confused about synthetic gear oil

[Todd Young]

I can definitely vouch for this.
I used to own an '85 Toyota 4x4 truck with a 5 speed manual.
Here in the "Great White North" (otherwise known as Minnesota), we had a
winter where it was subzero for over a month. I would have to go out in
the morning, put the tranny in neutral, disengage the clutch, and pray
the engine would start. Then let the engine idle for 15 minutes to warm
up, then shut down the engine. Then with the tranny in neutral and my
foot on the brakes, start the engine. I had to keep my foot on the
brakes for about 5 minutes or else the truck would move forward, with
the tranny in neutral!

Thank god for synthetic fluid in Audi trannies.

Joshua Van Tol wrote:
> Hrm. You've never seen really really cold temperatures, have you? It
> can and does happen that a small amount of power is transmitted through
> the tranny with the car in neutral, just due to oil friction. Try
> putting your car on a lift, and running it in neutral. Chances are,
> after a bit, one or more wheels will start spinning. If the lube is
> cold enough, it can make the car move under the right circumstances.
>
> The original poster might want to try redline mt90 or perhaps mtl
> (although this offers less protection against wear) if the cold weather
> is a serious problem. I notices some tough shifting with mt90 at -10 F
> and colder, and it did the same with the factory fill.
>
> On Monday, February 24, 2003, at 04:40  PM, Mihnea Cotet wrote:
>
>> Stephane,
>>
>>
>> AFAIK it's totally unrelated... When in neutral no car should creep in
>> either direction IMHO.
>>
>> HTH,
>>
>> Mihnea
>>
>> At 16:32 24/02/2003 -0600, Livolsi, Stephane wrote:
>>
>>> my experience is not what I expected.
>>>
>>> late last year, I put Amsoil GL4 (this is the correct stuff as per
>>> user's
>>> manual) synthetic gear oil in my tranny (86 5ktq), following a clutch
>>> job.
>>> I expected that the synth would stay more fluid during cold temps.
>>> Today
>>> was the first really cold morning all winter -22 C (seriously, it was
>>> the
>>> first day that was this cold) and after starting I had the gearbox in
>>> neutral and let the clutch out.  Holy cow, the car actually started
>>> creeping
>>> forward, only a cm or so, but still!
>>> IIRC, it's even worse than when I had the non-synth in there
>>>
>>> Anyway, am I off base here?  Shouldn't the synth prevent this
>>> creeping?
>>>
>>> TIA
>>>
>>> Stephane
>>
>>
>
>

--
Todd Young
7079 Dawn Ave. E.
Inver Grove Heights, MN 55076
651-450-7725