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There are people who write thesises (thesi?) about oil. There are even whole magazines and websites dedicated to the details of oil. Man, you'd really have to love the stuff!
If you have engine oil in there now, I'd stick with that. Maybe a 10W-40 or a generic 10W-30 (without friction modifiers) or a desil oil (I'm not sure if those have other additives). I think I saw that generic 10W-30 Master Mechanic (True Valu Hardware store generic brand) has no friction modifiers. When SAAB started specifying motor oil for trannies (with the introduction of the chain driven primaries - the gear driven primaries require gear oil becuase of the style of gears used for the primaries) there were no friction modifiers in motor oil, so it made sense to specify either 10W-30 or 10W-40.
The fact about gear oil creating a film on the surfaces is not true about motor oil. You can put gear oil in a box that had motor oil in it, but you can never switch back to motor oil again once you've put gear oil into it. Redline tells me that MTL is compatible with both gear oil and motor oil... I don't often read the other SAABnet boards, but I know some of the C900 guys were having good luck with Honda MTL. Oh the choices! I know that you also have to keep in mind that you don't want to use a fluid that will have additives that won't be good for metals other than steel or aluminum. Some additives will eat away at brass, copper, and bronze (some of which are used in trannies in parts such as the synchros and the shift forks).
I've used MTL in a few different gearboxes and I've never been that impressed. I think the stuff is probably too thin. They used to make a thicker weight, but I think that stopped now. I may start experimenting with other lubes again soon (right now I'm back to 10W-40 motor oil). I'm thinking about trying Honda MTL or maybe something from Amsoil. It seems tough now days to find a fluid that isn't slippery enough to slip the synchros, but has the good performance of a synthetic.
posted by 68.112.254...
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