EP90 GL5 = Feck

Eh up chaps. Right while I was reading through the posts I saw one on EP90 GL4/GL5. I rushed straight outside and checked my gearbox oil. You guessed it - EPX 90 GL5 . Now having done some more digging it seems to me that I have been slowly melting any copper bits in my transmision. So, to the question(s). Assuming that I am the first tit to use the wrong oil in my landie how much damage will have been done in the last year or so? It's done about 10k miles; the diffs have only been topped up very slightly, the G Box has had about a litre and a half over the same period; the T Box / overdrive about 250ml. I intend to just change the oil and motor on. Do you think that this is asking for trouble? What tell tale signs should I be looking for? And finally - who sells GL 4 EP 90 in the UK? Feck knows where I'm going to get it in Germany.

Cheers all

Oh, and I'm moving back to blighty this summer - I'm Warminster bound

Gollox! Just checked mine too. Bought it frum bluddy Keith Gott Land Rovers & it's bluddy GL 5. Feckers!

I've only just started using it cuz it's as cheap as chips frum there. Just checked the Halfrauds stuff I've maninly been using up until now & it's GL4, but bluddy expensive.

So just how bad is GL 5 then?

Ashoofack said:

Oh, and I'm moving back to blighty this summer - I'm Warminster bound

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Warminster? Not a million miles away. You'll have to come out laning with us on Salisbury Plain when yer back chap.

farmers shops anywhere in the world should have a good stock of it as them pretend traccta famers use are full of the stuff. its only the g/box and t/box you need to worry abot as the diffs dint got any phourspor bronze ( not copper)in them. if anyone gets real desperate, and i mean real desperate, i can always send you some.

Apparently API GL5 MT1 is ok to use - but ornery GL5 isn't. Spoke to myt local stealers and another stealer in Hants - neither were very much use. Spoke to Land Rover direct - they can't comment as they don't have data available for anything over 10 years old, finally spoke to Exxon/Mobil who clarified it.

Shades of the DOT 4, 5 and 5.1 brake fluid confusion here methinks

Marcus - the stuff from Keith Gotts isn't MT1 - looks like there'll be some transfer and gearbox oil changing going on this week in Basingstoke then

(Shades of the DOT 4, 5 and 5.1 brake fluid confusion here methinks )

not really, gl5 has too high an acid level and it eats away at the brass and bronze components of earlier g/boxes, and its not just landy ones. any box before abart the mid 80's ish will probelly not take to kindly to getting gl5 bunged in it.
diffs are ok, cos unless they where the cold temp ones fitted for artic use, they dunt got none of the edible metals in them.

if a vehicles was destined fer cold clims landrover put special diffs in which had metals that didn't contract with the cold as much as steel does. so you can't put gl5 in them either.

if a grade of gl5 has been made which deals wiff this issuethat will help solve a lot of the supply problem, as gl4 in damm near extinct

I went out to a local car parts place today that had about 5 different makes of EP90. I managed to find one that had the spec down as API GL5 / GL4 (and then some other letters I can't remember - maybe MT1 as mentioned, but not sure) does anyone reckon this would be OK, or should I try and source a plain and simple GL4 spec? all the rest were spec'd as just GL5.

Matt

being in france you shouldn't have a problem finding gl4, just go to yer nearest 'haut bois' they should have it in family sized tins

although i think its only series g/boxes you need worry about. or possibly early defenders. am pretty sure the later models will be ok with gl5...having no experience of the later ones i can't say for sure as to the suitability of gl5 in them

Like Slob says it'll eat yer phospher bronze bushes, particularly the older boxes.


Regards, WP.

OK I've done a bit of digging at work today and found the blurb below. What's clear is that GL5 does stuff any box that contains any copper/copper alloy. So I can almost hear my phosphor bronze bearings melting

I was looking at a Triumph site and they all have the same problem. However, they seem to think that many VW's had copper in their boxes until the early/mid nineties. I'm going to try the local VW dealership/garage and see if they can help. Failing that I've got another couple of options then I'll be asking Slob for help (God help me )

Lubricating Oil, Extreme Pressure,

SECTION 1 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

1 SCOPE

1.1 This standard specifies requirements for two grades of lubricating oil, gear, extreme

pressure, of API GL-5 quality minimum, for use in the lubrication of hypoid gear units, heavy

industrial type enclosed gears, certain steering gear units and fluid lubricated universal joints

of automotive equipment, operating over the ambient temperature range as follows:

OEP-38: minus 40 0C to 0 0C

OEP-220: not lower than minus 15 0C

1.2 There are certain applications where OEP-38 may be required for all ambient

temperatures. Details of such use may be obtained from the Technical Authority.

1.3 These oils may not be suitable for use in systems containing bronze or other copper

alloys.

1.4 If the bulk oil temperature exceeds 130 0C there is a risk that some decomposition of EP

additives may occur.

I should add that this is cut from a weighty tome and I have just pasted the pertinient bit.

ive got both GL5 and GL4. GL4 i got straight from a motor factors down the road from me and the GL5 i got from an agricultural merchants place. now are you telling me i should only be using GL4 in my transfer box? or do you series boys use it in your main box too? ive got a 1984 90 2.5 n/a. i havent used the GL5 yet as i aint used up the 4. should i bin the tub of 5 as you lot are scaring me!

G

Yup just sell it or skip it

will it damage me diffs or swivel pins?

Fekin arse. Changin gear & trannie oils at the w/end then! Feck feck fekin feck!

Still, bastard well worth knowing. Jest fort EP90 wuz EP90 & all those other letters & stuff wuz jest fer siontists an' that.

Ohhh pooo!

Griffdowg said:

will it damage me diffs or swivel pins?

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No fosfur bronds in 'em, so should be fine.

so you only have to worry if you put GL5 in your trany or main box? i thought the same as you marcus and just went out and bought EP90! some of the bottles dont even have a GL on the front, you have to hunt around on the back of the bottle for it.

havent got my haynes handy, but does it state GL4 only in there?

G

Haynes Say's "Hypoid gear oil (SAE 90 EP)"

Not much use, as usual then!

Haynes won't mention GL5 as it's the most recent iteration of the stuff. Its other properties remain the same it. Having been a bit of a spotter today it seems that most EP oils are designed to react with the chemically react with the metals in the Box. GL5 has a slightly different make up more suited to modern boxes. The down side is that it reacts too much with copper (and its alloys) causing corrosion.

So how many old gearboxes do we think have failed prematurely just because the owner did the right thing and kept it brimmed with EP90?