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Here's the Townsend transmission observations... Posted by IrieTom [Email]  (#1032)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from IrieTom) on Wed, 21 Feb 2001 15:37:11
In Reply to: Kevin K, Please read post from me about tranny (fears) n/m., Terry Meitz, Wed, 21 Feb 2001 11:25:39 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
I just posted this in the thread immediately below, but this might attract more attention-
TRANSMISSION OIL (Manual transmission)
A sticky subject among Saab enthusiasts, we will relate our opinions/findings formed from working on the cars for over 20 years
and tearing down and repairing hundreds of the gearboxes. The shop keeps a database of failure rates formed by looking at
EVERY invoice ever written in the shop. We can ask it to find how many pinion bearings have failed over the years and at what
mileage they failed. From there we can look at individual service records and find what lubricant the transmission was using. From
that database, we have the following averages.
Factory recommended 10w30 mineral oil ( dino juice) 150000 miles
Common GL 4-5 Gear Lubes 90000 miles
Synthetic Gear Lube (75W) 110000 miles
Mobil 1 Synthetic Engine Oil (10w30) (15w50) 200000+ miles ( very few failures during the years it was used in the shop,
Not enough to establish a mileage and then we stopped using it in favor of Amsoil)
Amsoil Series 2000 Racing Oil 20w50 225000+ miles ( My own car may be the only one with failure that got the oil put in
under 90000 miles in our shop and driver habits probably had a lot to do with that as well) No true failure rate established because
the cars with it haven't failed and this is the average mileage they have on them now.
Any oil after gear lube was introduced into the gear box and drained with an oil replacement 5000 miles
RedLine MTL no established averages, as we have really only seen a few cars using it. We do not use it. Only ever rebuilt
ONE gearbox that had documented use of it for a long interval. That transmission was rebuilt in the shop after it failed at 130000
miles and although the gears looked pristine, the bearings, the parts that usually fail and cause the transmissions to be
replaced/rebuilt, showed extreme wear, not only on the common pinion bearing, but on EVERY bearing and race in the
transmission. The results from that transmission make us wonder if MTL is as good as it is reported to be. But again, we must
stress that our sample to base this conclusion from is from ONE car and many other factors could definitely have caused the
things we saw in that box. We are not meaning to demean MTL, but just state that there are other considerations in the lubricant
we choose to use and stand behind in our shop besides shift quality.
Saab Factory Synthetic Gear Oil Part Number 8748733 No established failure rate as we have had no failures with it since it
came out. Currently we only use it in cars still covered under the factory drivetrain warranty. We would almost swear it is MTL in
a Saab bottle, same color, same viscosity, and same distinctive smell. As soon as these cars exceed the warranty period, we
change them to Amsoil at their next scheduled service.
The oil should be at the maximum line on the dipstick. 900s up to the introduction of the 94 (NG) model have the dipstick on the
right side of the car, coming out of the transmission side cover. later years. before the NG have a 19 MM plug on this side cover
which has a dipstick attached to it. 86-87 9000s have a 19 MM plug in the side of the transmission near the firewall, near the
speedometer drive that you remove and a special oil dipstick with a notch to rest on the case and special marks to check the
tranny oil. 88-93 9000s have a dipstick in the front side of the transmission, either as an actual dipstick or as a 19 MM plug. 94-
9000s and NG ( 94-) 900s have three 8 MM Allen plugs in them, one at the bottom left side facing the left wheel for a drain, one
in the same area, just higher at the left axle to check the level, and one on the top, under the battery to fill the gearbox. On these.
you remove the upper side plug and fill from the top plug until the oil just runs out the side plug hole. Make sure the car is level,
and that a pan is under the car before removing the side plug. On all cars, check the level with the car not running and after sitting
a few minutes. The oils should be transparent and you should see no suspended metal particles. Since the transmission does not
see the contaminates that engine oils do, we change them more to insure there are no metal particles circulating than because the
oil breaks down. We do this every major service interval. Contrary to published literature, we see longer life from the gearboxes
by doing this than more failures from "flushing off" contaminates during the changes. Any 900 prior to 94 that has no drain plug for
the transmission ( either a 3/8 square drive or 12 MM Allen in the tranny case at the differential) also has a filter in the differential
cover. We change this filter and the fluid by removing the differential cover. We don't change the filter every major service, but
every 60000 miles as usually the filter doesn't clog up. It has a magnet behind it as well that should be cleaned.
We use these methods and products with one goal in mind, maximum life and acceptable shift quality. They have proven to us and
our customers that they do indeed work.
, Wed, 21 Feb 2001 15:37:11 <-- Viewing This Message, Wed, 21 Feb 2001 12:46:08, Thu, 22 Feb 2001 10:01:38
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