Haudraulic oil in NV4500 and other things.

[KMahnke]

Going over my new used Cummins ram this past weekend and decided to change transmission oil since third gear was a tad "notchy". By this I mean you slid the gear lever up and over and engaged the sliders then notched it to full engagement. First thru fifth were smooth although this is by no means a speed shifting transmission. When I pulled the bottom pto bolt an opaque, almost clear liquid streamed out. Had a bluish tint to it and was almost water thin. Virtually no odor of your standard hypoid oil and the first thing that came to mind was someone filled the darn thing with hydraulic fluid! The previous owner had the truck since new and the extent of his wrenching was dropping in a K&N filter in the stock airbox. It still had about two lbs of silicone grease on the top of the filter where the airbox lid doesn't make contact. It now resides on a shelf in my garage and a stock paper element is in it's place.



He had a two inch stack of reciepts with the truck including everything from basic regular oil changes (specifying Rotella but it had a fram filter in it) to major warranty work on the front end, brakes and steering--everything is new. Had DC district involved!



After the warranty was out apparently he had some of the mechanics at the Firehouse where he worked do some of his maintainance work on the side.



I also removed the thermostat when I pulled the timing cover to kill the dowel pin before it got me. (it was out of the case about 1/16") and found a 195 automotive type small thermostat jammed in the housing with an extra "o" ring and lots of gray silicone. That corrected the wild temp swings and I can barely get the thing to run above 145. I did install the proper 180 thermostat correctly.



So anyway I refilled the transmission with Valvoline synthetic 75W 90 and the third gear notch disappeared. Oo. Shifts like a hot knife in butter. Truck has 155K on it so I figured the fifth gear nut is about due here soon anyway and I didn't have much to lose with running an unapproved oil. ( it does meet gl5 and mil 1 spec though) Oh By the way the Synpower oil is amber colored, much thicker than what came out and stinks like 90 weight should. Even got a little on my hat to remind me of the oil change for the next few weeks. :-laf .



So there ya go folks, you never know what ou will find. Rear diff checked out OK but it will get the synthetic treatment soon as well as the Dana up front. Considering Amsoil torquedrive in the transfer case. Any other Ideas?



Any recommendations for good rear brake shoes and a source for drums? I'm looking at the Hawk pads from Geno's for the front. Looks like someone drove around with the parking brake on for a while out back. Things got kinda hot and the drums have been cut a few times. Oh well--part of making it "mine"



4" pinnacle power exhaust on order, Autometer Z series 60 psi boost and pyro gauges and pillar pod will be arriving soon. #4 tst plate, 3Kgsk, afc spring kit in the cart



1995 2500 slt ext cab long bed 4WD 175 HP Cummins , NV 4500 trans. 3:50 gears with antispin diff. No mods---yet. still has feline tendencies. silencer ring fell out! 155 K mile one owner creampuff with the deepest, blackest paint job you will ever see.

 

[WDaniels]

MKahnke,

The NV4500 takes a special oil due to the composition of the metal parts on the syncros and a couple of other things. I do not think that a standard syn 75w90 will do. There are a couple of different makes for the oil the 4500 takes, but use them you must if you want long life out of your transmission. I just use the oil that the dealer sells. Sixteen bucks a quart.

Hope this helps

WD

 

[KMahnke]

MKahnke,

The NV4500 takes a special oil due to the composition of the metal parts on the syncros and a couple of other things. I do not think that a standard syn 75w90 will do. There are a couple of different makes for the oil the 4500 takes, but use them you must if you want long life out of your transmission. I just use the oil that the dealer sells. Sixteen bucks a quart.

Hope this helps

WD

Did a search on that very subject and the synthetics seemed to be ok for the yellow/ alloy metals in the transmission because of lack of heat build up. When I replaced the diff oil on my 01 diesel Chevy (American Axle with locker) GM was adamant about using their proprietary grape scented oil only. The stuff was a dealer only item and almost unavailable. Valvoline Synpower has been in it since 700 miles with no problems.



The syncros are purported to be carbon fiber per Fritzes ram page. http://www.dodgeram.org/tech/transmission/nv4500_spec.htm If the factory stuff was what I took out of it (there are warning placards all over the pto covers and fill nut) I'll take my chances with the synthetic @ $8 a quart like a few other brave souls here are doing. I can't argue with the immediate results in the shift quality dept. The truck is a driver and rarely tows more than a 6K lb boat mostly during the summer months. I will however be adding a few things to get the power up a tad. Thats when I figured the fifth gear nut, output shaft and stock clutch would need attention.



I would like to know if anyone using syntorque could match the description of the oil I removed from the transmission?

 

[Supermod56]

I use Redline MTL in my 4500 with outstand results, put 3500 miles on it towing 13K this last trip, worked great!!!

Tom

 

[WDaniels]

KMahnke,

If your syncros are a carbon fiber and other stuff then your 4500 is different than mine. But then again, mine is 5 or 6 years older than yours too. The reason that chevy says to use their grape stuff is that their 4500 is exactly the same as ours. Same oil, just different name on the container.

WD