LIQUI MOLY High Performance Gear Oil

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Can anyone give me an opinion for LIQUI MOLY High Performance Gear Oil (GL3+) SAE 75W-80.

Car is a Mitsubishi Lancer 1.5L with 4A91 engine and a Getrag 5 speed manual transaxle. According to the car's manual, it requires Dia Queen NEW MULTI GEAR OIL API GL-3, SAE 75W-80.

I was planning to order Red Line MTL, but as I have the car already in the garage, I have to get something that's immediately available. So what's your opinion about the oil I mentioned? Any other better alternative for a Getrag?
 
Look at the MSDS sheets since Phillips 66 bought Redline.
I would just go ahead and buy the Liqui Moly, even though it is a group II fluid which Redline
now appears to be since being bought out.
 
Originally Posted By: UG_Passat
Do you care that the "High Performance" Gear oil is a Group III base stock?


The right question is should I care? I have read that some manufacturers don't recommend synthetic gear oils at least for some models. I think I read that on a BMW forum.

The question is what is best for the Getrag. By the way the car is at the garage because the gearbox was randomly making a grinding noise, like driving in reverse. A part of the gearbox (a spacer) at the end of one of the axles had worn out a bit and that axle was able to move a little. Except from the noise the 5th gear was jumping back and forth when I was pressing and releasing the throttle.

Since now I had used Motul Motylgear 75W-80 which is a GL4/GL5 and is marketed as semi-synthetic and Red Line MTL which is GL4 and synthetic. Both oils made the car shift better than the original oil, but didn't prevent the spacer from wearing out.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: skyactiv
Look at the MSDS sheets since Phillips 66 bought Redline.
I would just go ahead and buy the Liqui Moly, even though it is a group II fluid which Redline
now appears to be since being bought out.


How can you tell which group does each oil belong to?
Here is the MSDS for the LIQUI MOLY: https://pim.liqui-moly.de/pidoc/P000229/4426-HighPerformanceGearOilGL3SAE75W-80-18.0-en.pdf
and here for the Red Line: https://www.redlineoil.com/Content/files/tech/MTL_GO_PROD_INFO.pdf
 
Originally Posted By: inquirer
Originally Posted By: skyactiv
Look at the MSDS sheets since Phillips 66 bought Redline.
I would just go ahead and buy the Liqui Moly, even though it is a group II fluid which Redline
now appears to be since being bought out.


How can you tell which group does each oil belong to?
Here is the MSDS for the LIQUI MOLY: https://pim.liqui-moly.de/pidoc/P000229/4426-HighPerformanceGearOilGL3SAE75W-80-18.0-en.pdf
and here for the Red Line: https://www.redlineoil.com/Content/files/tech/MTL_GO_PROD_INFO.pdf


When Liqui Moly says "Synthese Technology", it screams Group III. Voll (Full) Synthese is Group IV.
 
Originally Posted By: UG_Passat
When Liqui Moly says "Synthese Technology", it screams Group III. Voll (Full) Synthese is Group IV.


Thanks for the info!
Is there any specific reason to favor Group IV gear oils over III? Does always Group IV mean superior performance?
 
Originally Posted By: inquirer
Originally Posted By: UG_Passat
When Liqui Moly says "Synthese Technology", it screams Group III. Voll (Full) Synthese is Group IV.


Thanks for the info!
Is there any specific reason to favor Group IV gear oils over III? Does always Group IV mean superior performance?


It's really the additive package. But for cold weather performance, Group IV tends to have a lower pour point.
 
Originally Posted By: UG_Passat
Originally Posted By: inquirer
Originally Posted By: UG_Passat
When Liqui Moly says "Synthese Technology", it screams Group III. Voll (Full) Synthese is Group IV.


Thanks for the info!
Is there any specific reason to favor Group IV gear oils over III? Does always Group IV mean superior performance?


It's really the additive package. But for cold weather performance, Group IV tends to have a lower pour point.


Liquy Moly's pour point is -42 °C. I think it's adequate for the vast majority of the planet.
If I try it, I hope that it will perform equally good with the Motul and Red Line gear oils, which made the car shift easier than the original oil, whatever that was.
 
I would stick with a GL-3 as specified in your manual. Here in the States, besides Liq. Moly, its hard to find a GL-3 and some transmissions like the GM used in my Slingshot also require GL-3. Somewhere I read that the newer specs, like GL4-5, can cause problems with some metal parts in the GM transmission (and perhaps other makes?). For that reason I used the brand sold by Polaris and is specified as GL-3. Point being, stick with Liq. Moly if thats what is avail in your area.
 
Originally Posted By: tc1446
I would stick with a GL-3 as specified in your manual. Here in the States, besides Liq. Moly, its hard to find a GL-3 and some transmissions like the GM used in my Slingshot also require GL-3. Somewhere I read that the newer specs, like GL4-5, can cause problems with some metal parts in the GM transmission (and perhaps other makes?). For that reason I used the brand sold by Polaris and is specified as GL-3. Point being, stick with Liq. Moly if thats what is avail in your area.


You know something? You have a point! Liqui Moly also produces a 75W-80 GL4 gear oil, but when using their oil selector they don't recommend their GL4 oil for my car.

Probably there is a reason for that!

But as I said both Motul GL4/GL5 and Red Line GL4 made the car shift easier. On the other hand, they didn't protect the spacer from getting damaged. I'm not sure I can blame them though. I have the feeling that other people with the same transaxle had problems, so maybe it's Getrag's fault after all and no oil could prevent the damage.
 
