stick with G52 in your tranny - here's why...

[turbocharged798]

I bought two liters of G60 and had a Liter of G70 sitting on the shelf. I compared the viscosity of them both by using the pour test. Both seem identical to me.

What the heck is the difference between G60 and G70 then?

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Who knows? VW doesn't share a lot of data on this fluid. I don't know that people have seen a big difference between G 060 and G 070 in use, but I bet not many have made a direct comparison.

 

[bigolac]

I've got a 99 NB, and sent an email to Zimbrick in Madison, WI.

My question:

I'm looking for the recommended manual transmission fluid for a 1999 New Beetle TDI.

His response:

The recommended fluid is G50 SAE 75w90 SYNTHETIC. We have one bottle here it is 1 liter for $12.50 PART# G060726A2.
I cannot ship it.

Just an FYI.

- Adam

 

[robertyateman]

There is too much technical talk on here for me to figure out, i have a 99.5 jetta tdi i have temperatures from -40 to +40 as i live in ontario canada. What tranny oil should I use ?

 

[BrianCT]

There is too much technical talk on here for me to figure out, i have a 99.5 jetta tdi i have temperatures from -40 to +40 as i live in ontario canada. What tranny oil should I use ?

OEM G52. Most recent, over the counter at your dealership. Had the best results and my transmission has gone through 265,000 miles and a Diesel Geek Short Shift Kit without a hiccup.

Just do it.


//side note: I've flushed my tranny 3 times over it's life with a refill of OEM G52 ea time. Silky.

 

[soup nazi]

I can say one thing about G60. When the car is left overnight, when you start it you can immediately here the transmission. Clutch in - no sound, clutch out and you can here the main shft bearings. In other words the fluid has drained away and has to get run up via the gears to be of any use. After a minute or so there is no noise at all. It makes me question again the benefit of this oil.

Anyone no whe I can get the original G50? I see some advertised in the UK now and then. I'm gonna change back if I can get it.

 

[turbocharged798]

Yes, you can still get G50 from VW. Its still listed as a valid part number and was not superseeded. G52, however, has been superseeded to G60.

 

[soup nazi]

VW Australia are out of G50 and won't get it over for me. Looking for a supplier else where. The G60 changes quite well but no better than the 50. Where I live the lowest temperature at 6am in winter would be -1C. I have seen it on eBay so I'll keep an eye out.

 

[soup nazi]

Turns out that VW Australia did have G50. When I asked for the G50 they said it wasn't made anymore and that G60 is its replacement, I then gave them the part number G0050 000 and they found some so I have two litres now. What I find interesting is that when I got the G60 thats in it now I gave them my VIN and told them its an 02A box. Yet they still gave me G60. Seems to me that VW must want us to use the newer oils in the older boxes. Not what I would call ideal.

 

[FlyGuy2480]

I'm in the same boat as robertyateman. There's too much info in this thread. I'm not going to read 41 pages of talk just to see whether I can figure out the answer to my question.

I have a 1998 VW Jetta TDI (AHU engine) with 5-speed manual (02A transmission). The Bentley manual says to use "VW G50 synthetic oil, SAE75W90". However, I have 2 liters of VW G70 (Part number G 070 726 A2) in my garage. Could I use my G70 oil instead? Is G70 really designed as a fully backwards-compatible replacement to G50? Also, is 2 liters enough? Thanks.

 

[soup nazi]

FlyGuy
I too am in this boat. When I got my 96 Golf 1Z with the 02A tranny it had the original G50 in it. It operated fine. I thought I would change it after 14 years of service so I asked VW for the transmission oil to suit the car, they gave me G60. I put that in and while there are no changing issues at all you can here the bearing running dry for a minute or so after start up in the morning. The way I see it the G50 is what the transmission came with and is a fully synthetic hi quality oil. VW trannys have bee using it for well over 25 years. You can't go wrong with the original oil. As the transmission ages and wears naturally if anything you should go to a slightly heavier oil not thinner like G52 or G70.

Those thinner oils may gain you 1% in fuel consumption but that does not compensate for possible reduced life of the transmission. Ive got my G50 now and when it's in I'll be a happier boy! On the topic of "filled for life", I kept a small amount of the original G50 which came out and after 14 years and 140,000km it had gone slightly darker in colour. When it came out it appeared to have no sediment at all but I had a look at it the other day and there is after a year a very small amount of sediment collecting at the bottom of the glass container. Filled for life is rubbish as far as I'm concerned.

Get yourself the G50 for your aging 02A.

