• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Red line in transmission

Share this page

K

KevinBN7

Member
Offline
Healey listers
Over the winter I changed the manual Transmission/OD from 30wt non detergent to Red line MTL. I heard plenty of good things about the red line and have used it in other vehicles with great results. Overall it performs as expected HOWEVER I have leaks that were never there with the 30 wt. It appears to be seeping from the seems where the OD sandwiches together. This is deal breaker level of leaking.

My questions are
Is there and additive I can put in to stop these leaks.
Will they go away if I switch back to 30 wt
Its early in the season and I want to rectify this before I am driving it on a regular basis.

Any help is appreciated
Kevin R
 
I have the same question on whether a rear main seal type of oil additive sealer (I belive one brand name is Barr's) might help.

I am concerned this might "gum up" the overdrive mechanism.

Does anybody have any experience with this?


Pete
 
I wouldn't use Barr's in the overdrive !
This stuff has little rod shaped pieces floating around. They collect over small holes and after enough of them are present, the leak stops. ... a lot like a blood clot.
Now picture the small openings in the control valve of the overdrive . That is the probable location for the " blood clot " if used in the overdrive.
If it wasn't leaking as much with regular 30 weight, i would go back to it 1st before doing anything else.
.... MT90 is a little thicker than MTL I think ? May not leak out as easy at MTL. Regular 30 weight is a much less expensive test to see if that helps.
Ed
 
I use Redline and love it. I have not noticed an increase in the leaking. Where is it leaking from? (Maybe my engine blow-by is masking it.)
 
I will remove the tunnel this weekend and get a better look. I was under the car with a flashlight and I have more leaks than I thought. The front left shock is leaking now and flowing down the frame rail. This shock has been back and forth to Apple hydraulics twice and now it is time to replace it.

The car has never run better than right now. It is nice to take it out after a long winter.

Kevin
 
I think the Redline would be clear upon leaving the trans while everything else will be dirty. Put some white paper below the car and maybe you will be able to see if it is clear. Just a thought.
 
I am having the same problem. Put in Red Line and now have a leak between the two halves of the OD. Anyone have any suggestions on a fix for this problem?

Ray
 
wasnt there a thread on this a while ago?, something about sticking with the eng oil as stated, due to the newer stuff being too slippery for the old synchros etc to keep up with as well as the old style brass synchros etc not liking the new stuff, as well as the O/D being set up pressure/operability based on the oils available back then?
 
zblu said:
wasnt there a thread on this a while ago?, something about sticking with the eng oil as stated, due to the newer stuff being too slippery for the old synchros etc to keep up with as well as the old style brass synchros etc not liking the new stuff, as well as the O/D being set up pressure/operability based on the oils available back then?
Click to expand...

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'">I think this might be the thread that you're referring to. Most of the threads regarding the use of Redline Gear Oil in Healeys say to use MT90 as opposed to MTL.</span>
 
I am not sure how great the advantage is; both work fine. With my BJ8, I found the shifting a little smoother with the Red Line 90. However,that is a subjective measurement on my part. I do know that the Red Line seems to find it a little easier to leak out, but in my case that is still only a small amount.
 
My goal was to smooth out the shifting and mainly try something to quite down 1st gear. The whine the trans made in 1st was excessive. As Shorn states it seems to be smoother shifting and for me the noise in 1st is less. Like so many things it may just be my mind justifying the purchase to my wallet.

I think back to the resons I liked it so much in my old RX7 and it was mainly easy to shift in cold temps. the Healey doesnt see the outside of the garage if it gets cold, so I will probably never experience the difference. I am also the type who finds it difficlt to leave well enough alone.

Kevin R
 
I used redline for ~1 yr and could not really tell the difference. I have had the tranny rebuilt and went back to 30 wt based on the tranny shop recommendation.

I also had heard that you can have leaks with Redline...

Bill
 
I have used MT-90 for 6 months. It seems to work as well as the 30 weight that was in there before. It seems to seep out just as much with MT-90 as with 30w but you can definitely tell the difference between oil that has leaked out of the motor and oil that has seeped out of the o/d because of it's yellow color.
I read the old post from Keoke and BIBBER earlier today that said they used VR1 60w in the summer time, VR1 50w in the winter time.
I bought some 60W VR1 today and will give it a try. As Dave has said before, MT-90 is the same viscosity as 40w motor oil. I hope going to 60w will help my O/D engage easier when it gets real hot.
 
Hi Ed,

I'm not sure what you mean:

"I hope going to 60w will help my O/D engage easier when it gets real hot."

Easier = engages more smoothly - slips a bit more?
OR
Easier = engages more abruptly - slips less?
D
 
Easier= engage at the same normal speed/engine RPM as it does at all times except when it gets real hot. When it gets real hot, it doesn't want to engage unless the speed/engine RPM is higher, ( 55 MPH ). It acts like it can't build enough pressure to stay engaged unless the pump is running faster. Today it was in the low 80s, I had no problems at all. I didn't drive it very far today though.
Ed
 
Heavier oil "may" solve the problem for a while.

The problem would seem to be that the pump/accumulator is not holding enough pressure when the oil gets thin. Looking at the attached drawing - & in order of increasing difficulty to fix:
1- Ball "D" is not completely sealing against seat "G" on the end of the spindle when the OD is operated.

2- Ball "D" is not completely sealing against seat "F" when the OD is not operated. This could prevent the accumulator from reaching it's full pressure.

3- The accumulator seal rings are leaking.


4- The oil pump may not be sealing or pumping correctly.

These four items can be fixed without removing the OD. The next item would require removal.

5- The operating piston's seal rings may be leaking.

Serious diagnostics will require a good pressure gage & someone with deeper knowledge.

I hope it's something relatively easy.
D
 

Attachments

  • 11110.jpg
    11110.jpg
    101.6 KB · Views: 147
Thanks Dave,
I think I have already eliminated 1 and 2 .
It is probably 3 or 4 .
But only fails after driving the car for a long time on a hot day. I am hoping it will be better when I switch over to 60w .
Also, it may not happen as easy with the new radiator core keeping the engine block temps. down. We'll see.
Ed
 
Back
Top