Lubricants and Gear Boxes

[Roger_Needham]

This is a vast topic. It is subjective and prone to personal issues. Everyone has their favourite. Everyone thinks that their choice is the best. So I'm bound to raise queries comments and criticism here - but here goes anyway.

I would like to address the subject of gear oil lubricant in manual Land Rover gear boxes that specify MTF94.

Texaco MTF94 was developed specifically for the Land Rover manual gear boxes with LR engineers. It has a particular specification and material make up. It is used as a factory fill lubricant in gear boxes. There is no other lubricant manufacturer that makes it.

Those LR franchised workshops that do not use MTF94 will tell you that the lubricant that they use is the equivelant. It cannot be due to the fact that MTF94 is only produced by Texaco ( Chevron Texaco ). Texaco supply it to LR for resale in LR bottles available from the parts depts.

All other gear box lubes do not provide the same performance or protection as MTF94. I have known this for years and to support this - my LR Disco 2 was serviced at the local dealership. I asked them if they would use the MTF94, they of course replied that they had the equivelant through another brand. I advised tham that they were wrong. However they still fitted the other brand. Along came the cold weather - we could not easily engage 2nd gear when the box was cold and even when warm it was difficult to select. My wife had a close call several times at junctions - so I returned the vehicle, they fitted MTF94 and the problems went away - immediately. How many times have we heard that 2nd gear is always and has always been difficult to select in Discos? Well mine isn't.

So when I hear about transmission problems with Discos................afterall there has to be a reason why LR have fitted MTF94 as a factory fill lube for all these years.

This is not an advert for MTF94 but merely a statement of fact. I do not favour Texaco brands or MTF94 other than the spec of the product matching the application.

Choose wisely - remember, some know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

[PICKLE]

good info....thanks