75W-90 (OR 80w-90) GL5 DIFF FLUID WITH LSD

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Jun 21, 2018
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Location
CO
I can't believe how much has changed in just the last three years. I did a lot of this research on these oils three years ago as I began the process of rebuilding several Nissan Xterra/Frontiers that require a GL5 80W-90 Gear Oil for the Front/Rear Differentials. The rear all have LSD in them. At the time, I could just buy a quart bottle of Valvoline 75W-90 GL5 with LSD or 75W-90 without LSD, or so I thought. I just went through this whole mess with choosing a GL4 75W-90 that would work in my manual trans (no GL5 becuase of the synchros) - which was a total mess figuring that out (I chose the Redline MTL since it's the *thinnest and I'm having trouble with cold shifts in a Toyota MR2 and I need the same GL4 in the Xterra/Frontier - so I'm going to try the Redline MTL in the Nissan's also).

Anyway, am I right understanding that most modern synthetic gear oils all have the LSD in them? Is this safe for the non-LSD front axles in my Nissan Xterra/Frontier?

Also, I have some friends that complained the LSD additives in the synthetic gear oil are not enough...they needed to add more to stop chatter in the rear Diffs.

Could this be as simply as buying any 80W-90 GL-5 (like Sam's club) in a 5 gallon bucket and adding 4 oz of LSD additive to the rear axle only? That would help me save on fluids for 4 trucks.

I did do some research and many of the 80W-90 oils vary GREATLY on the kinematic viscosity indicies. How would one "guess" how the axles will behave, with such a wide variety of viscosities? Perhaps the Diffs are much less sensitive to viscosity than the manual trans/transaxles are??
 
From all the research I have done for mine (was not looking for limited slip application) - all the ones that are - seem to say so specifically on the label in the back.
 
I don't need LS version and buy Delvac 1 in gallon jugs … last I knew Summit had the best price but required $100 purchase for free shipping.
 
Originally Posted by Spddm0n
...

I did do some research and many of the 80W-90 oils vary GREATLY on the kinematic viscosity indicies. How would one "guess" how the axles will behave, with such a wide variety of viscosities? Perhaps the Diffs are much less sensitive to viscosity than the manual trans/transaxles are??




Tell me about it. Most of my autos call for 80w-90 (conventional) and I was shocked at the variability of the viscosities. I just gave up and went with 75w-90 synthetic. Maybe you can learn me something...
 
The oil is safe to use in a non limited slip and then you can add more Limited slip additive if needed. 75-90 syn is fine and it gets cold in Denver. The proper Redline viscosity MTL will be great.
 
Here is an example of adding more LSA to diff fluid already containing LSA. In this case Valvoline. It's in the fine print in the back. I've always heard you can put a diff fluid containing LSA into a non-LS diff, but why not seek out a cheaper non-LSA fluid.

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I don't know about all but Mobil1 and SuperTech Syn (confirmed by email to Warren Distribution) have LS additive. I've used Mobil1 75w-90 and ST Syn 75w-140 in my F150 with limited slip diff. Both worked as advertised without adding LS additive.
 
Thanks for all the replies!! Wow! So interesting learning about all of this! I finally landed on some old school Valvoline 80W-90. I used that in all my 80's and 90's Toyota trucks back in the day, though they didn't have limited slip. The Valvoline High Performance Gear Oil (conventional) suggests it has the LSD additives in it, so hopefully that will work. It's also one of the most viscous oils available in 80W-90 (at 40C). I'd probably prefer that, since I'd rather not get into rebuilding DIFFs and the fuel mileage hit at colder temps will only be for a few minutes.
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted by 4WD
I don't need LS version and buy Delvac 1 in gallon jugs … last I knew Summit had the best price but required $100 purchase for free shipping.

Nice. Yeah, I found the Valvoline product I'm thinking about getting for about $90 at Napa (business account price) for a 5 gallon bucket. Having said that, I've noticed a lot of the big box stores selling it for about $20/gallon. Not much more if I just want to get enough for one vehicle. Perhaps its all on sale because they want to get rid of the conventional stuff.
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Here is an example of adding more LSA to diff fluid already containing LSA. In this case Valvoline. It's in the fine print in the back. I've always heard you can put a diff fluid containing LSA into a non-LS diff, but why not seek out a cheaper non-LSA fluid.

Wow! Where in the heck do you get that?! They don't sell that in the US. I would love to get my hands on that! Is that a recent photo?
 
Originally Posted by CT8
The oil is safe to use in a non limited slip and then you can add more Limited slip additive if needed. 75-90 syn is fine and it gets cold in Denver. The proper Redline viscosity MTL will be great.

Nice. Ok, I'm going to try the Valvoline product with the additive, as is, and I'll look for some additive if I get some chatter in the rear.

Thanks for the thought on the Redline. The actual Redline MTL I bought for the transmission is a 75W-90 GL4, but I did just find the Redline 75W-90 GL5. Looks like that could work too! That actually looks like a great oil. Less viscous in the cold too. I got lucky buying my 5 gallons of the Redline MTL, but I wasn't so lucky finding a deal on the GL5 75W-90. That stuff is no joke!!!
smile.gif
 
*SPECIAL NOTE*
I just got off the phone with Valvoline and they said they NO LONGER HAVE LSD ADDITIVE in their 80W-90 High Performance Gear Oil (conventional)! They changed it about a year ago. Plus, they do not sell the Valvoline VP011 LSD additive retail. They only supply that to shops that have been "trained" to use the product. They also said they do have it in all the synthetic products, and in the concentration of 4 oz/quart of LSD additive. Wow! The VP011 additive by itself is suggested as 4 oz/1.8 quart...about 1/2 the concentration of the synthetic additive.

