Rover gearbox query

driveshafts

If it is the Honda box, it NEEDS Honda MTF, but good old Rover GAVE it ordinary engine oil to save a few quid.

This box will go on for ever using the proper Honda oil

216/416

Actually it needs a good MTF of any brand which meets Honda specifications. The most common and available oil is made by Texaco and is called either MT75 or 94, I forget which, probably the 94. It is a golden oil, although red oil meeting Ford spec would probably be fine.

I can't believe that Rover sent this box out, filled with 10w/30 engine oil. You surely jest?

Huw

ISTR that my Prelude handbook said to use 10W40 oil in the gear box, which I did and used quite happily ( until I crashed the poor little thing on the M6)

I would put the old stuff back in unless it's noisy, it'll never break..

:(

Simon

Seems strange given that they changed even the SD1 to ATF.

The message from "Dave Plowman (News)" contains these words:

The Honda-derived box on my Monty is supposed to have 10/40 engine oil in it. Must say - I'd rather have something more gearboxy if it'd be safe to do so.

Well, BMC used engine oil in their gearboxes for a long time. But ATF is a better substitute in all of them.

I beg to differ. Firstly, the manual gearbox used in the SD1 was adapted for use in the Land Rover and was first used in these about

1982/3 Range Rover. It was filled with ATF. Land Rover persisted in recommending ATF for these boxes for a long time after better performing alternatives became commonplace. Latterly they changed to recommending and filling with Texaco MTF, the same type of oil recommended for the Honda gearbox, especially where high engine torque, near the limits of the 'box, is expected. It is a low viscosity oil, similar to EP75w80 or engine 10w/30 but with improved shear strength and modified friction characteristics for superior synchro performance. This oil is fully compatible and recommended for all earlier LT77 gearboxes.

For a number of years prior to the MT94 introduction, I was concerned about the reliability of LT77 gearboxes and the rapid deterioration in synchro performance with ATF filled gearboxes at anything over 10,000 miles until a fresh fill. This pointed towards the oil failing in its performance goals at a very low mileage. At about this time Ford had similar issues with its MT gearbox fitted to Sierra and Transit. It came up with a superior light viscosity MT fluid which really did improve the performance and reliability of the gearbox very significantly. Since that time I have run my LT77's exclusively on oil that meets Ford specification for its MT75 gearbox series ESM 2C 1864 with excellent results compared to when I ran them on ATF. The difference in synchro performance over a maintenance cycle and in long term reliability is marked.

Huw

driveshafts

Thanks for the suggestions chaps - so is it agreed that it *is* a Honda gearbox on the pug engine then? If so, is it the same as the 1.6 petrol uses? More importantly, can I swipe driveshafts from the petrol to fit my diseasel?

Darren

Quite possibly. I merely commented that ATF was better than engine oil - at the time they swopped. Of course that was 20-odd years ago, and things might well have changed since then.

improved

I must confess to not knowing that they did swap over. AFAIK the LT77 always used ATF. Certainly the engine oils commonly available at that time, mainly of 15w/40 and 20w/50 viscosity, would have been just too viscous to be used in the pressure lubricated LT77 which used a fibre pump. AFAIK ATF was the oil of choice because at that time it was the only non foaming light viscosity oil suitable. Perhaps you could inform us [me] of the production years when it was advised to use engine oil?

Huw

I dunno when they swapped, but early SD1s specified engine oil. I remember the change being advised, as I had a P6 3500S at the time, and decided to change that to ATF too. Improved it considerably. It also had a pump.