Hypoid 80/90 gear oil

cbrr3 · Jul 12, 2010

I have searched and read the many threads regarding diff oil and I'm somewhat confused what I should/should not use in the diffs on my 300Tdi manual Disco:croc:

EP90 seems to be the prefered oil but I can only find this in Halfrauds at silly money and other auto factors at similar prices, all under the Castrol banner.

Can I use Hypoid 80/90 gear oil in the diffs?

Cheers all
Rob

discool · Jul 12, 2010

Yes use a multigrade 80w90 GL5

mrnice · Jul 12, 2010

Smith & Allan EP 80w/90 Gear Oil API GL5 5 ltr on eBay (end time 18-Jul-10 18:00:45 BST) ?

And by the way you put 1.7L in each diff

p76rangie · Jul 12, 2010

It depends on what you do with your car. Normal use around town 80w/90 is OK, but if you do a lot of hard work like towing, you should use 85/140

discool · Jul 13, 2010

p76rangie said:
It depends on what you do with your car. Normal use around town 80w/90 is OK, but if you do a lot of hard work like towing, you should use 85/140

Not according to the disco owners handbook. So where did you get this information from?

p76rangie · Jul 13, 2010

discool said:
Not according to the disco owners handbook. So where did you get this information from?

From a couple of cooked diffs, also from one of the top Land Rover mechanics in this country, and finally from the oil manufacturer.

thebiglad · Jul 13, 2010

p76rangie said:
From a couple of cooked diffs, also from one of the top Land Rover mechanics in this country, and finally from the oil manufacturer.

I agree, 85-140 is still a GL5 oil but intended for intensive use. Can be used in diffs and trans box.

p76rangie · Jul 13, 2010

thebiglad said:
I agree, 85-140 is still a GL5 oil but intended for intensive use. Can be used in diffs and trans box.

I do not use it in the transfer case, I use gearbox oil (90) in there, as diff oil is not friendly to yellow metals (even if the oil company says it is).

eightinavee · Jul 13, 2010

p76rangie said:
It depends on what you do with your car. Normal use around town 80w/90 is OK, but if you do a lot of hard work like towing, you should use 85/140

Might be OK in OZ,but in Blightly you would need a second engine to cope with the drag - 80/90 is fine.

p76rangie · Jul 13, 2010

eightinavee said:
Might be OK in OZ,but in Blightly you would need a second engine to cope with the drag

Your joking......... aren't you?
How hot do you think it is here, I cooked the diffs in snow and mud.
It is 85/140, so it is actually thinner when cold than 90 oil

eightinavee · Jul 13, 2010

No,not joking - maybe you ought to have more mechanical sympathy.In 25 odd years of using LR's,and running a LR garage I have never needed to use anything thicker than 80/90 and I've never seen any of the 50 or 60 other garages I've worked for use any thicker either.

p76rangie · Jul 13, 2010

eightinavee said:
No,not joking - maybe you ought to have more mechanical sympathy.In 25 odd years of using LR's,and running a LR garage I have never needed to use anything thicker than 80/90 and I've never seen any of the 50 or 60 other garages I've worked for use any thicker either.

We both make comments based on our own experiences.
I mainly mix with people who do a lot of offroading and they all use 85/140.
But what I said originally is that for normal use 90 is fine. But if your diff oil is getting black, it is getting too hot and you should be using 85/140. If your diff oil is staying in good condition, then 90 or whatever you are using is most likely OK for you. 85/140 simply holds its viscosity better when things get hot in the diff. It has the same viscosity when things are cold as 90.

Mr Noisy · Jul 13, 2010

I have recently been suffering from black soup diff oil,

however, i put this down to water/mud ingress, as the level had also risen in the axles.

i have now stripped down both axles, and washed out all parts and rebuilt.

after a long weekend away drive down the motorway and back, i come to remove my diff again last night and the oil is opaque medium brown colour, i thought pretty good really (considering what it used to be like!)

so i can assume my old seals were letting ****e in.

but, after brand new oil is put into a clean axle, should it have gone darker after 300 miles on the motorway?

i use ep90 gl4 btw.

interested in this "offroad spec" 85/140 oil, do the diffs really get that hot when off road???

discuss!

p76rangie · Jul 13, 2010

Mr Noisy said:
I have recently been suffering from black soup diff oil,

however, i put this down to water/mud ingress, as the level had also risen in the axles.

i have now stripped down both axles, and washed out all parts and rebuilt.

after a long weekend away drive down the motorway and back, i come to remove my diff again last night and the oil is opaque medium brown colour, i thought pretty good really (considering what it used to be like!)

so i can assume my old seals were letting ****e in.

but, after brand new oil is put into a clean axle, should it have gone darker after 300 miles on the motorway?

i use ep90 gl4 btw.

interested in this "offroad spec" 85/140 oil, do the diffs really get that hot when off road???

discuss!

Water makes the oil go a grey colour, not black.
So if it was the colour of old engine oil, it was probably getting too hot.
Like an engine, if you do not service the oil often enough or it overheats, you get a gunk build up inside the diff. So fresh oil may discolour as it washes off the old gunk.
Diffs can get very hot off-road or towing heavy loads. So if you tow something like a caravan or do a bit of wheel spinning off-road, I would at least keep an eye on the condition of the oil. If it is getting too hot and going black, look at going to 85/140.

The Mad Hat Man · Jul 13, 2010

p76rangie said:
So if it was the colour of old engine oil, it was probably getting too hot.

Please explain

So you are saying old engine goes black because it gets too hot?
So Engine oil manufacturers dont realise the temperature that engine oils need to run at?
You dont think it might have something to do with dirt and metallic contamination?

p76rangie · Jul 13, 2010

The Mad Hat Man said:
Please explain
So you are saying old engine goes black because it gets too hot?
So Engine oil manufacturers dont realise the temperature that engine oils need to run at?
You dont think it might have something to do with dirt and metallic contamination?

I did not say that.
I was using it as a comparable look and colour.
It is like I will refer to good auto fluid as looking like red cordial and old oil looking like red wine, but I do not suggest that you drink the stuff.

Mr Noisy · Jul 15, 2010

Thanks for the advice guys.

Frankly I'm not sure, as I say, I definitely had water and mud inside the axle last time I came back from a day, but now it's fully overhauled perhaps I will see results.

I'll try another day with ep90 and see what happens, then give the thicker oil a shout.

I will also try to monitor the diff temps!!

Cheers, sam

Hypoid 80/90 gear oil

cbrr3

New Member

discool

Well-Known Member

mrnice

Loading.....

p76rangie

Banned

discool

Well-Known Member

p76rangie

Banned

thebiglad

Well-Known Member

p76rangie

Banned

eightinavee

Well-Known Member

p76rangie

Banned

eightinavee

Well-Known Member

p76rangie

Banned

Mr Noisy

Coming in your ears.

p76rangie

Banned

The Mad Hat Man

Well-Known Member

p76rangie

Banned

Mr Noisy

Coming in your ears.

Similar threads