Hello.

I was hoping somebody on here could explain to me the difference between engine oil and gearbox oil ? Why can you not just put engine oil in a gearbox ?

Thanks

Pinched from another forum:

SV650.org - SV650 & Gladius 650 Forum - View Single Post - whats the difference between gear oil and engine oil?

thanks, but could you use engine oil in a gearbox if you wanted to ?

Not if you want the gearbox to have anything near its design life.

rotodiesel.

I thought you was taking the P until I checked your status, c'mon mate have you never done the finger test between the two.

Hello,

Different oils are like people they all have different job's to do.

What one oil does extremely well, would fail miserably if asked to do another, and you would end up with a hefty bill for a repair.

Oil manufacturer's of oil's are alway's testing for way's to improve component efficency's and would leap at the possibility of ONE oil that would everything.!!!

Advise you to stick to what your car maker's suggest, but don't be stuck with one (brand) name, just ensure the exact grade of lubricant is used for that particular component.

Ian. 12/08/2009 :thumbup:

There are a few cars that use engine oil in the gearbox- Rover SD1, I think (but not sure), and of course, many BL cars (Mini, Metro, Allegro etc) use oil that is shared between the engine and box, but put engine oil in a box not designed to run with it and it will wear very quickly indeed.

There are a few cars that use engine oil in the gearbox- Rover SD1, I think (but not sure), and of course, many BL cars (Mini, Metro, Allegro etc) use oil that is shared between the engine and box, but put engine oil in a box not designed to run with it and it will wear very quickly indeed.

My first car was a Metro and I found out to my Dads garage floor's cost that the Engine and gearbox shared the same oil, I was 17 and doing my first oil change ever, my Dad did all his servicing so knew what he was doing:rofl:, we had been down the local garage and i seem to remember back in those days it didnt matter as much what oil you put in the engine so we bought 5 litres of the usual crude grade oil, My Dad found an old 5 litre tub, cut the side out, we put in under the car, removed the sump plug and retired for a well earned cup of tea, fully refreshed we returned to my Dads garage to find an oil slick the Exxon Valdez would have been proud of, It wasn't until we read the hand book we learnt that we need 5 1/2 litres of oil! So not only had I got a garage floor to clean I was 1/2 litre short of oil and a car I couldnt drive as it didnt have enough oil in it! Lesson learnt!

1/2 a litre = 1 pint which is the smallest min to max on the dipstick I've seen.

Still oops on the oil slick.

I was going to mention the BL / Austin Rover A-Series engines in Minis or Metros that had the gearbox in the sump. There are now oils with special additives for Extreme Pressure for use in these engines, Millers produce one called Classic Trans M 20W-50. I'm sure in my old Metro (from 1981) it only used 5 litres and that included filling the oil filter.

Gear oils normally have a much different viscosity range than engine oils. Typically 75W-90 or 80W-90, you can even get 75W-140. As you know engine oils are 10W-40, 5W-30 etc.