[hserus]

Originally Posted by abhi9044

Hello Everyone,
Would like to bring to everyone's notice that there's another International brand that brought it's products to India. It's Rowe Lubricants.
From the website it seems like they have specific brand approvals such as VW and BMW.
They also offer very new grades such as 0W-20 and 0W-16. Another thing that they offer is the 75W-80 GL4/5 grade Transmission Oil which is quite difficult to source in India.

Seems to be a small manufacturer with several boutique products racing oils etc. Popular in Germany.

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forum...bout-it.98416/

75w85 (Zic for example) and 80w90 synthetic gear oils are quite commonly available in India. 75w80 is a pretty specific grade of GL4, what cars specify it?

[abhi9044]

Originally Posted by hserus

75w85 (Zic for example) and 80w90 synthetic gear oils are quite commonly available in India. 75w80 is a pretty specific grade of GL4, what cars specify it?

Maruti Suzuki recommends 75W80 gear oil for almost all of it's cars which came after 2014. Mine is 2015 model with the same recommendation. I'm not sure of other brand cars that might be using the same oil.

Here are some screenshots:-
From WagonR's owner manual-



From Swift's Manual:-



Even the diesel specific cars such as S-Cross uses the same gear oil, even for the 6 speed 1.6.



As far as i remember all the cars launched before 2014 period required 75W90. I think this has been done in the interest of fuel economy. Surely they are squeezing out maximum efficiency from their engine+gearboxes.

[Rshrey22]

Originally Posted by abhi9044

From Swift's Manual:-

Attachment 2039251

I change my swift's gear oil every alternate service. I've been using Mobilube GX 80W90. Everything's been smooth sailing till now. The car has covered 70k, will do next gear oil change at 80k.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by Rshrey22

I change my swift's gear oil every alternate service. I've been using Mobilube GX 80W90. Everything's been smooth sailing till now. The car has covered 70k, will do next gear oil change at 80k.

You might be better advised to stick with a 75w85 but that probably won’t be of very much use unless you take your car to cold climates.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by Rshrey22

I change my swift's gear oil every alternate service.

For me one service equals one year because of low (<5k km) usage. I was regularly doing an engine oil + oil filter change every service, and coolant + gear oil change every alternate service. But starting from 2017, MSM informed me the gear oil needs to be changed only once in four years / 40,000 kms as per directive from Maruti. I told them to change it anyway during the 2019 service but they insisted it is not necessary and the next change can be done in 2021. The oil used was MGO 75W90.

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by Gansan

But starting from 2017, MSM informed me the gear oil needs to be changed only once in four years / 40,000 kms as per directive from Maruti. I told them to change it anyway during the 2019 service but they insisted it is not necessary and the next change can be done in 2021. The oil used was MGO 75W90.

Is that because they changed something in the new OE oil or even the older fill is now good for 40,000 KM?

One good thing about using authorized service centers is updates like this.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

Is that because they changed something in the new OE oil or even the older fill is now good for 40,000 KM?

One good thing about using authorized service centers is updates like this.

They moved from a mineral to a synthetic formulation is all. A high quality mineral gearbox oil like Mobilube GX or Shell Spirax should be more than enough especially for older Maruti engines, despite their changing the spec across the board.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

Is that because they changed something in the new OE oil or even the older fill is now good for 40,000 KM?

Originally Posted by hserus

They moved from a mineral to a synthetic formulation is all.

Correct. They said it is because the MGO was now synthetic, hence the increased interval.

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by hserus

They moved from a mineral to a synthetic formulation is all. A high quality mineral gearbox oil like Mobilube GX or Shell Spirax should be more than enough especially for older Maruti engines, despite their changing the spec across the board.

Makes sense, also a plus side of servicing at authorized service centers as well as T-BHP , we get to know

Originally Posted by Gansan

Correct. They said it is because the MGO was now synthetic, hence the increased interval.

So the technicians have to check what was filled last time through service records and decide whether to change or retain the current oil. You made the right choice by changing it anyway this time.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

So the technicians have to check what was filled last time through service records and decide whether to change or retain the current oil.

Not really. There is a choice of semi synth / Synth only for engine oil, none for transmission oil. They know by default only synthetic is used from a given date.
And I changed only the coolant during 2019 service, not transmission oil. It was not changed during the service done last month also, will be changed only next July, along with coolant.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by Gansan

Not really. There is a choice of semi synth / Synth only for engine oil, none for transmission oil. They know by default only synthetic is used from a given date.
And I changed only the coolant during 2019 service, not transmission oil. It was not changed during the service done last month also, will be changed only next July, along with coolant.

I got my Corolla Altis' tranny oil manual changed after 10 years in 2018 with Liqui Moly 75W-90 GL4+ synthetic and then again in early 2020 with Toyota's GL4 OEM GB oil which is a lifetime fill and 2-3x more expensive. I am not sure whether the oil is straight mineral or semi or pure synthetic. What it does offer me is peace of mind that the GB is good for another 200,000 km should I choose to retain this car.

GB oil is an infrequent service requirement. Stick to OEM specs and recommendations.

[R2D2]

This is the oil TKM uses for its "lifetime" GB fills in most vehicles, made in Japan. LV = for "Light Vehicles"

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by R2D2

This is the oil TKM uses for its "lifetime" GB fills in most vehicles, made in Japan. LV = for "Light Vehicles"

Whenever I hear lifetime fills, life time sealed automatic gearbox, maintenance free battery, frictionless bearing, lifetime grease etc what comes to my mind is this.

Instead of changing the oil, now your gearbox will fail at X,00,000 km and you can throw it away as a consumable. Of course most buyers will never reach that milestone, so no worries.

[Rshrey22]

Something I forgot to mention, My car's service booklet ACTUALLY says to change Transmission Fluid every 20,000 kms, that's why I change it.

One should always follow company recommendations.

Similar goes on for coolants, my service booklet recommends full flush every 50,000 kms while Honda cars' coolants last lifetime or 200,000 kms (not sure).

It totally depends on the quality of fluid being used by the service stations which is governed by the company itself.

Something I might be doing wrong though is that I am using Mobilube rather than MGO, even the retailer suggested not to change it before 40,000 kms but I do it as a preventive measure.

Stick to service booklet or service manager's advice.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

Whenever I hear lifetime fills, life time sealed automatic gearbox, maintenance free battery, frictionless bearing, lifetime grease etc what comes to my mind is this. Instead of changing the oil, now your gearbox will fail at X,00,000 km and you can throw it away as a consumable. Of course most buyers will never reach that milestone, so no worries.

At least in Toyota's case the manual trannies actually have lifetime fills. No change required even with vehicles that have done several lakhs of kms. Per the ASC, TKM advises to change the oil only in case of repairs OR simply top up. It never requires changing.

However, there are different requirements for Toyota automatic transmissions with clear instructions to change oil every 100,000 miles/160,000 km.

The word "lifetime" and "maintenance free" are misnomers and used mostly to misguide the public. For the layman these words give him peace of mind.