 

[FlyGuy2480]

FlyGuy
I too am in this boat. When I got my 96 Golf 1Z with the 02A tranny it had the original G50 in it. It operated fine. I thought I would change it after 14 years of service so I asked VW for the transmission oil to suit the car, they gave me G60. I put that in and while there are no changing issues at all you can here the bearing running dry for a minute or so after start up in the morning. The way I see it the G50 is what the transmission came with and is a fully synthetic hi quality oil. VW trannys have bee using it for well over 25 years. You can't go wrong with the original oil. As the transmission ages and wears naturally if anything you should go to a slightly heavier oil not thinner like G52 or G70.

Those thinner oils may gain you 1% in fuel consumption but that does not compensate for possible reduced life of the transmission. Ive got my G50 now and when it's in I'll be a happier boy! On the topic of "filled for life", I kept a small amount of the original G50 which came out and after 14 years and 140,000km it had gone slightly darker in colour. When it came out it appeared to have no sediment at all but I had a look at it the other day and there is after a year a very small amount of sediment collecting at the bottom of the glass container. Filled for life is rubbish as far as I'm concerned.

Get yourself the G50 for your aging 02A.

Thanks. I'll go get G50. I travel across the country often, and I can't take any risks that may cause me to become stranded in the middle of nowhere.

What is the oil capacity of the transmission? I'll need to know how much oil I need to buy.

 

[soup nazi]

1.9 litres

 

[FlyGuy2480]

1.9 litres

Thanks.

 

[soup nazi]

Back again.

Just drained the G60 and refilled with G50 in my 02A. One point of interest is that the G60 has gone very dark, almost black, in only 20,000km. Wheras the original G50 went a honey colour after 120000km. Anyway the shift is now slightly more notchy, about what I remember before and considering it winter here its still quite nice to use. So the G 60 shifted a little better but not by much and I feel better because I have the original "filled for life" oil in the tranny.

Edit: another point of note is that there was a small amount of residue of some sort in each bottle of G 50. I was able to fill the gearbox leaving about 50ml in each bottle. The residue was very fine, black, and heavy enough to gravitate. Faily unimpressive when you consider what you pay for the oil. Perhaps if the bottles were not white you wouldn't notice????.

 

[Ford_6L_E350]

Very fine, black material in the bottom of the bottle could be Molybedum Disulfide extreme pressure additive. It should stay in suspension for a long time, so maybe the bottles were sitting for months? I would really try to get it back in suspension and into the transmission.

Maybe the same substance in the earlier fill of G50 had settled out, and the G60 has a stronger detergent package and got it back into suspension.

I've added 10% MoS2 to many gearboxes (auto, truck, commercial equipment) and have never regretted it. It can quiet noisy gears, reduce heat buildup, etc. But, it is just my opinion and should be taken with a grain of salt.

Mike

 

[wmgeorge]

Redline MTL

Well after reading and reading and reading I decided to change the gearbox oil in my 2000 NB with 264,000 miles. Previous owner or the last of two said it had never been changed and he had owned for 70,000 miles.

The old stuff looked like brown honey and smelled like ... well like gear lube. It did not seem to have much of anything in it as far as dirt, metal shavings and the like.

Replaced with 2 quarts of Redline MTL and now have about maybe 5 miles on since. At first trip around the block it did not seem much different, maybe a little easier to shift.

But now after a few miles I can tell the difference in shifting, especially going into reverse and the down shift from 2nd to 1st which was difficult at times. Its not 100% improvement but a big change for the better, (pun intended).

Best part you can order off Amazon.com and get Free shipping. The 2 quart order to my door for under $30.

 

[RedTDIowner]

There is too much technical talk on here for me to figure out, i have a 99.5 jetta tdi i have temperatures from -40 to +40 as i live in ontario canada. What tranny oil should I use ?

I feel the same way. I have a 2002 A4 ALH Jetta TDI 5 speed manual. What tranny fluid/gear oil should I use?

 

[BrianCT]

I feel the same way. I have a 2002 A4 ALH Jetta TDI 5 speed manual. What tranny fluid/gear oil should I use?

OEM Fill. I'm on the boarder of Canada/Up State NY. I just went for the factory fill in the MK5 last week, 2nd time, 88,000 and 145,000 and in August last year 2012 with the MK1V [270,000 miles], the OEM G70 most recent [4th time]. I use what ever is updated or available at the time through the counter service department [G50, G60 and G70 presently]. The G70 in the 2006 Jetta O2J is slightly notchy but it's -6F here for these past few mornings.

