorance.

I own a BMW with a Getrag transmission that is worth a little more than yours lol. List is over $6K.

do you know what was the last available Getrag 285 list price?

[Lscman]

Originally Posted by 1turbofocus

So now Mobile 1 Syn engine oil is ok guys , seems we took a 180 here you stated a lot of things that this last post says things a little diff

I think 10,000 race miles at 2 times the engines HP/TQ stock engine and trans is a good testimonial for using Mobile 1 engine oil

This isnt about Mustangs , Toyotas , BMW this is about the Focus Trans and what can safely be used in it

I am glad we got that over and done with

Tom

To be clear, I never took a 180 saying Mobil 1 syn is OK for a Focus Getrag. You are stating conclusions I didn't make. I simply think motor oil would "likely not harm the transmission in short order", as I feel a GL5 hypoid fluid would. My feeling is the Mobil 1 Syn motor oil would be inferior to the specified fluid, but I can't quantify whether lifecycle would suffer much or not. Nobody can judge the appropriateness of Mobil 1 syn motor oil without doing costly lifecycle testing as all OEM's do. Nobody here can guess whether certain components in the tranny will be starved for lubricant or wear at a rate quicker than normal because the lubricity characteristics differ. A Getrag Engineer probably wouldn't make a baseless declaration about what non-approved fluids would be OK or not, so how could I? Some people know everything, I don't. The older I get, the more I realize I have a lot to learn. In most cases I stick with OEM recommendations where no other approved, alternative fluids exist or in cases where I have little or no reliable evidence to choose another product. I've been repairing trannys as a hobby for almost 4 decades and worked for a major petroleum R&D facility as a lab engineer doing lubricant testing for a few years. However I don't know more than the OEM Engineers and I see no reason to pretend I do. The tranny design is generally optimized for a particular fluid, so changing it's characteristics is generally risky. Getrag Engineering has formally come out more than once and decleared that owners should NOT be trying non-approved lubricants because they can cause harm or shorten lifecycle. The tweaks I make to trannys to correct minor design deficiencies and make them last longer (based upon my experience with root cause teardown repairs) are not on the order of designing one lol. It's like comparing the inventor Thomas Edison to somebody who knows how to screw a light bulb into a socket. I'm the idiot in this comparison.

Tom, there were hundreds of "experts" on the Mustang, Toyota and BMW forums testifying about the benefits and wonderfulness of alternative lubricants. This list included transmission rebuilders, race teams, prominent transmission rebuild shops and lots of pyramid scheme lubricant marketeers with hype stories. All these folks got egg on their face when trannys failed, but the innocent, easily-influenced members of the forums were the one's who really got screwed. You have nothing over these supposed lubrication experts when it comes to specifying non-approved fluids for the Ford Focus Getrag, aside from the fact that a disturbing failure trend hasn't come to light yet. These trends are hard to identify. Ford, BMW and Toyota Engineers all spoke out against the use of non-approved lubricants in their transmissions. This included Ford SVO and SVT Engineers who I personally know. Last I checked, Focus is a Ford. It's not reasonable to assume that problems associated with non-approved fluids are limited to the Mustang because this sad saga has happened over and over. At some point, there's a lesson to be learned.

[ronrutmr2]

2001 ZX3, 138,000 miles, still has original fluid....

Ron