016 trans fill

[Brett Dikeman]

On Dec 1, 2007, at 11:06 PM, mike claire wrote:

> The local indy has a tech that swears he's put 10w30 motor oil in  
> Audis of
> this vintage with good results and no ill effects.

Motor oil is not gear oil.  The oil has to be thick enough to keep a  
coating between the gears as they mesh.  That's why you see  
transmission fluids with weights in the range of 75w+.  Unless the  
tech has run a transmission for a considerable distance and then torn  
it down to see if there was damage, "no ill effects" is a very half- 
assed statement.  Just because it seems to work doesn't mean it isn't  
doing harm.

> What do you guys say?

Put in the Audi synthetic fluid listed for the car. Or Amsoil's stuff,  
if you want to lighten your wallet some more.  Unless you're uncertain  
what went in the last time, there's no need to change it out after 2  
years, unless you've put a hell of a lot of miles on it.  The stuff  
was designed to last a while; just not forever.  If you think it's  
10w30 oil, get it out...tomorrow.

Make sure whatever you use is GL-4 compatible.  Call the manufacturer  
if need be; Amsoil and Mobil both have 'application' hotlines, and  
others most likely do as well.  SOME GL-5 fluids are GL-4 compatible,  
some are not...but GL-5 does NOT imply "incompatible with GL-4."   
They're both standards- it's simply that some oil companies made  
fluids that met GL-5 by using additives that were not compatible with  
GL-4 transmissions.  The additives would attack brass components (VW/ 
Audi used brass for the syncro rings.)

Brett