 

[FXDL]

For the OEM trans lub, I think I will keep using Amsoil MTG 75W-90. Amsoil does not recommend anything for it that they have. The MTG now shows on their site as -65 degs F., pour point. With all the manual trans., lubs out here, none look to even come close to the MTG pour point and it is a GL-4.The pour point to me means a lot and the fact that its other spec are better then all else out here period. In my 2006 Jetta TDI it so far has worked very well for over 100,000 kms so VW can keep their lub as it really does not sound like the best choice. I will change it out soon again for the MTG and it seems to me with the -65 degs.,F pour point, that I think the pour point is much lower pour point then the MTG in the past. Why waste my money and time with all the so called gods gift to our trans when I know what works. Each their own and what ever one wants to waste their money on and or makes them happy and feel better then go for it. my 2 cents.

 

[amd is the best]

I skimmed through this thread for a good 45mins and hadn't seen my specific question. Can anyone comment on backward compatibility? Would running G005000 in my transmission that calls for G052911A2 be ok (without damage)?

Only reason I ask is because I have three brand new containers of G50 (paid $22 each for them) for the transmission that came in my car and now I'm swapping in a transmission that is newer and calls for G52 which I have just rebuilt.

Think I should just sell the G50 and get the G52? Or is it worth trying? Is there any harm?

 

[RedTDIowner]

I am getting a new clutch installed in my 5 speed ALH this weekend and I planned on changing the tranny fluid at that time so I called ID parts to get their opinion since they sell a few different types of fluids. They told me that the G52 is the old manual trans fluid and now VW has come out with a new one called G70. Now they noted that if you go to a dealership and ask them they are still going to push the G52 since they probably still have any inventory of it. Once they run out they will be stocking/selling the G70. Here is a link below to it.

http://www.idparts.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1438

 

[Judson]

G70 cured my hard shifting issues. And I don't use the word "cure" lightly.

I was grinding in third, having an impossible time. I thought it was the short shifter I installed, but it turned out that it just made the problem more obvious.
Even with the stock shifter the grinding was so bad I was convinced I was looking at a transmission rebuild. No matter what I did and no matter how careful I was to make adjustments, I got grinding in 3rd. Sometimes even in 2nd. Sometimes even in 1st. OUCH!

Transmission grinding is like pain to me. I feel it and it hurts. As a result, I am still running the stock shifter with the G70 because I don't dare try the short shifter again for fear of more grinding! Illogical and irrational, but there it is.

Actually, one day I'll be getting a six speed, so the shifter will have to change anyway. I'll do a short-shift upgrade at that time.

 

[RedTDIowner]

I was also told people are not using the Redline tranny fluid as much because they are just not getting good results from it. I am sticking with VW's G70.

 

[Bob_Fout]

I was also told people are not using the Redline tranny fluid as much because they are just not getting good results from it. I am sticking with VW's G70.

Given the history, popularity and lack of transmission issues with Redline MT-90 and MTL, I would question the source of that data. There might be some ulterior motives involved.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

There aren't. Not sure who here said that about Redline but I had mixed results with MTL. Found it was good in the cold, and OK in warm weather, but when it's hot out and/or the car is driven hard shifting got difficult and notchy. No such hot problems with MT90, but that oil can make the transmission difficult to shift when it's really cold.

I'm not saying G 070 is perfect, but it seems to combine the best of most worlds.

 

[wmgeorge]

"Replaced with 2 quarts of Redline MTL and now have about maybe 5 miles on since. At first trip around the block it did not seem much different, maybe a little easier to shift. But now after a few miles I can tell the difference in shifting, especially going into reverse and the down shift from 2nd to 1st which was difficult at times. Its not 100% improvement but a big change for the better, (pun intended)."

The above was posted last summer, it is now winter in Iowa and snow. Transmission shifts fine in the cold weather. Found out later after I had changed the oil that Harley owners swear by Redline for their trannys.

Folks seem to think that VW has access to OEM special steels and special bearings and special seals and nothing else in the entire world is the same as they make their "forever cars" out of. Horse pucky. There is only so many seal materials and grades of steel and bearings out there folks. It not magic its called a production line and final cost. I've worked in manufacturing and been around machine and tool shops enough to know better.

I'd say use a good grade of oil, the correct weight and stop losing sleep!

 

[Johnny787]

So after reading about 30 pages of this thread I still do not know what to put in. I have an 00 Jetta 5spd with about 200k on it. I do not know if the fluid has ever been changed as I just purchased it.

Which one should I change it out with?

 

[03Springer]

If you can find G060 give it a try, I have been running it for 15k and it shifts as well as the G052 did. If you can't source the G060 then try the G070.

 

[Johnny787]

If you can find G060 give it a try, I have been running it for 15k and it shifts as well as the G052 did. If you can't source the G060 then try the G070.

thanks.