REDLINE Oil.

[Civic Type R]

Id just like to find out who else has had experience with their lightweight oils for gearboxes.

Personally im not going near the stuff ever again and i hope that by posting this no one else learns the hard and expensive way like myself.

OK, in January i was running a B16A gearbox and everyone was telling me to use Redline Lightweight shockproof gear oil. So i went with it. Within 4 weeks my gearbox began to rattle quite profoundly and eventually it died. I thought bugger. So a rebuild was going to cost $1400. A friend sold me an excellent quality used ITR box with LSD for $1600 and i was quite excited to get a value for money upgrade.
The installer decided to use Redline Superlight shockproof in there and within 2 days, this sound working order ITR gearbox siezed up and now its dead ! 2 damn days !
To say im unlucky, sure feel free to pass judgement. Another good friend had EXACTLY the same oil put in his ITR box and it too lasted 3 weeks till it died. All gearboxes were fine before REDLINE Oil.

I have spoken to Redline and they obviously describe the fault as driver related. Obviously they would to protect their product.

Has anyone had the same pronblem as I, because this is clearly an important and now expensive exercise i dont want anyone else to go thru.

[genesis]

Always use Honda MTF Plus... there's no need to use anything else.

[z10]

wtf man? 2 days and it died?

[Javed]

Fark me!!! that does not sound right at all! Any precautions on the bottle what cars not to use it for? Definitely should persue it further mate.

Javed

[Civic Type R]

Im tryin to get to the bottom of it all.
I believe the mechanic who did it is a brilliant mechanic and knows what hes doing but something definately went wrong, and quick !
Maybe the box wasnt 100% ?
Maybe it is the oil ? - (i know 3 honda boxes that siezed up on Redline)
Maybe the installation was accidenntly done incorrect ?
Maybe i pushed it too hard in the break-in period ?

There are too many factors as to why its gone.
Apart from that, yes i am extremely pissed off my ITR box siezed up just 3 days after use

[SPEEDCORE]

Always use Honda MTF Plus... there's no need to use anything else.

:thumbsup:

[EG_2_TEG]

Honda MTF fluid nearly seized up my box

my syncros started to **** up after a few weeks of using it

changed to redline, and my synchros fixed up within a week :?

[tofu R]

damn
sorry to hear man
when u told me u were going to put in an itr gearbox i was all excited for ya
fark ..
get to the bottom of it matie ..
and let us know your conclusions

[joneblaze]

Yeah dude, do let us know how you go. I've only heard the highest praise for the Redline stuff. Was going to try it out few months back if my 3rd gear synchro kept playing up.

[ginganggooly]

any particular reason for you using shockproof oil over the regular redline transmission lubricant?
the ratings are completely different to the recommendations from honda, whereas the mtl is basically what honda recommends we use, in terms of viscosity.

shockproof is supposedly not good for the transmission and used for racing gearboxes only- or something like that. i think there was a thread on h-t a while back on the subject. or mustang forums.. i forget, time to trawl through google ;)

[Civic Type R]

The mechanic who put it in is a very experienced mechanic and he knows my box and car inside out. I fully trust his work. I asked for redline to be put in as i was led to believe it would be the best.

[ginganggooly]

The mechanic who put it in is a very experienced mechanic and he knows my box and car inside out. I fully trust his work. I asked for redline to be put in as i was led to believe it would be the best.
so you specifically asked for shockproof? or you just asked for any old redline oil?

why didn't you ask for redline mtl or whatever they call it?

what did your mechanic say?

[EG_2_TEG]

i was told to use shockproof cos my box needed a very thin fluid
something close to the weight of a auto tranny fluid

[TOYOL]

I used redline mtf too. Is it the blue stuff? I used it for a year with no problems.

[Civic Type R]

i was told to use the shockproof. The mechanic knows the oils well so i trusted his decision in which one to use.

[TOYOL]

i was told to use the shockproof. The mechanic knows the oils well so i trusted his decision in which one to use.

Is it blue?
I cant remember the exact name of the redline product i used.

[SPEEDCORE]

Blue stuff??? isn't that Royal Purple??

I swear some of you guys are just driving too ruff!!...... btw what clutches are you guys using and style of driving? Be honsest!

[Civic Type R]

i think its the yellow stuff.
I have a rebuilt upgraded clutch to a 1500lb pressure plate.
The mechanic was told that too.

[EG_2_TEG]

http://www.integrated.org.au/random/redline.JPG

[Civic Type R]

yer thats it mate :P
evil stuff

[civicboy]

farrrk the container looks crappy already - looks cheapo man!

[EG_2_TEG]

hey watch it civicboy
thats my container ;)
its been sittin in my garage for the past 8 months or so

and at $113, it aint cheap

[Civic Type R]

ok i got some feedback from Redline ... (courtesy of a good friend who got me onto the stuff.)

Below are the results from the Red Line Oil web site Contact Form.
Request Type : Technical Request
below is what was sent from Redline America....

