The ATF+4 Transmission fluid does not meet the MB231. 2 or the MB235. 1 and was never intended to meet that specification! Dodge recommends the ATF+4 in the G-56 Transmissions, and are warrantied by Dodge, and not Mercedes-Benz If the vehicle is under warranty, and you have problem with the transmission, don't expect to get Dodge to cover it if you have the wrong fluid in it! 80W-90 GEAR LUBE is a GL-5 fluid, and has an (EP) EXTREME PRESSURE additive, where an ATF+4 Fluid does not have those additive in it.
I hope this helps
This is true. However, Dodge is only concerned with beating the odds on getting the transmission through (and better yet, slightly through) the warranty period.
I have 103k miles on my '06 G56. I used EXCLUSIVELY the Amsoil ATF fluid, changing on about 25k mile intervals. I have a transmission temperature gauge installed, and have never exceeded 215° F, and rarely over 180° F. That being said, at 103k miles, I lost 4th and 6th gear in my transmission. Of course, it ruined the countershaft as well. I've been saving money now for 2 1/2 years to try to get this transmission fixed, while the truck has sat idle
. This is the sole reason that I've not hardly frequented this forum in the last couple years in the 3rd Gen section. In researching this issue, I'm finding I am not among the minority, in that I've had a G56 failure shortly after the 100k mile mark.
In the past couple years, I've been doing a lot of reading. While running ATF wasn't the sole contributor to my failure, I do believe it was one of the contributors. There is very little "cushioning" ability of the ATF to prevent metal-on-metal gear tooth impact, like there is with an EP lubricant. I'm looking forward to the TDR information, but I hope it's a lot more in depth that just a condensed reprint of the information that's already been available on the web for the past year or two. Has anyone contacted Mike at Lazarsmith regarding the "concerns" with his oil as stemming from Flopster's oil analysis? I ask this, because a tribilogical analysis is only a small part of the story. Sure, they can look for a handful of certain compounds or chemical species that have commonly been used to provide various desirable properties; however, there are a lot of other emerging technologies that offer MUCH better performance in lube oils than the traditional 75-year-old-well-accepted additives for wear prevention, anti-foaming, lubricity, etc, etc. A run-of-the-mill oil analysis is not going to pick up these compounds at all, and could very well give credence toward one forming a wrong opinion on an oil's performance!! I understand Flopster did what he could with a limited budget... and he did an outstanding job at what he did. I'm glad his work is going to be published in TDR. However, the lube oil and ad-pac industries are one of the most secretive operations in existence. Lubrizol, for example, has developed some incredible formulations that offer anti-wear and lubricity properties like nothing we've ever seen; however, to have this lube tested by Blackstone, etc, one would deem it unsuitable for use based on viscosity and "common" elemental analysis.
Wayne,
Does Amsoil have the ability to perform 4-ball wear tests in house? Or sliding friction wear test? If so, do you have access to this equipment? It would be very interesting to include wear analysis results with the oils in Flopster's research.
I think it's clear that the Daimler-Chrysler merger did nothing in the way of improving the reliablity of our Dodge/Cummins trucks, at least as far as the manual transmissions are concerned. I know these are just rambling thoughts, but I still feel like there is not detailed enough information (at least that I've seen) to make a really good decision on what oil to use in the G56. For every argument, there seems to be a discending experience/opinion.
Has anyone ran Gorilla Juice in a G56 for an extended time (more than 100k miles) and experienced a failure that could be linked to the fluid? (I'm aware some people find the transmission harder to shift, some people find gold flake particles, etc, etc... but these are not failures).
Has anyone ran the Mobil 50 wt fluids for an extended time (more than 100k miles) and experienced a failure that could be linked to the fluid?
Just one more rambling thought... my parents have a 2006 Jeep Liberty with the NSG370 transmission. This is a Daimler inspired transmission that they began putting into Chrysler vehicles after the merger, very similar to our G56s. My parent's transmission just got rebuilt last week (out of warranty) at 72k miles. This is not an uncommon occurance for these transmissions either
--Eric
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