I guess the search continues!!!
 
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Originally Posted by Spddm0n
Originally Posted by 4WD
I don't need LS version and buy Delvac 1 in gallon jugs … last I knew Summit had the best price but required $100 purchase for free shipping.

Nice. Yeah, I found the Valvoline product I'm thinking about getting for about $90 at Napa (business account price) for a 5 gallon bucket. Having said that, I've noticed a lot of the big box stores selling it for about $20/gallon. Not much more if I just want to get enough for one vehicle. Perhaps its all on sale because they want to get rid of the conventional stuff.
smile.gif



For me, it's fairly simple. If I have one that calls for LS FM … I get Mobil 1. If no FM, I get Delvac 1.
Think the reason Summit Racing carries the Delvac 1 is for the Porsche fans - they are not really a trucker store.
BTW: Have not seen an owners manual not call for synthetic in many years,
 
Originally Posted by Spddm0n
Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Here is an example of adding more LSA to diff fluid already containing LSA. In this case Valvoline. It's in the fine print in the back. I've always heard you can put a diff fluid containing LSA into a non-LS diff, but why not seek out a cheaper non-LSA fluid.

Wow! Where in the heck do you get that?! They don't sell that in the US. I would love to get my hands on that! Is that a recent photo?

Yes, this is a recent photo taken at a NAPA store in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Originally Posted by Spddm0n
Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Here is an example of adding more LSA to diff fluid already containing LSA. In this case Valvoline. It's in the fine print in the back. I've always heard you can put a diff fluid containing LSA into a non-LS diff, but why not seek out a cheaper non-LSA fluid.

Wow! Where in the heck do you get that?! They don't sell that in the US. I would love to get my hands on that! Is that a recent photo?

Yes, this is a recent photo taken at a NAPA store in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
smile.gif


Wow! Crazy! That's unfortunate the rules are different here and I can't buy it.
Oh well, I was less than satisfied with Valvoline's decision to modify the conventional oil by removing the LSD additives, and still represent the product with the same part number.
 
Originally Posted by Spddm0n
Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Originally Posted by Spddm0n
Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Here is an example of adding more LSA to diff fluid already containing LSA. In this case Valvoline. It's in the fine print in the back. I've always heard you can put a diff fluid containing LSA into a non-LS diff, but why not seek out a cheaper non-LSA fluid.

Wow! Where in the heck do you get that?! They don't sell that in the US. I would love to get my hands on that! Is that a recent photo?

Yes, this is a recent photo taken at a NAPA store in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
smile.gif


Wow! Crazy! That's unfortunate the rules are different here and I can't buy it.
Oh well, I was less than satisfied with Valvoline's decision to modify the conventional oil by removing the LSD additives, and still represent the product with the same part number.



You can go to any Ford dealer and buy Motorcraft brand LS additive to add to any non LS gear oil.

This is what I used to use in the past to mix with Motorcraft gear oils.

AMSOIL also sells a LS additive you can buy online.
 
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Interesting thread....and goes to remind car DITY mechanics to check oil / lube / ATF products for our vehicles. I'm Old School...can still remember arguments if 30 at vs 10w40 oil. Back then 1qt cost 25 cents and Mobil 1 was insanely priced $1+ qt.👍
 
I can't believe how much has changed in just the last three years. I did a lot of this research on these oils three years ago as I began the process of rebuilding several Nissan Xterra/Frontiers that require a GL5 80W-90 Gear Oil for the Front/Rear Differentials. The rear all have LSD in them. At the time, I could just buy a quart bottle of Valvoline 75W-90 GL5 with LSD or 75W-90 without LSD, or so I thought. I just went through this whole mess with choosing a GL4 75W-90 that would work in my manual trans (no GL5 becuase of the synchros) - which was a total mess figuring that out (I chose the Redline MTL since it's the *thinnest and I'm having trouble with cold shifts in a Toyota MR2 and I need the same GL4 in the Xterra/Frontier - so I'm going to try the Redline MTL in the Nissan's also).

Anyway, am I right understanding that most modern synthetic gear oils all have the LSD in them? Is this safe for the non-LSD front axles in my Nissan Xterra/Frontier?

Also, I have some friends that complained the LSD additives in the synthetic gear oil are not enough...they needed to add more to stop chatter in the rear Diffs.

Could this be as simply as buying any 80W-90 GL-5 (like Sam's club) in a 5 gallon bucket and adding 4 oz of LSD additive to the rear axle only? That would help me save on fluids for 4 trucks.

I did do some research and many of the 80W-90 oils vary GREATLY on the kinematic viscosity indicies. How would one "guess" how the axles will behave, with such a wide variety of viscosities? Perhaps the Diffs are much less sensitive to viscosity than the manual trans/transaxles are??
Since you have tried MTL, the easiest just fo to their gear oil collection, the ester base oil is very slippery and all have suitable LSD additive in it.
 
Since you have tried MTL, the easiest just fo to their gear oil collection, the ester base oil is very slippery and all have suitable LSD additive in it.

They do? That's a bummer. I was looking into using MTL in my transmission after fitting an ATB in it. Any extra slipperyness makes an ATB less efficient. Back to researching low viscosity manual transmission fluids then. I want something thinner than the OEM fluid at room temp or below, but slightly thicker when hot. MTL fit that perfectly.
 
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