>In the Honda/Acura transaxles I would recommend the Red Line MTL for all
>around use. The MTL has proven to perform and protect well in these
>transaxles.
>
>The ShockProof gear lubes are designed and better suited to racing use,
>they contain a friction modifier and can be too slippery for most synchro
>applications as well as not having the low temperature characteristics of
>our other products.
>
>Regards, Dave
>Red Line Oil

conclusion.. (from mate email to me)
The "MT" series seems best. IF (and I do stress IF)
the problems lead to the gear oil I would suggest taking it up with Tim (Slako) and asking him why he didnt refer you to the MTL or MT-90 like we saw online the other day. As I still believe Redline to be one of the best products on the market... provided you select the correct range! ; /

I personally still think the highest probablility is that the previous owner
has had some "fun" shall we say, before selling the box to you.

[ginganggooly]

i reckon it's the shockproof ;)
i don't think the transmission would fail in the space of a couple of days like that...

if you check the redline website, they even stress to NOT use one of the shockproof oils unless you are racing.

[z10]

i had "shitloads" of fun with my type r box, it never crunch a gear in its 100k kms life.

[fueltank]

Maybe you used wrong oil weight in it?
Very weird indeed.

[Civic Type R]

i had "shitloads" of fun with my type r box, it never crunch a gear in its 100k kms life.
and what oil were u using ?

[VTEChnique]

sorry to enter this argument again adam, but from the reply from Redline, I would pursue whoever had reccomended the shockproof over MTL as THAT is where the problem was conceived !!

just think.. if you had have used MTL, you would have $2,500 back in your pocket now that could have bought some wild cams..

if these people are selling the gear-oil without knowing suitable aplications for their product, that my friend is negligence !!

i'd take it up with consumer affairs - you could get a new ITTR box..

When I had my gearbox in my EJ Holden replaced by some neanderthal mechanics in Margaret River (emergency repair), after a long story, a grand or so and 5 gearboxes and a call to Consumer affairs, I only ended up paying for the original box $250 and the mechanic had to wear the rest including the cost of a gearbox rebuild at a professional tranny specialist..

IMO it's worth a try !!

[Civic Type R]

mmmm something to consider.
Personally i dont want to try pointing any fingers at Leigh at RMS. It just isnt worth it in this case.
However, Tim Slako at West Racing is more in the firing line with this one. He recommended it, however RMS should have used it MT as u said and not the superlight.

[tanghy]

http://www.integrated.org.au/random/redline.JPG

do u notice the oils seperating into 2 layers/

[EG_2_TEG]

think i might have found the answer:

http://www.cypherindustries.com.au/catalogue/catpages/redline/shockproof.php

"LSD WARNING"

[Civic Type R]

nice read but still doesnt explain why an ITR box can sieze up within 3 days.
from day 1 , i noticd it was a little jerky selecting gears and i thought that was normal - considering the new LSD under my hood.
However, ive driven a few ITR's before and they were slick as any normal boxes. So instantly i knew something was wrong but i thought it would go away as the box wore in. How wrong was I, it got worse !

[Javed]

****, this isnt even my problerm and it makes me angry! ARGHHHHHH! Damn that to hell, such a small error can cause so much loss of money, take it up somewhere dude! make me happy :P!

[Civic Type R]

no shit mate !

trust me, a full write up will be done within a week !

[z10]

i had "shitloads" of fun with my type r box, it never crunch a gear in its 100k kms life.
and what oil were u using ?

honda mtf

[Civic Type R]

well there you go Z10. You were using the correct oil ! not the lightweight stuff as we are referring to.

[online]

we use the blue/green lightweight shockproof Redline oil in all crunching gearboxes and works really well.. i have never used the shockproof gear oil..

[IntegriliciouS]

SHEET man
Lucky i read this thread!
and thanks for posting it up CTR!
i was gonna go buy some Redline next week to try out on my dc2r!
Some guy who was selling his AUdi to my mate reccomened it to me. He said its great for powering jets and high performance vehicals..guess he was wrong bout using it on ITR!

SAVED!!

[EG_2_TEG]

there still is a redline out there to suit ur gearbox

just have to choose the right one :)

[ginganggooly]

redline is fine, it's a top quality product...

you have to use the right lubricant for your application though. don't go all knee jerky about it ;)

[CRXONE]

I swear by MOTUL engine oil.

Lots of people I know use Motul including myself. Only good things said about Motul. kicsk ass

I'm happy with it :D

[wynode]

well the ITR tranny with helical LSD worked an absolute treat whilst it ran for 2 days. That was until the mechanic thought Redline Oil was the best thing to lube it with and resulted in it totally siezing up on me (apparantly).
LSD was fine tho.
Without full ripping it around corners, i could feel better traction instantly with the stock ITR LSD.
OK well ive just had the mechanic report the problems i have with the box. Turned out it wasnt really the oil as suggested but an incomplete box with missing internals.

??

[VTEC16]

Poor redline....probably lost a whole lot of customers because of this thread...

[CIVIC-R]

dude... i feel for you! good luck for the future...

but i think this is where you went wrong!

http://www.ozhonda.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4568

dont listen to everything you read on the forums.

[ECU-MAN]

Just Use GENUINE Honda MTF and you wont go wrong,