I have the same transaxle in both of my car, but these requires 75W90 GL4 as per the manual.
So that's what I used...Castrol syntrans Multivehicle, and recently switched to Syntrans Transaxle which is a GL4+ (they changed the formula of the Multivehicle and I didn't really like it).

I guess your car must be newer than mine, but so far no gearbox issue on my side with 75W90...and I guess Greece is a warm climate, so maybe going thicker for once...
smile.gif


Edit : GL3/4/5 is mainly for synchronizers (it's a balance, make synchos happy, or make geartrains happy) Like I said my manuals recommend GL4. One engine is the 4A90(I think, 1332cc), the other one is the old 4G15 but the gearbox are identical.
 
Originally Posted By: Popsy
I have the same transaxle in both of my car, but these requires 75W90 GL4 as per the manual.
So that's what I used...Castrol syntrans Multivehicle, and recently switched to Syntrans Transaxle which is a GL4+ (they changed the formula of the Multivehicle and I didn't really like it).

I guess your car must be newer than mine, but so far no gearbox issue on my side with 75W90...and I guess Greece is a warm climate, so maybe going thicker for once...
smile.gif



The transaxle is the F5MGA. According to the Liqui Moly oil guide your gearbox is F5MGB, the same with the 1.8L Lancer, if I'm not mistaken. Also Smart forfour uses one of these 2 as far as I know.

By the way I see that Liqui Moly suggests also the 75W-80 GL3+ gear oil for your Colt.
Motul also suggests a 75W-80 oil for your car. They only have GL4/GL5 gear oils though.

Here are some info about your gearbox: http://mitsipedia.info/index.php?title=F5MGx
 
Interesting ! Funny cause the links says 75W/90 API GL-4 like my owner manuals. Castrol and Motul oil selector recommend 75W90 oils, Shell tooif I remember correctly, but I usually look at the Castrol for gear oils, they have a wide selection.

(I do have the selector issue on the Colt, not the Forfour, but I keep it happy by just spraying a bit or oil on it from time to time. No other problem so far)

I won't use Liqui Moly cause I don't like the brand and it's inconvenient for me to get...I'm fine with Castrol
laugh.gif
 
Had a look at the Liqui Momy website, their recommendations for engine or gear oil don't correspond to the manuals of the cars, not sure I'd really trust their oil selector tool.

Also I thought GL3 was an obsolete spec?
 
Originally Posted By: Popsy
Interesting ! Funny cause the links says 75W/90 API GL-4 like my owner manuals. Castrol and Motul oil selector recommend 75W90 oils, Shell tooif I remember correctly, but I usually look at the Castrol for gear oils, they have a wide selection.

(I do have the selector issue on the Colt, not the Forfour, but I keep it happy by just spraying a bit or oil on it from time to time. No other problem so far)

I won't use Liqui Moly cause I don't like the brand and it's inconvenient for me to get...I'm fine with Castrol
laugh.gif



Isn't this: https://applications.castrol.com/oilsele...zt)-(2008-2013) the right Castrol link? I still see they recommend 75W-80!. I also used Motul's and Liqui Moly's oil selector and they recommend exactly the same: 75W-80! Where do you see the 75W-90 recommendation except from the car's manual?

By the way I filled it with Liqui Moly today shifting is equally easy with Motul's and Red Line's gear oils.

I have also the selector issue. The gear stick remains on the right if I move it there and doesn't come back in the middle. Not always though. Some times. Where exactly do you spray the oil? Do you remove the cables or not?
 
It's crazy. The very same Castrol oil selector used to recommend 75W90 oil, they must have updated it in some way, maybe Mitsubishi changed its recommendations (probably, cause last time I checked was a few years ago).

Less surprisingly, the same oil selector tool https://applications.castrol.com/oilselector/fr_fr/c/recommendation?vehicleType=voitures-de-tourisme&manufacturer=smart&model=forfour-454-(2004-2006)&modelType=forfour-1-3-454-031-(2004-2006)

shows the "right" oil for the Smart Forfour (Syntrans Multivehicle or Syntrans Transaxle in 75W90)

Anyway, I'll keep using 75W90 since it's perfectly fine with it, and it's in my books, haha ! I generally change the gear oil once a year anyway.

As for the selector, don't bother removing the cables, just remove the airbox to get good access, start with WD40 if it's really stuck, spray then let it soak while moving the command left/right, then maybe put a bit of engine oil or some light oil.
I put a tiny drop of oil like every year, and it's been ok so far.

In case of a stubborn selector, you can also remove the cables, remove the selector, give it a good cleaning (mine was clean on the outside so I didn't bother) and lube it good (let it soak) before putting it back. You can also change it, last time I asked it costed a little over 200€.

Edit : Motul oil selector also recommends Gear 300 75W90 for the Smart, and as you said 75W80 for the Colt, but that's new
 
Well, actually it's not that crazy. Probably there isn't a single magical grade for the best oil. For the 4A91 engine for example, which is naturally aspirated for Lancer, the manual recommends all possible oil grades from 0W-20 to 20W-50 and basically the only restriction is that they recommend certain ACEA specs and a minimum API spec.

The selector doesn't act that bad. I had the transaxle disassembled as I said because a spacer had worn out and the cleaned everything inside, including the selector. That didn't change anything regarding the selector issue. I will use WD-40 and see if it improves, but as i said it gets stucked on the right, but not always and you can bring it back to the center with no effort.
 
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