What causes gears to bite??

[snicko]

Hi Guys

My daily drive is a 2006 GU 3L TD (manual) which we bought new. After the 80,000km service (which changed all the oils) I started missing gears.
ie Changing up from second and finding fifth and or changing down from fourth and finding fifth etc (other combinations as well)
Also when I change gears they seam to really bite to go in and you can really feel it through the gear stick.
I took it back and they checked to see that the right oil and quantity was used.
Not sure what GL4 or GL5 is but my mechanic said they put Castrol T...something!! in it.
or is Castrol T.....something the wrong stuff??
I'm not very tech savy but could I have a problem with the gear box and the changing of the oil is just a coincidence?
(All the towing it has done is with a camper trailer and we only tow in 4th.)

[mudski]

Take the side filler plug off and stick your finger in there. See what colour it is. If its red then they have put in auto trans fluid.



Castrol VMX-M is what is supposed to be used in the manual trannies...Which aint red. Castrol T...something sound like they put in Transmax which is for auto's...


Welcome back too bud...

Remember the plug on the rear is for the transfer case, there should be red oil in that. As per the book auto trans fluid is supposed to be in that. But I just used 80/90...The plugs for the gearbox itself are on the right side of the box.

[snicko]

Thanks for the reply mudski

I rang the garage where I had the service done and on their system Castrol VMX-M 75/85 was put in.
When I spoke to the service manager the first time he told me that Castrol T something was put in it so not sure whats going on.

Like you suggest I will go and give it the finger test!!!! hahahahaha

[growler2058]

Howd ya go Snicko?

[snicko]

I ended up ringing a Nissan Dealer and he said Castrol VMX80 is the oil needed.

Went back to the garage who did the service and they were very good. Changed the oil to VMX80 and I only had to pay for the new oil.

Much better.

[mudski]

That's odd as I'm running vmx-m in my troll and it's fine. How old was the oil that was originally in there?

[Dales300exc]

Castrol books normally has multiple oils that are suitable for use.

Ive run multitrax, vmx and a mates running tfc450. None with shift problems.

[mudski]

I wouldn't be using tfc450 in a Patrol box. That's an equivalent to straight 90. Would make things hard to shift I would think.

[snicko]

That's odd as I'm running vmx-m in my troll and it's fine. How old was the oil that was originally in there?

80,000km first change

[mudski]

80,000km first change

Thats a while in the gearbox... Wonder if you had dropped the vmx-m and replaced it again with vmx-m if it would have been better or stayed like it was. Sometimes a diff need a few oil changes before it comes good... Don't matter now though....

[snicko]

Thats a while in the gearbox... Wonder if you had dropped the vmx-m and replaced it again with vmx-m if it would have been better or stayed like it was. Sometimes a diff need a few oil changes before it comes good... Don't matter now though....

Actually thats a good idea. In how may K's do you think I should get it changed again?

[mudski]

I would have thought no more than 50 thousand. I just change mine every 12 months religiously and thats around 30k...
Its like changing engine oil brands. You need to run the one type for a few changes before the motor settles to it. You can't change the brand of oil once and decide if its better or not straight away. I went from Magnatec to the Dello. Instantly my engine was noisier and the catch can was catching around 75ml of more oil. I left it for a few changes, its settled down in the catch can side of things but the motor was still a little noisier than before but I decided to go back to Magnatec as I can get it cheaper than Dello and the Magnatec is a higher quality of oil the the Dello. (flame proof suit is on...) And the initial start up noise is a crap load quieter again. But I persisted with three oil changes before I made the decision.
So after seeing BA change his diff oil a few times last year when he had rear diff noises he said it finally settled after a few oil changes. It obviously needed a good flush out.