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MG MGA - Transmission Fluid

I am getting ready to change the transmission fluid in my 1960 MGA Coupe and does anyone have any suggestion for brand. I have been using 30 non-detergent in my cars. I hear redline is a good brand.
Looking for your comments.
David Honness

I'm also interested to know what others owners are using.

My car has a very tight and difficult gear change for the first few miles until (I presume) the gearbox oil gets warmed up.

At this time of the year with the cold weather the initial change from 1st to second is becoming hard work.

Regards...John
J Bray

Standard engine oil - currently a BP diesel formulation from the local supermarket. If second synchro wasn't shot it would be great...The current project is to rebuild the spare gbx and install it
dominic clancy

Castrol 20W-50, same as the motor. Marvin
Marvin Stuart

Walmart 20W-50.
Darian Henderson

I have been using anybody's 20W50 (usually NAPA) for decades with no problems. I switched to Redline MTL a few years back for a 12,000 mile trial, then went back to 20W50. I was pretty sure I was not going to continue using the synthetic oil before I ever put it in, because it is not economically justified. But I wanted to give it a fair try to see if it might make any appreciable improvement in shifting performance.

I was NOT happy with the difference in shifting using Redline MTL. It seemed to work great if I would ham fist it like I was racing all the time, but if I went easy with finger tips as I like to do for normal street driving it would grit a few teeth on every shift. I had to give it just the right firm shove to keep it from complaining. This was immediately obvious when the synthetic oil was first installed, and also immediately obvious when it was switched back to 20W50. I suspect there will be less wear on the synchro rings when I can use fingertips for shifting.

I like the smooth and quiet shifting character much better with regular oil. I run a bone stock gearbox with brass synchro rings (always in good condition). I don't know if there would be any difference with a later MGB box with steel synchro rings, or with any other brand of gearbox. I understand you should definitely not put synthetic oil in an overdrive unit, but of course I have never had to deal with that issue, because overdrive is also not economically justified (unless it happened to come with the car when you bought it).
Barney Gaylord

John, Dominic, Marvin, Darian & Barney,

Thanks for your input. I think I will switch to 20-50 Castrol (which I have)and try it in my Coupe first. You all have a great day.

David....
David Honness

This thread was discussed between 15/11/2007 and 17/11/2007

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