Gearbox Oil... How low can it go?

[jezza16v]

Hi, I've had my 8v for about 3 wks now, not driven it muck yet as I've been fettling it, but I noticed on a run on sat that there was a bit of a whine on 4th & 5th under load when warmed up so I checked out the g'box oil...........I had to put 1.5 ltr in to bring it up to level  (iirc, that means there was only 0.5 ltr left in there) took it out for a run again, the whine is definately less but now I have just have the smallest 'snick' of a crunch into 2nd when cold which it never had before....soooo........ have I got away with it or am I in for something nasty in the very near future?    BTW checked out this morning, no drips and no spray off the d/shaft flanges.......yet!

[john905]

2nd gear crunch is a common fault bud, i put some slick 50 in mine and a weightend gear change rod, i just leared to live with it

[jezza16v]

Thanks, I'm not too worried about the crunch, had it in my first 16v, just seems odd that it has only appeared since refilling the box oil which is a worry (maybe). It already has a weighted shift rod courtesy of one of the previous owners, a big lump of a thing, must soak up 5bhp 

[john905]

does seem strange to be honest, what gearbox oil did you use?

[jezza16v]

Halfrods EP80w/90.....all I could get on the day. I tried changing for Redline on my 16v, it helped a bit but it started leaking around the driveshaft outputs pretty much straight away so I don't want to go there really. I may go for a complete drain & refill as I'm guessing ther could have been a load of cr*p concentratred in that last haf litre. I'm not too bothered about the crunch as I know they can go on forever like that, more worried about other possible damage due to low oil, I've read that fifth is usually the first to go if you have low oil.

[wil0]

yeah, redline mtl did wonders for my gbox crunch. a new gear change repair kit might help too, only a fiver and quick enough to fit.

[wil892]

Sorry to hijack this, i've got 2nd gear crunch and I'm going to put in redline. do I use MTL or MT-90. Car is a 1991 GTD with a 4T gearbox. The owners manual says to use a 75w-90 oil equivalent to G50 oil, but I have seen people recommend the MTL which is 75w80 i think.