ATF vs. 80wt - 90 in R380
 

Yet another opinion / experience based thread. Recently I heard from a friend that in the R380 Tranny he knew someone who used 80w -90 gear oil instead of the factory recommended ATF!

Now in my mind I'd stick with what LR recommends but ya never know...

I know the 5 spd. R380 tranny is pretty rare in the Disco but there are a few of us out there. Let the opinions fly...

I think you want to use 80w90 but you might want to wait for Antichrist to chime in.....hes pretty knowledgable on the R380s

AntiChrist uses RedLine MT fluid if I remember correctly.

I think there was a TSB on this and it said to use straight 80w, but I could be wrong, its almost happened before. lol

Yeah, regular gear lube it not to be used in the R380.
There was in fact a TSB from Rover that MTF should be used.
http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=45&pcid=7

See, I told you there was a TSB. lol

Thank you for clearing that up AntiChrist.

thanks a lot for the input. I'll have to try the MTL 70W80 GL-4 when I do the tranny next.

What do you think when switching? Would you drain and flush completely or gradually flush over time?

I'm curious about this as well, but I would suspect it's a straight flush and fill. There aren't any clutches to burn up like in an autobox.

I just drained the ATF and put in the Redline. No flush needed.
If you want to be compulsive you can drain the cooler lines also.